Of the six Alco FB1s renumbered in 1968, did any of them get the Mandarin orange and white treatment? Louis Marre's book alluded to them as may have happened but he did not know for sure. Thank you. Larry F.
Larry, Across many sources including FMIG Newsletters, old Frisco Museum All Aboard magazines, Mike Condren's website, this forum, I have seen neither photographic nor written evidence to indicate that any of the FB-1s or FA-1s, for that matter, ever made it to Mandarin orange and white. Mike Condren's site has several photographs of FB-1s in the solid black sans-yellow stripe scheme. Nevertheless, a missing link could have been out there somewhere. Best Regards,
In Marre's And Sommers' Frisco In Color, page 69, they say none of the FA-1's were renumbered or painted orange. No mention of FB-1s. Tom
From what I know the only Alco that the Frisco owned of any kind that made it to Mandarin orange and white was one of the RS-2ms, I believe SLSF 553. It wore it for a short while before being retired. But I have not seen or heard of a FA-1 or FB-1 making it to Mandarin orange and white. Anyone know a retirement date on the FA-1s and FB-1s? http://condrenrails.com/Frisco/Frisco_PaintShop_RSs.htm (scroll to the bottom) Ethan
Agree. I have never seen any evidence of, or heard of, a Frisco FB-1 in Mandarin orange and white, be it repowered or not, that I can recall. All of the FA-1s and FB-1s were retired or traded in by the mid-1960s, with the exception of a few of the repowered FB-1s which were traded to GE on new U-boats in 1969. The Frisco knew the FA-1s and FB-1s, even the repowered ones, were on a short string and it would have been a waste of money to repaint them. Ken
Ken, superb summary. Indeed, if some of the GP7s stayed in black and yellow well into the 1970s, I cannot imagine anyone making a conscious choice to repaint a soon-to-be-disposed FA-1 or FB-1. Best Regards,
Ken, Just to stir the pot a little for some discussion, let's not forget the 3 Frisco E8As that received the Mandarin orange and white paint. E-unit, 2020, was on the point of number 1 on May 13, 1967, as that train made its last run to Oklahoma City from St. Louis. At that time, the unit was in the red and yellow livery. Nearly 7 months later, the 2020 did the honors, and pulled the last run of number 102 into Kansas City Union Station. At that time, she had been repainted to Mandarin orange and white. Surely, the handwriting was on the wall for the E-units.
Karl, Indeed, good point - food for thought as you suggest. There was, however, a secondary market for the E's, the L&N for example, and accordingly, an E no doubt commanded a higher trade value. Plus I think there was a thought of using them in fast freight service, which they were not very good at, so there was perhaps some incentive to keep them decent. This assumes one considers an E8A in Mandarin orange and white as being decent. Not me! Nobody wanted Alco FA's or FB's, even those with 567s in them. The rest of it was still Alco, and by then nobody on the Frisco wanted much to do with Alcos. still fondly remember Lee Buffington's rants on them! But, who knows. What we need now is for somebody to come up with a picture of a mandarin orange and white FA/FB. No photoshopping please! Ken
The Swami's crystal ball says that we will see a photograph of a FA/FB lash-up in mandarin orange and white show up on or near April 1. And that it may originate from Pacific, MO.
