This Sunday, November 21, will mark the 30th anniversary of the passing of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway into the annals of history, when it became little more than three new regions of the Burlington Northern. Granted, when I go to visit in Afton, OK I don't mind seeing double-stacks, unit coalies, and lots of manifest freights, but somehow they lack the charm of the Meteor, Firefly, Will Rogers, and other passenger varnish slowing to a stop at the depot; the predawn calm of a June day as westbound train QLA screams through at 60 per, its nose Gyralite waving frantically, its horn blaring; the sight of F-units and rebuilt FAs leading freights; the sound of a non-turbocharged 16-567C as a GP7 drifts into town, local in tow, ready to switch out the Co-Op.........and I can only imagine how things were in the days of steam. Today, we are fortunate to not only have this website, but quite a few books on the Frisco, as well as innumerable photos and slides taken of our favorite railroad. We have model railroaders dedicated to recreating this fine line in miniature, in several scales (even in V-scale). There are films existing thqat have captured action on the Frisco in several locations, cabooses on display, steam locomotives stuffed & mounted at various locations, and even the occasional Frisco freight car still in service, sporting the SLSF reporting marks which can still be discerned through the layers of grime and graffiti. FRISCO-GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Well said, Glen. It is a shame that as strong as the Frisco was, it was just assimilated into the big green machine with little or no recognition of what the Frisco brought to the table in the way of some semblance of logo, color scheme or some other visible indication that the Frisco ever existed.
'Tis the season for the reason: Ba-humbug BN. Anyhoo... Yup... we all are doing a part, some small (me) some not so small (Rick M.) to capture and preserve the Frisco. To elaborate on what Glen said: As the attached pics attest, there is already a little bit of the Frisco preserved in S scale... and some of it preserved in V scale. Hopefully, more will follow. Andre
We are getting there, my friend! Do you realize our University BS Degrees are now two school names out of date? K ps - I recall I was just a rookie first-year FMIG member in 1980 when the poor SLSF was gobbled up by the gangreen wave!
