Trains Magazine

I know this question has been posted before but what are the months and years of the Frisco articles in Trains Magazine?

Thanks, Howard

 

A big one was January 1981

 

Here's a start. Some are more Frisco than others, and in no particular order.

March 1984: Ozark Mountains by Stagner
A Frisco Fairy Tale by Keefe (The rebirth of the 1522)

Nov 1973 and Dec 1973 All About the Railcars Which (Unintentionally) Forecast Dieseldom by Hamley and Corley A few pics and roster data for the Frisco Fan

Dec 1959 Two page D. P. Morgan spread about the birth of the 4300, July 18, 1936. Good photo and typical Morgan text.

Jan 1979 Several articles and the "Second Section" all about E-7's several good Frisco pics, and good stuff about the first bulldog e-unit.

April 1979 Wayne Leeman photo essay about cabooses. There are several good photos of Frisco and QAP crummies.

April 1996 BN Gets the Lead Out by Woods. A modern look at the former Frisco Lead Line.

April 1999 Give the People a Monument by Hansen ... all about KCUS...Nice pic of 106 with an F-unit spliced between two E's.

May 1956 Steam in 1956, A state by state index of where the growing ranks of steam in parks were located

June and July 1975 The Million Miles before Overhaul Diesel by Ingles ....all about Alco FA's & FB's Frisco roster data and some text

Jan 1982 My First Trip West by Barry Describes author's trip from Havoerford, PA to Salem, Mo Nice pics and account of Salem Br 1949

There's also a 50's TRAINS with an article about the QAP....I will see if I can locate the magazine

 

A few months ago, this would have been easy to answer using the online Model Railroad Magazine Index. Unfortunately, Kalmbach Publications has chosen to remove this very useful modelers' and researcher's resource from their website. ( http://index.mrmag.com/ ). The link to "search our back issues" at the bottom of the former index page covers nothing before 2004 and brings up no results for any permutation of the Frisco's corporate name that I could discover. Neither does the link that supposedly searches back issues of Classic Trains.

Some libraries subscribe to electronic databases that index Trains, among them OCLC ArticleFirst (1992-2001, selective) and Ebsco Masterfile (1996-????). Results of a couple of quick-and-dirty searches of these databases:

• Jul 1995 : Railroad People: Jeff Schmid. Meet a man who's comfortable with modern diesel cabs, Operation Lifesaver--and a Frisco 4-8-2.
• Feb 1996 : Photo Section. Includes at least one photo of "Frisco at BN merger time".
• Aug 1997 : Scanner. Includes "Examination into the failure suffered by Frisco 4-8-2 enlisted by BNSF."
• Sep 1997 : Photos. Problem with SLSF 1522.
• Dec 1997 : A rainbow of varnish. Describes author's ride on the "Will Rogers".
• Aug 1998 : Photo section. Includes "steam roundhouse scenes on the Frisco and the Canadian National."
• Sep 1999 : A Frisco Original. Subject: GE U25B demonstrator bought by SLSF.
• Oct 1999 : Railroad News Photos. Photo of damage to SLSF 1522.
• Mar 2001 : Horsing Around on the Frisco. Refers to SLSF E-units.
• Oct 2001: Redemption by Kevin Keefe. Describes SLSF 1522 restoration.
• Sep 2002 : Frisco 1522 to be retired.
• May 2003 : Preservation. Notes closure of Frisco Museum.
• Dec 2003 : Springfield, Missouri.
• Mar 2004 : Rollin', rollin' down that river line. (BNSF ex-SLSF river line)
• Sep 2005 : Trains timeline. Includes reference to "plan of the Frisco to build yards in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Memphis, Tennessee." Presumably a historical reference.
• Jan 2010 : Gallery (photograph of "passenger train No. 609 of Frisco").

Some of these are evidently quite short articles or featured photos. I'm pretty sure there have been other Frisco articles in Trains, but that's what shows up in the databases I searched. Some other databases reportedly index issues of Trains prior to the 1990s, including OCLC's PAIS archive (1942-????) and Gale's General Reference Center Gold and Infotrac Custom (1980-????). Unfortunately I do not have access to these.

Tom Taber's Railroad Periodicals Index, published in book form, identifies a few feature articles about the SL-SF published in Trains between 1940 and 1960. Taber states that he did not index brief news articles or photographs. The index entries are in the form "month-year / startpage-endpage."

• Train at Southwest Jct. near SaintLouis 12-43 / 36-39
• Gasconode [sic] track relocation 4-45/16-19
• Tulsa to Okla. City service 1-48/7-9
• "Firefly" tr. at Sapulpa 8-47/11-12
• Former Current River RR branch 2-54/54-57
• Caboose #204 6-59/11

Anybody else know of a good index to Trains that might supply more information?

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, by the way, has an online index to their journal, Railroad History, which is available at www.rlhs.org.

 

Thanks for posting this list, Karl. I've remembered the 1982 article about the Salem Branch, I just couldn't remember what month it came out in. Now I'll have to place a call to Kalmbach.....

Pat