All Frisco fan's know that Frisco passenger service died during the first part of December, 1967, when trains 101 and 102 completed their respective runs between KC and B'ham. One would think that with the discontinuance of that service also died the need for the employee pass. In my Dad's files, I found a stack of these pass blanks, complete with carbon paper, and two duplicate blanks. The Redbirds do not grace these passes, but instead orange and white GP-38's (?) are depicted. The date of 1979-1983 gives pause to ponder what has caused the Frisco to print these passes. My first thoughts are that these might have been given to employees other than train crews who might need to travel via train. AMTRAK also provided conditional passes to railroad employees, even to those individuals whose railroad didn't operate AMTRAK trains. Perhaps a company pass was needed in order to obtain an AMTRAK pass. However, given the low serial numbers of the passes, I am doubtful that they were ever put to use. Does anybody know what these were all about?
I knew a guy who was a travelling auditor in the car accounting dept. He always showed me his passes and he had them both before and after the end of passenger service. What I envied about them was the notation: "Good for engines and cabooses!" I don't know if he had much call to use his passes, far as I knew, in the 60's and 70's, he mostly stayed around Springfield at the general office. Tom
I know for a fact that employees rode trains. My mother and I rode in a caboose from Springfield to Tulsa in 1973 when she left my dad. He would come to Tulsa from Ft. Scott to see us the same way. Why didn't he drive you ask? We didn't have a car. Working for the railroad wasn't always the high paying, fun filled, exciting gig it is today. But you could ride a train for free. Try that today
