I was researching information for a Texas Special page I was making on Wikipedia when I came across a list of cars made for that train and the Meteor. I found that the Meteor didn't have a page on Wiki either, so I made one. These are found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_%28St._Louis-San_Francisco_Railway%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Special I would be very grateful if any members of your group would care to add additions and corrections to these pages. If you aren't comfortable editing Wiki, then post the information in responses here for me. Also, it would be nice to see some images added to these pages. Wiki is very picky about copyright infringement, so the images must be public domain or you must have specific permission to post them on Wikipedia. As a former teacher in Adult education and at the Junior College level I know that young people today make extensive use of Wikipedia. I add to its content in the hope of helping preserve some of our fading history. Hope you see it that way too. Thanks in advance for any help.
The name "Cheri Neil" and "Lonestar" were never applied to any LW car according to W. David Randall's books "Streamliner Cars" nor any HW Pullman owned cars according to Robert Wayners books. "Lone Star" (two words) was applied to one HW 12-1 sleeper built for the MP's Sunshine Special and was the name of a CRIP LW RE Obs car. The following HW cars were modernized at the SLSF shops 9/1948 to provide backup cars for the Texas Special: Baggage, 30' Mail MKT 229-Albert Martin Lunch Counter Lounge, 14 seat Coach SLSF 1403-Glendale Dining Car MKT 434-William Ward BE Observation Bar Lounge MKT 496-Edwin W. Moore "The Meteor" was originally a Kansas City train (can't relocate the source, but if memory serves, it was inherited by the Frisco when it took over the KCFS&G in 1901). I do not know when the name was re-assigned to the St. Louis-OKC train. Incidentally, the deadliest passenger train wreck on the SLSF involved the original Meteor. At 4:55 AM Dec. 21 1903 at Godfrey KS, the third #172 was stalled on the main for lack of steam. Train #118 took the passing siding to go around the #172. The #172's rear brakeman was sent to flag the Meteor. For some unknown reason he failed to do this. The Meteor took the siding switch at 50 mph and flew off the tracks, killing eight instantly. Two more died the next day and one more on the 28th. Total, 11 deaths and 80 injured.
Larry--I don't think the Katy cars were modified by the Frisco--they did their own. Also "Glendale" was 1603. Tom
Tom; Yes it should have been 1603, that was a typo on my part. I have always been curious about Frisco doing the work on those three MKT cars, but that is what Randall says in Streamliner Cars Vol. 3 page 131.
Larry The cars that you mention having been modernized for the Texas Special, along MKT coaches 908 and 920 were not for backup service but rather to fill out a third trainset when it was determined that the turnaround time in San Antonio was insufficient to maintain any kind of reasonable schedule reliability. Where the MKT cars were worked on is something I don't know but it would seem sort of strange for the SLSF to have done it when the MKT was equally well-equipped to do the work. There are good company photos of 1603 Glendale at Springfield Shops in the Springfield Library collection. Gordon
Oh yes, there were also four 12-1 HW Pullmans (3 MKT and 1 SLSF) that were also painted and put into service at this time.
The caption under the top photo on page 92 of Joe Collias's Frisco Power says "The Frisco's premiere train, the Meteor (between St. Louis and Oklahoma City) was in service less than a month when the first of the 200 series 4-4-0s arrived in April 1902 and were assigned as power for the train." The picture shows 4-4-0 200 pulling a train of 6 wooden passenger cars although the number on the tender looks like it was penciled in. Another caption under the top photo of 4-8-4 4501 on page 210 states that the Meteor was "inaugurated on St. Patrick's Day in 1902". Rich
Wow! You folks are amazing. Thank you very much indeed. I will be updating the Meteor and Texas Special pages this weekend. I would love to use the photo... its the only color one I've seen online, and the only one where there is an old heavyweight in the consist. Wikipedia is very picky about copyrights. Is the photo public domain? If not I'll need copyright information and permission from the copyright holder to post it on Wiki. Thanks again, everyone who contributed!
Wow! Look at all those double-slip switches. St. Louis Union Station wye tracks must have had 30-40 of them. Doug
And, the three TRRA Baldwin switchers, and the GM&O PA, and, and, and ....... that pic is full of all sorts of goodies in the background! Thanks to DW for posting it. Ken ps - Sure wish Frisco would have tried at least one set of PA's. Would those have looked great or what? However, SLSF quickly had their fill of the 244 from the FA's, FB's and RS-2's. I recall Lee Buffington still swearing about the 244 some 35-40 years later.
I just stumbled upon a photo taken 10/5/1956 of PRR's Penn Texas which caried the Texas Special run-thru sleeper. This photo is in the book "Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Trains, Consists and Cars 1952 Vol 1" page 47. The car in the center of the photo is the Auguste Chouteau #1454. The letters on the name board are not fully legible, but the number of letters is clear, there are eight. Thus, rosters which show the spelling as "Choteau" are incorrect, and the name on the actual car was spelled correctly.
There Was A Heavy Weight Private Pullman Palace Car On Frisco Tracks Named "Lone Star" Early 1920's, Built By Pullman In Illinois Shop. It Was Orginally named #999, Then Mabel, Then back To 999, Then To "Lone Star" It Would Have Joined the Frisco Sys At, Paris, Tx and Ran Up To St. Louis & Points North.
Congratulations on your WiKi article on the METEOR. I created a similar article for the CITY OF ST. LOUIS a short while ago, and for the same reason, I suspect, as you: it needed to be there. You might want to amend your article to include the fact that the train actually ran through OKC (at least for a time) as far as Lawton, this for the purpose of accommodating military traffic at nearby Fort Sill. There is a photo of the stub train (just a chair car and a sleeper plus the locomotives) in Lou Marre and Greg Sommers's book Frisco in Color from MSB. Greg Stout
Thank You "gstout", "Lownen" and all you other guys for bringing up this thread! I have both N scale ConCor red and silver five pack sets. The sets have coachs with names Clayton, Ferguson, Richmond Heights, University City and Websters Grove. Observation cars Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Where these cars ever used on the Meteor or Texas Special? If not where sould I start looking to find their trains? I should mention Ferguson and Oklahoma City were sold in indivual cases. Joe
Joe, Mike Condren has an extensive web site that includes passenger car assignments. His site also includes some photographs for your reference. You would need to seek and obtain Mike's permission to use any of his material on another site. His posting indicates the car names mentioned were at least initially assigned to the Meteor. I suspect that these would change over time as cars were serviced, repaired or rebuilt. After the 1959 discontinuance of the joint Frisco / MKT operation of the Texas Special, the SLSF cars would have all been available to other Frisco train usage. Please see the following link and page down to the "Passenger Information" section links Mike's web page. Please see http://condrenrails.com/frisco Randall's initial post on this thread concerning Wikipedia is also a good reference. The respective summary includes a list of car names by train. Hopefully Randall can update his Wikipedia links to Mike's new site as it has moved from the former Christian Brothers University web site. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
