Neat photo; thanks for the heads-up, Howard. Must've been a lot of fun to be a leverman at the "new" Tower No. 1 at St. Louis Union Station back in those days, if for no other reason than to see the parade of trains. We took the Metro into the Cardinals' game Sunday, and I was surprised to see that Tower 1 still stands (but it looks as if the roof may have collapsed). Best Regards,
The train "might" actually be the Texas Special?? The RPO car appears to have the small roadname ownership plates at the ends of the letterboard. And the next car looks like a Katy heavyweight chair car (Monitor roof)?? Just a guess on the heavyweight though, playing the percentages--The Frisco only had four of those and Katy had twenty-five +... Tom
Sigh. One of our managers at work is a fellow Cardinals' fanatic. She and her husband were lamenting the abyssmal Cardinals' play as of late, when she replied "But Chris, at least you still have your trains." Regardless, first time my daughter has sat through all 9 innings, and it may be the last time my son gets to run the bases afterwards. They were rolling their eyes at my grumbling over how I can remember $7.00 loge reserved tickets. Seems I've derailed...time to get back on track. Best Regards,
My guess is that Tom is right - this is the Texas Special. Wouldn't The Meteor most always have had many more head end cars than just a RPO? Ken
Ken--Re head end cars: In those days (Early 50's, single air horns), the heavy mail and express train was "The Will Rogers," a night train until 1956. Texas Special and Meteor would probably have just had an RPO. Tom
Don't feel bad, Chris. I remember when $5 took us to and from the game, bought a general admission ticket, a hot dog, popcorn, and a soda! 'Course, thats when I had a paper route! Dan
I'm voting Texas Special on the basis of lack of any baggage cars. You're reight, Tom, that 3-4 were the principal trains for moving mail and express, but beginning very early there was the small group of 430-series cars painted red and silver and that were used OKC-STL and Ft. Smith-STL. That wonderful Preston George shot of the Meteor down between Tulsa and OKC that is reporduced in Joe Collias' book dates from about this time and it includes a baggage car behind the RPO. Also, the Meteor would have had one of the Dorm-coaches as the first passenger-carrying car, and while it is possible that the heavyweight in the photo is a sleeper being used as a dorm, it doesn't look like one to me. Somewhere I still have a couple of Cardinal scorecards (I think they cost a nickel, but you needed one to keep score with), one with both Stan Musial's and Enos Slaughter's autographs. There was always a huge lineup of streetcars on Grand Avenue waiting for the game to be over. Gordon
I'm pretty sure that heavyweight is a Katy chair car. On another note, where have these great pictures been hiding? They keep turning up very slowly, but they sure are pearls when they do! Tom PS: Gordon, remember when Harry Caray would say something like : "Shane-deest, Mew-see-ul and Slaughter will be coming up in the bottom of the 6th!"
All, my father-in-law, Harold Arnold, sorted mail on RPO cars between Monett and St Louis and occasionally Monett - Tulsa. I asked him on what trains he had sorted the mail, and I got more answer than what I thought I had asked. 1) He stated that the Texas Special usually carried one RPO / baggage (combine) car and was usually light on mail - only the very time-sensitive mail - very few packages. He sorted mail once from Monett east on the Special in the Normandy. 2) He stated that the Meteor most often would have a full RPO car and at least one baggage car. (If the mail was particularly heavy, they would use a baggage car coupled to the RPO car in such a way that it became an extension of the RPO. He sorted mail a number of times on the Meteor between Monett and St Louis. 3) He stated that most of his RPO work was Monett - St Louis or St Louis - Monett in a full RPO car tied to a bagagge car just for mail service and this was usually night work on the train that carried his favorite name, "Will Rogers" (being a native Oklahoman). He said that during Christmas they might have as many as two baggage cars coupled to the RPO as mail cars. Based on his stories, the picture train is most likely the Texas Special behind an E8 pair because of the lack of a full RPO car.
I remember one game as a kid - pre-1955 I think - we were at a Cardinal game at old Sportsman's Park where the 'birds were getting drilled by, I think, the Giants (New York Giants!). They were down by about four going into the bottom of the ninth - and my dad wanted to leave as it was getting late. I talked him into staying because Hemus, Schoendienst, Musial, Slaughter, Bilko, Repulski, Jablonski, etc were coming up. Sure enough, we stayed and watched the 'birds pull it out for a win. I'm sure Harry (and Gus Mancuso) went wild! Ken
It wasn't until I was assigned for a couple of years as the Railway Advisor in Warsaw that I realized Musial was a Polish name, and not an unusual one at that. In Poland the letter L in the name would have had a slash through it, making it pronounced more like a W. And Stan was, I assume, short for Stanislaw. So I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't numberous Stan Musials running around Poland today! The Polish Railway was great, but based on my experience playing on a softball team with Marines from the Embassy, the Poles' level of expertise in baseball was somewhat limited! Gordon
. . . and Tom, remember when Harry's broadcast partner was Gabby Street, the old catcher whose claim to fame was having once caught a baseball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument? Gordon
Just read about that last night - he was on the receiving end of a Walter "The Big Train" Johnson-dropped baseball. Gabby was in pretty good company, too, as a Cardinals manager: one of only 3 men to take them to back-to-back World Series (along with Southworth and Schoendienst)...and helped pull off a pretty good upset of a mighty A's team in '31. In an thin effort to keep tying things into the Frisco, the St. Louis Cardinals Encyclopedia (by Bob Broeg and Jerry Vickery, 1998) has a small picture of a "Frisco Lines" diner menu with a Cardinals' insignia (maybe the single bird-on-bat). Will have to dig it out and see what the caption says regarding date and reason.
Stan Musial's father's name was "Stanislaus" or "Stanislaw" etc. Stan "The Man" is named Stanley Frank Musial. Tom
K Whiz Kid--When did Mr. Arnold retire? Did he ever work at Springfield after the RPO's were taken off? Tom
After the mail was no longer sorted on the trains, Harold and family moved from Monett to Springfield, where he worked at the main Post Office and retired in 1974. I'll get a picture posted of him.
I guess I must have known him. Name is sort of familiar, but I can't put a face on it. I worked at the Springfield Post Office from 1959 to 1998. Some of the displaced RPO men at Springfield (There were thirty some of them) worked different hours and a few at different buildings than I did. I also worked on the "city side" they worked the outgoing mails. We all worked at the Main Post Office until 1969 when the Mail Handling Facility on Jefferson Ave. was opened. There were also some other temporary locations where mail was worked just before the Jefferson building was opened. Tom
