I returned home from our Thanksgiving holiday with son Kurt's family in Olathe to find my copy of the Terminal Railroad Association Summer 2009 publication (TRRAH&TS Issue 69) waiting for me in the mail. This is the publication Rich mentions above. All 150+ pages are devoted to the Texas Special, trains No 1 & No 2 on both the MKT and the Frisco, including discussion of how the TRRA handled it. Anyone with an interest in the Frisco's name trains will enjoy this booklet. TRRA H&TS editor Larry Thomas has done his usual fine job. There are many great pictures, art work and features, much in color. Reproduction is very good. I have not read it yet, but there appears to be a lot of good meat in the text. I think this one is a winner. Check the TRRA H&TS web page at the following. http://trra-hts.railfan.net Cost is $35 for the soft cover booklet. It can also be purchased at the Hobby Station here in St Louis, at Red Board Hobbies in Belleville, IL and at Doc's Caboose in Kansas City, as well as several other hobby shops around the country. I am a former president of the TRRA H&TS (many, many years ago) and am very proud of the job Larry Thomas does putting these annual TRRA booklets together. They are true collector's items. And, when you read the credits, you will see some familiar frisco.org members contributed as well. Lots of good Frisco information and pictures are presented, but the coverage is a bit heavier for the MKT side. After all, it was the Katy's train. It ran on the SLSF between St Louis and Oklahoma to take advantage of a short cut. The red and silver streamline Texas Special cars are described as "some of the most beautiful seen in America". Who could argue with that? The same can be said about the similar Frisco streamline cars used on The Meteor. Ken
The Texas Special and Meteor trains in their day were the slickest streamliners of them all bar none! That incudes the all the Warbonnets, the Zephyrs, the "Cities of (wherever)," the Broadways, the Centuries, the Eagles, The Hiawathas, even the Daylights etc. etc. yada, yada. And if the railfan or modeling press and model manufactures cannot figure that out, it is their problem. Tom
Bottom center is Fort Smith, AR. Also, the Texas Special engines pictured are pulling a shakedown run of streamline Meteor equipment at Oklahoma City, OK. Tom
E7A (EA7) SLSF 2003 - Random Photograph In the random photographs there is a picture of an exquisite model of a Frisco E7A (EA7) SLSF 2003 Racehorse after it has been updated to match the E8As. Does anyone know who the maker of that model is? Tom G.
The model is really well done. I presume it is an HO model, maybe O scale, even though if it is HO or O and I model in N. I might just get one for display! Tom G.
Top image is Ft Scott, KS. The bottom was in Frisco Southwest and captioned as train No 21 on the outskirts of Springfield, MO. The consist does not look like the Clinton Subdivision local, and I am hard pressed to determine the photographs location. Maybe the West Belt?
Surroundings and layout of the track does not look like the West Belt to me. Could the stock cars in the background be a hint?