Just out of plain curiosity, did any of the 4-8-4 Northerns have white lettering and striping freight lettering?
Frisco 4-8-4 SLSF 4500, 4501, and 4502 were painted Zephur blue with a white stripe on the tender with the "METEOR" in Red on each side. If you go to the following link they are doing a run of the Frisco 4-8-4s. They also have a nice history about them on the webpage. http://www.glacierparkmodels.com/Frisco_4-8-4s.html
After Clark Hungerford became president of the Frisco, the steam engine paint schemes became simplified. The "freight" coal burning 4-8-4s SLSF 4503-4524 that were repainted, lost the Frisco Fast Freight (FFF) wing emblem and just had large white tender numbers and small cab window "Frisco" lettering. The passenger "Meteor" oil burning 4-8-4s SLSF 4500-4502 that were repainted, were painted black with large imitation gold tender numbers and small "Frisco" under the cab windows. Were all the Meteor or "FFF" engines were repainted? Northern 4-8-4 SLSF 4502 was repainted for sure as well as several of the coal burners. Tom
That's a splendid model being produced. Is it out yet? I wonder what the cost is? I've been thinking of a second mortgage!
I am going to apply to the government for a bailout right after I buy a set of 4-8-4 SLSF 4500s! Think that will work? Ken
These are scheduled to be out sometime in late Summer. The pilot models pictured had some inaccuracies. The boiler and cab will be done over for the production models. The workmanship is beautiful as are the running qualities, the paint and lettering. I had the pilot models for a week going over them. The importer wants them to be a showcase model as he has a strong desire for things to be right. I would look for them to be around $1700 list. I have been offering a deal on them, but the reservation period is nearly closed. He is only going to run a very limited quantity.
Re: 4500 Update (October 13, 2009) Work on the cosmetic restoration of Frisco 4500 is about 95% completed. The engine and tender will be moved from the SK&OL yard to the Sinclair refinery in West Tulsa. It will then go to the West Tulsa Heritage park where it will head a train including an ex-New Haven Business car , a triple dome tank car and a Frisco caboose. The work on 4500 began in 2004 and to date expenditures have been six thousand dollars thanks to a lot of in-kind donations. The West Tulsa Sertoma Club has done the heavy lifting on this project. The tender has been left unpainted in order to attract any graffitti artists from the engine.The tender has the outline of the word Meteor in script and beneath is the faint outline of 4500.
