Folks, I just noticed the photograph of the GP50 3100 coming into Thayer has a semi-modified snow plow. Oh, boy, just when I think I got it figured out. Any clues as to whether this was a BN or Frisco thing? I think I saw a similar plow on the Norfolk Southern (NS) GP49s. Also, if anybody has an information on the 3100 let me know. Last seen in Nova Scotia! Roger
GP50 BN 3100, GP50 3107, GP50 3106, GP50 3108, SD45 6650, GP50 3104, SD45 6682 GP50 BN 3100, GP50 3107, GP50 3106, GP50 3108, SD45 6650, GP50 3104, SD45 6682 Thayer, MO. 2/13/1982
I was wondering if anyone knows how long the GP50 SLSF 3100 wore its Frisco paint? How long did it take for the BN to add the initials and numbers to the cab sides? Did the SLSF 3100 come numbered SLSF 790 and BN painted it out or did EMD deliver it without any number on the cab? Thanks very much. John
John, Frisco in Color, Second Edition, shows an EMD photograph of this unit numbered as SLSF 3100. No BN sublettering. The caption seems to indicate that it was delivered from EMD as GP50 SLSF 3100. Best Regards,
I believe GP50 SLSF 3200 - BN 3100 was the last Frisco painted unit repainted to BN colors. At least an active unit anyway. I think it was in 1983 when it was finally painted. The Frisco units were just steam cleaned and BN colors went on right over the Mandarin orange and white. It is easy to see the Frisco coming through on any BN colored Frisco units still in service. That is unless they have been repainted by BNSF into their paint scheme. I miss the Frisco! Steve.
John, As others have noted, GP50 SLSF3100 - BN 3100 was delivered in full SLSF colors and numbered as such by EMD using the Frisco number font. It entered service on 12/16/80. The remaining nine GP50s were painted and numbered in BN colors. Actually, GP50 SLSF 3100 - BN 3100 was the second unit in the order and was to be SLSF 791, not SLSF 790. For some reason, the second unit in the order was completed first, by just a few days, and was given the SLSF 3100 number. "To be" SLSF 790 was actually numbered BN 3101. The remaining eight were numbered in order. BN 3101 entered service on 12/18/80. Just another little bit of Frisco trivia! Ken Meteor910
When GP50 SLSF 3100 was delivered the top of the nose should have been white Is that correct? The new Athearn model has the nose top in Mandarin orange. I am almost certain it should be white. Please confirm. Thanks, Rodney Bennett
Ii I recall correctly, it should be white. Painting the top of the low nose mandarin orange seems to be a common error among folks who either do not research the paint jobs or do not have the pictures in front of them.
Regarding GP50 SLSF 3100 (791) - BN 3100, none of my pictures show the top of the nose clearly, but it is high odds the top was painted white. It should have received the same paint job as did the Frisco GP40-2s. My EMD pictures of SLSF/BN 3100 do show that the "weed cutter" pilot snow plow was on there at delivery. Probably was a BN preference, as the Frisco would likely have specified the wedge plow pilot as on their GP40-2s. Do not know what was on the back end. Ken
The colored hard hats in the photograph of the 3100 reminds me of the various crafts that once worked in the "Springfield Shops". In the Springfield Shops in the late 1970s the crafts were assigned color coded hard hats. The color assignments were: White - Managers / Supervisors / Company Officers or "Officials". Blue - Electricians Green - Machinists / Pipe Fitters Orange - Carmen / Boiler Makers Red - Laborers / Forklift and Mobile Crane Operators Yellow - Maintenance of Way Add some color to your model shop scenes by changing hard hat colors. As an example, typically at the diesel service track there were several employees on each shift. These included a supervisor, an electrician, one or two machinists / pipe fitters and several laborers. Laborers included a sand crane operator, a fuel person, a supply person / forklift operator and an inside hostler helper. The diesel shop was full of electricians and machinists. The west car and wheel shops were full of carmen, with a few electricians, mostly overhead crane operators, and possibly a machinist or two. Laborers were also in the shops. In the train yard, the east caboose / reefer shop and west rip track were mostly carmen, with an electrician at the reefer / caboose shop. At the rail reclamation / panel rail and ribbon rail plants were mostly maintenance of way persons. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
The Springfield shops have different shop crafts in each area. Mark got most right. The Diesel Shop: machinist, machinist helper, machinist apprentice, electricians and electrician apprentice, pipefitters and pipefitter apprentice, boilermakers and boilermaker apprentice, carmen, laborers and even bridge and building (B&B) to work on building. Wheel Shop: had no carmen just machinists and machinist helpers, machinist apprentice and laborers. Car Shops: Carmen and carmen apprentices, several machinists and several electricians, both had apprentices. The Rail Complex: MOW people and machinists, machinist apprentice and laborers. Reefer/Caboose track: Carmen and apprentices, several electricians and machinists, both had apprentices and laborers. Roadway Products: Machinists and apprentice, blacksmiths with helpers and apprentice and laborers. Roadway Equipment: Machinists and apprentices, machinist helpers and laborers. In all these and at the storeroom were clerks, do not remember what color hat they had. All this would be in late 1070s
Does anyone know when GP50 SLSF 3100 got its BN paint job? Or did it ever? There does not seem to be any pictures of it in new BN paint. Edit: I just found my answer. Looks like it wore Frisco paint until 1983.
I ran into a picture of an old friend today. Received my issue of the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society's Special Issue of their publication The Hoosier Line. It featured their recent convention held in Monticello, Indiana. The back cover of the bulletin had a picture of a TP&W GP50 which was parked for the weekend of the convention on the crossing of the former Monon rails. The TP&W is a Midwest short line which spans the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. See the attached picture of TP&W 5010. Sorry it is not a better picture. This locomotive is the former SLSF 3100 (SLSF 791) - BN 3100, the only GP50 the Frisco ordered that made it into the Mandarin orange & white livery. It entered into service in December, 1980. Glad to see SLSF 3100 is still in service. The other nine GP50s followed, but were in BN green and black livery. Many of the GP50s have been troublesome. Sort of like the GP35s, the 645 engine is a bit stressed, as the 567 was on the GP35s. Kevin EuDaly, which a number of us frisco.org folks know, and his dad participated in the convention with a presentation of Monon photographs. Kevin's company, White River Productions, publishes a number of railroad historical society publications, magazines, and books. K
Great information Ken. I certainly had no idea it was still in service. Funny I have done a couple things through White River but had no idea who actually owned it.
Cool. You just never know what is going to show up on a Genesee and Wyoming property. Thanks for sharing. Pat Moreland, Wesco, MO
Speaking of former Frisco power: A few years ago when I was still railroading, the A&M had a major derailment that dumped two of the new SD something-or-others into a creek. This meant that just about all available C-420s went back to Springdale to be used on the turns. Of course that was going to put Fort Smith in a bind, so they leased three engines to get us through, a pair of former De Queen and Eastern (D&E) / Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern (TO&E) GP40s, and a Kansas City Southern (KCS) GP40. I ended up with the GP40 KCS 2959. However, I did have cause to work with the pair of D&E/TO&E engines a few times. I cannot remember who it was, but one of my online railfan friends told me KCS 2959 was a former Frisco engine, GP40-2 SLSF 759. Well I will be darned. Did not have a clue about that. However, that little factoid that had a nice mental "cool factor" to me as I went about my business of making a living using former Frisco power. I will say that once you got that engine rolling it was stout as a mule. It was kind of slippery from a dead start with heavy tonnage. I think it still holds the single unit records for most tonnage up out of the river bridge, and for sure all over Fort Smith's grades. After many years of only running Alcos, it sure was nice to have the ergonomics of an EMD back under me, and it was great hearing that turbo 645. I was the only Arkansas and Missouri (A&M) employee in Fort Smith that knew anything about dealing with EMD! I had to teach the life-long A&M trainmaster and all the other Fort Smith engineers about EMDs. How to start them, where the layshaft was located and its use, how to drain the cylinders prior to a dead start, etc., etc. I even had to instruct our lone Mechanical Department guy, he prepped the Fort Smith units each morning, on where the fuel filters were, start-up switches, etc. Here is a picture my old friend Mike Condren took of me in KCS 2959 as I' am heading north past the Frisco's Fort Smith depot with a lot of interchange from the KCS. Mike could have been the one that told me about KCS 2959's ancestry. A bit of history in that picture. Former Frisco depot, former Frisco tracks, former Frisco engine, and an engineer, that you cannot see, that had a lot of history in the past with the Frisco! Good heater by the way, once I got it fixed. Think I ended up running that unit for about 6 months. All for now. Andre
That is so cool Andre. I got to run a couple former Frisco GP38-2s all the way out here in western Colorado. I just hoped I was running a couple engines my grandpa ran. Not likely, but hey a guy can dream right. Maybe somebody can Photo Shop your image and make it Frisco for you.