Caboose SLSF 1232 - BN 11560 For the sake of accuracy I want to clarify that this is caboose SLSF 1232. The trucks are stenciled BN 11560 and the caboose has been moved to Tulsa. The caboose is now located at 6800 Frankoma Road, Tulsa, OK 74131.
Re: Caboose SLSF 1232 I swear she looks like she is smiling! One thing Paul, when I saw her in Seneca, MO, I was not allowed to go inside to verify that she is the caboose SLSF 1232. I did see the BN 11560 stencil on the truck but the caboose SLSF 1261 in Grafton, ND has SLSF 1223 stenciled trucks, but I was able to go inside and find BN #11589 stenciled on the cupola wall. In short when you start the restoration could you please verify that it is the caboose SLSF 1232? The number would be painted above the entrance doors and in the cupola on each wall facing towards the couplers. Or if you plan on sandblasting the exterior the number might show up under a couple of coats of paint. It looks like it was painted BN green before Seneca painted her red. There are no questions on the identity of the other 2 cabooses, they have been thoroughly documented that they are the cabooses SLSF 1249 and SLSF 1288, but this one I'm not 100% sure. Thank you for providing a good home for these 3 Frisco veterans. Roger R. Taylor Kansas City, MO
Re: Caboose SLSF 1223 Hi Roger, very interesting about the truck stencil on caboose SLSF 1261. That information made me curious and I went inside caboose SLSF 1232 and its interior has been repainted poorly. I cannot cant make anything out. We are going to steam wash the exterior with a high pressure washer and hopefully that will reveal some information, but if it does n0t we hope to see something during the sandblasting. Thanks for the information.
Caboose SLSF 1232 Paul, If you need lettering information I could probably help. We repainted our caboose here in Catoosa last year and I used photographs and measurements of a surviving Frisco caboose in original lettering as a guide. We have a sign shop here that did the lettering and it turned out very good. They have the artwork saved for future use.
Caboose SLSF 1232 Marc, That is great to know. In fact I recently saw your Catoosa, OK caboose and had wondered who did such a perfect job on the lettering. It looks fantastic! I will be needing assistance with that in the next few months. Thanks for the information!
Re: Caboose SLSF 1223 By the way I looked inside the caboose and it is beautiful with those hardwood floors, I have heard of some BN cabooses that were basicly new when retired is your caboose one of those new old stock examples or did you guys restore the floors?
Re: Caboose SLSF 1223 Just let me know. Happy to share all we have. And yes, you might say it was new. It was built for BN in 1978 so it saw little service before being retired. Part of the floor around the stove was replaced then all was refinished. Of course it was not a Frisco caboose but I just could not bring myself to paint it green and set it here with our reproduction Frisco depot. So sorry the depot is not original either but is built from the plans of the Catoosa depot with modern construction methods. Both look correct and only the true historians know the difference. This was a Frisco town for 98 years, only BN for 15 and now the BNSF (Big New Super Frisco) since 1995. Marc
Re: Caboose SLSF 1223 Marc, You guys have done an outstanding job on both the depot and the caboose, and your right only a die hard Frisco nut would know any difference! It is refreshing to see a beautifully restored caboose in Catoosa when most other towns display cabooses in various stages of decay. Last time I was there was on a Sunday afternoon and the depot was closed, what hours is it open for tours?
Re: Caboose SLSF 1223 Roger we power washed the exterior of the caboose today and she is for 100% certain caboose SLSF 1232. The numbers 11560 revealed themselves on the car body in large letters after 2 layers of red paint were removed. I will post a photograph later. Glad the weather is changing and we can devote more time to the cosmetic restoration of caboose SLSF 1232. Had a great day today working on her.
Below are photographs from early February 2014 when caboose SLSF 1232 moved from Seneca, MO to Tulsa, OK. It was very cold that day, less than 10 degrees. The crane was northeast of the caboose, trailer was north of the caboose. Because of power lines on the east side of the caboose, the trucks had to be lifted over the school house to another trailer that was on the east side of the school. The trip was fairly easy with no major disruptions, the loaded height was 15'-6".
Interesting group of photographs that truly show how cold it was. I bet seeing the scene shown in "045.jpg" got many an over-indulger to reconsider their life-style!
When I was 5 years old, my dad met a Frisco man on his bowling league who knew I loved trains. The fellow invited my mom and dad to bring me to Cherokee Yard to see some trains and to climb on and ride some trains. My parents cannot remember the man's name. My mom took this photograph of me in the cupola of a 1200 with her Kodak 110 camera. About a year ago I asked my mom to find the old photograph, because I was curious as to what number caboose I was actually in that day. She found the photograph, gave it to me, but the number is not shown. I decided to search all the caboose images I could find, to try to figure it out. The original photograph is much sharper than my cell phone image of it that you see here.
From the image, I can tell this is the 2 window side. I could see a few features like the two unusually spaced vent stacks on the roof, the longer than normal tool box below, and the tiny white data lines under the S in the "Ship it" logo, hard to see in the poor scan. I searched many many images, but could not find a match. By process of elimination I narrowed the search down to about 6 numbers, and waited patiently for more images to surface. A day or two ago on e-bay a photograph showed up of caboose SLSF 1232. All the fingerprints from my original image were matched up with an image of caboose SLSF 1232. I was pretty excited to finally know the number of the caboose!
The image above is one of only 2 images of caboose SLSF 1232 that I have seen, the other is a platform shot. The image above is on e-bay now, and I hope to get it and add it to the Frisco Archive. Now here is the really cool part! Caboose SLSF 1232 just happens to be the caboose that was on display at Seneca, Missouri, and I have her now in my collection! That was icing on the cake. It is just neat that I have the caboose that I was riding so many years ago in Cherokee Yard. By the time caboose SLSF 1232 was retired, the long tool/battery box had been removed, so I did not think it was a match. I just thought it never had a tool box. Now I can see where it was cut off from underneath. Fun stuff for sure !
Very cool. Tonight I will check to see if I am in possession of any other images of this caboose. Charlie
