SLSF 1 and Southern "Buena Vista" Business cars SLSF 1 and Southern "Buena Vista on merger inspection train 5/10/1976, Springfield, MO. Photograph by Robert Tribble.
A recent addition to my collection. SLSF 1 at Springfield, MO on 4/12/1975. Also visible on the right side of the image is the B end of business car SLSF 2. Photograph is credited to Jim Wilson. Paul
Business car SLSF 1 at Springfield, MO during 1977. Second and third photographs show Earl "Bud" Tankersly. He was a long time Harvey House cook, my dad's uncle. His little house was between the Coke plant and Frisco line in Springfield, MO. Fourth photograph is me ay 120 pounds and 40 years ago. Ha!
I was never a fan of Mandarin orange and white on anything. As soon as it got dirty, it really looked like crap.
I would like to know who had the final decision on the Mandarin orange and white paint scheme on anything the Frisco had. I would bet that there where several paint schemes that where proposed before the final one as we now have it. If anyone out there has anything on this, let us hear about this!
Well, you would need to go way back in 1959. I remember going into the Diesel Shop as a kid of 6 or 7 and seeing the covered wagons in the shop being repaired. I walked down the raised walkway platforms on both sides. Lots of black and yellow also. Pretty neat!
I would bet somebody in the office liked the General Motors (GM) orange and white demonstrator scheme. They asked GM, and GM said it was available as SLSF was a good Electro-Motive Division (EMD) customer. I never saw anything else in between black and yellow and Mandarin orange and white. But, I am just guessing. K
Ken, I was wondering if there was a different variation of the Mandarin orange and white. Like all Chevrolet engine block red with white FRISCO lettering and chevron stripes type of thing. My imagination is starting to spin.
Let your imagination go where it wants. There was some variation. I did not think the General Electric (GE) Mandarin orange and white was the same shade as the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) version. Later EMDs seemed to me to also be a bit heavier of red/orange leaning to more red. The GP40-2s for example. Plus they all faded a bit over time, and like Don said did not show grime well. Of course the black and yellowy got filthy as well. The Chevy V-8s changed as well. We had a 1957 Bel Air 283 V-8 in red/orange. Later a 1962 Impala came our way. Also a 283 V-8. I do not remember, but I would say still red/orange. Then I got a 1964 327 V-8 Impala SS when I graduated from Missouri School of Mines (MSM), heavier on the red. Heck of an engine though! I am not sure I remember the cubic inches correctly. The 1957 was a 283 I am sure. But, was the 1962 a 327 and the 1964 a 350? I do not remember clearly.
Business Car SLSF 1 - "Missouri" - In 2020 Back on December 4 of this year, I photographed a train moving the Wabtec/General Electric (GE) battery electric locomotive (BEL) 3000 across BNSF's Seligman Subdivision in Northern Arizona. The 3000 was headed to Barstow, CA for testing in train service, and traveling with it was Research and Test Car BNSF 82. I was surprised to find that BNSF 82 was a former Frisco car. Also I was surprised that there was a lot of conflicting information on heritage. This is due to Frisco's multiple re-naming and re-numbering of its business car fleet, and also due to BN swapping car names after the merger. Comparing my photographs to those featured in the former Frisco Museum's All Aboard, Nov-Dec 1993 article, the outward appearance of the car has not changed much at all. BNSF Research and Test Car number 82 is a real survivor. Built in March 1912 by American Car and Foundry (AC&F) for the Frisco as an all-steel coach as SLSF 1082, it was rebuilt by Frisco in December 1942 into Soldier Diner SLSF 644. In January 1950 it was again rebuilt into a business car featuring two state rooms with individual baths, a full-service kitchen, crew quarters, secretary’s quarters and an observation room at the platform end. Numbered SLSF 3, it was assigned to the Frisco’s Vice President of Traffic. In June 1954 it was renamed “Missouri”, and in January 1963 it was re-designated Frisco business car SLSF 1 and assigned to the president of the railroad, Louis Menk. After the BN-Frisco merger in 1980, it was re-numbered BNA-7 and named “Canadian River”. Sometime in 1981-1982, it swapped names with ex-GN car BNA-8 “Kootenai River”, for reasons I have yet to determine. It operated as BNA-7 “Kootenai River” until rebuilt as a test car BN 82. It was renumbered by the successor to that successor railroad BNSF 82. Photograph of BNSF 82 at Crookton, AZ on 12/4/2020.
Going through some stuff my grandma had given me a while back and found a few photographs I will post on the site. She took great photographs which I think my dad has. She carried several cameras at once and all these looked to be from one of her spares. But better than nothing right? Business car SLSF 1 in Springfield, MO. Photographs dated May 1977.
