Caboose SLSF 1249

Discussion in '1230-1259' started by mark, Aug 2, 2010.

  1. mark

    mark Staff Member Staff Member

    Please see the following link for a photograph of Frisco caboose SLSF 1249.

    http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1886853 (12/27/2009)

    This caboose was constructed by the International Car Company during 7/1957. It originally was numbered SLSF 249. In April 1968 the car was renumbered by adding 1000 to the original number to prevent conflict with locomotive numbers when the railroad added a new computer tracking system.

    This car was part of the original order (SLSF 200-274) of all steel extended or wide vision cabooses for road service. These cabooses road on distinctive General Steel Castings (GSC) swinghanger-equalized truck.

    The car is largely intact with most of its equipment and under body fittings in place. The end doors are open. However, they have been closed off with a heavy metal open grate welded in place to prevent access to the interior.

    Unfortunately the caboose is painted blue with yellow cupola and ends. It is unlettered and unnumbered. Also, the interior has been painted black to cover former graffiti. This makes it very difficult to see the details of or photograph the interior.

    The caboose in located in a city park in the south central part of town. The car sits on the north side of the street, just north of a parking loop area. The streets in this portion of the town are low to the ground concrete markers. From U.S. Highway 400, go north on South Main Street to South Street (1st street to left), go west to park.

    The park is bounded between South Main Street on the east, South Mill Street on the west, U.S. Highway 400 on the south and the former Frisco tracks (removed) of the Wichita Subdivision on the north. It is too bad the former Leon depot was torn down around 2005. Formerly it had the bay removed and was used as a storage building by the Fleming Feed and Grain Company at 309 South Main St.

    The caboose location address is 207 South St., Leon, KS.

    Please see http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...=oSrzChhXSftqWYGS1eENig&cbp=12,358.67,,0,5.21.

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 2, 2010
  2. renapper (Richard Napper RIP 3/8/2013)

    renapper (Richard Napper RIP 3/8/2013) Passed away March 8, 2013

    Here is a better picture of 1249 when it was still BN green
     

    Attached Files:

  3. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    The City of Leon has recently sold 1249. It will be moved to Tulsa in the next few weeks and will undergo a complete restoration including correcting the stairs, uncovering the windows, replacing the glass, and sandblasting and paint. Caboose is mostly intact but missing one end door if anyone knows where one might be for sale?
     
  4. Steve40cal

    Steve40cal Member

    Good luck Paul I have a pair of Frisco Marker lights that will look good on there. Steve.
     
  5. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    Thanks Steve, I figure it will be next to impossible to locate an original door for a 1200, but there is a sheet metal shop in Sapulpa that can probably duplicate the one door we have. Those marker lights would look pretty awesome !
     
  6. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    Luckily the window covers on this caboose were installed with sheet metal screws instead of welding. I removed one of them and was delighted to see that the windows and frames are still intact underneath, and the window jambs still had orange and white paint on them. It was really cool seeing original Frisco orange after not seeing it for 30 years or so !
     
  7. FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018)

    FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018) Passed Away April 12, 2018 Frisco.org Supporter

    Paul:

    Have you made a firm decision on what paint scheme that you are going to use on the caboose? Someone may want to correct me on this point, but during its lifespan I believe it was painted in 3 different schemes, the as delivered brown, the caboose red, and finally the orange & white. My personal preference would be the orange & white scheme. By looking at the smoke jack with the attached brace I believe that was an appendage added in the orange & white timeframe but I might be wrong.

    It would be cool if for posterity sake if at least one of these remaining cabooses be preserved in each paint scheme so if you haven't decided input from the group on surviving schemes may be an idea to consider. Below are 2 pictures that I took of the caboose in September 2011. The beautiful :rolleyes: color scheme is the High School colors.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    CF1249slsf 1249 orange white.jpg Hi Bob . The ladders and roofwalks were removed when 1249 was painted red and white so thats very likely the color it will be painted, but nothing is set in stone just yet. It would not seem right to paint 1249 caboose red without any ladders and roofwalks, and it would be a whole lot of fab work to put that equipment back on the caboose and get it absolutely correct. Does anybody else have any suggestions or more photos of this caboose when it was in service? thank you I am very excited about this project and will post pics as the work advances. Paul
     
  9. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

  10. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    leon 1249.jpg 1249 ready to move, notice the difference in the two pics, stair extensions, smokestack, generator, and radio brackets removed. Hoping to schedule the move within the next two weeks.
     
  11. mark

    mark Staff Member Staff Member

    Paul,

    Thank you for keeping us posted on the developments.

    We are interested in the events and status of the pending relocation change. Could you please provide details on what is happening? Are you buying the caboose for your personal use on your property? Are you coordinating the move for a group for public display? Why this caboose and how did the transfer of the property get facilitated? Who is doing the prep work, the transport and the restoration work?

    This could be a learning opportunity for us all. Certainly well worth documenting for future reference if similar opportunities for relocation and/or restoration arise.

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark
     
  12. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    Hi Mark, Im glad you asked that question. I bought the caboose and my goal is to restore the caboose as close to its original condition as possible and to display it under a canopy on property that is available to the public and in a high traffic area, I have a couple locations in mind but nothing is decided just yet. The prep work to move the caboose was done by me and two of my employees and most of the restoration will be done by us but some of the work will be farmed out. I own an oil company in Tulsa and we have facilities where we do steel fabrication and heavy shop work and this is where the restoration will take place. The caboose will be transported by a trucking Co. here in Tulsa and we will hire a crane co. from Wichita to load the caboose.

    I love this website and I love Marks posts regarding the 200/1200 cabooses, his posts helped me locate most of the 1200s and I went on a tour with my 3 sons earlier this year to look at as many of them as possible. The 1249 at Leon was just such a sad sight with its extended stairs and barricaded windows and doors , and its hideous paint so I approached the town about selling the caboose. The town was very reluctant to part with the caboose but after I explained my intentions they told me to make an offer. I a offered the city 2X scrap value and they accepted my offer, it took almost 6 months to complete the transaction from start to finish. This restoration is not for the faint of heart because there is significant rust on many of the interior panels, mostly in the copoula due to the many years without windows. Most of the interior panels are flat and will be fairly easy to duplicate. The entire floor needs replaced, and the entire body and underframe will need to be sandblasted. I intend to put two employees on the project and want to get it completed sooner than later.

    I am 41 years old and grew up in west Tulsa right along the Frisco right of way and these 1200 series cabooses with there non typical window spacing in the coupola always stood out to me and i loved them then and still do today. I want to keep this caboose and the restoration in the public eye and I will post many more times along the way. I will post a moving date as soon as we have one set in stone and I will post the address of its restoration location once it arrives. If anyone wants to drop by and visit or offer any input we would love to see you. thanks : Paul
     
  13. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    Finally....we have everyone in place to move 1249 from Leon. Thursday August 28 is moving day, feel free to drop by if you have the opportunity. Belger Crane out of Wichita will be loading, and Coweta trucking from Tulsa will be moving her. Its almost ironic that 1249 was the first caboose we bought but its the last one left to be moved. Wet weather conditions and scheduling conflicts just did not work out until now. 1232, 1288, and 1291 have all been moved and I will be glad to finally get 1249 brought down. Making progress on 1291 and will be adding some pics in the next couple weeks.
     
  14. William Jackson

    William Jackson Bill Jackson

    i have been watching this thread, haven't commented, but it is nice that you want to restore these cabooses. Thanks for your effort.
     
  15. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    Thanks for that comment William. I enjoy knowing that other people can appreciate and enjoy our efforts to restore these things. I have always loved Frisco's 1200 class cabooses with the spaced apart windows in the cupola. I remember them from my childhood and they stood out to me. I liked the orange and white painted ones , but my favorites were the bright "Caboose red" versions with the "ship it" logo. When the BN invasion took place the normal BN cabooses looked funny to me without the Frisco style copula windows.
     
  16. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    Our Thursday move has been changed to Friday 8-26. Unfortunately I had an uncle pass away early this week and the funeral is Friday so I will not be in Leon while they load the caboose. A friend of mine will be there to take pics and coordinate the trucker with the crane.
     
  17. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    1249 is headed south, wish I had some pics from when they loaded her up today, but I was not there due to other circumstances. Interesting to note that the trucks and tracks were lifted all in one piece, due to the fact that the tracks were laid on a cement slab. The other Frisco cabooses we moved were on soil so the ties were sunk in the ground and deteriorated.
     
  18. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

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  19. paul slavens

    paul slavens Member

    The interior tool boxes of 1249 were welded shut when she was sitting at Leon Kansas. Today we ground the welds off and found a few treasures inside, 2 coupler knuckles, some spare batteries and 4 hoses. Two of the hoses have a red band and they are marked STL-SF along with BF Goodrich and the date codes. One is dated 1-62, and the other 9-65. I love these hoses and will be cleaning them and repainting the ends, and will use them on 1291 when she is finished. I thought it was cool that they were marked STL-SF instead of SL-SF. Fun day. Now all of us HO modelers can put a tiny bit of reddish pink paint on our Frisco caboose brake hoses ! LOL
     
    fireball_magee likes this.
  20. Andy Gillis

    Andy Gillis Member

    Hello,

    I was wondering if you completed the 1249 caboose restoration and where it may be located. I would love to see it. As a kid growing up in Leon, KS, I spent many hours inside that caboose playing until the city blocked the doors and windows. During my teenage years, I worked for Fleming Feed and Grain. The old Frisco depot was still there at that time. It was a storage warehouse then. I spent a lot of time in that old depot. I also loaded many rail cars with grain on the old Frisco tracks until they were washed out by the Halloween flood of 1998, west of Augusta.
     

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