Foreign Railroad Passenger Cars In Run Through Service - Springfield, MO

While watching the Grants Park Frisco Museum DVD, I noticed a number of passenger cars from other railroads (Milwaukee Road, Seaboard and Illinois Central) mixed in with the passenger trains at the Springfield depot.

How common was this and were there other roads that had cars that traveled on the Frisco?

I did note that at least one Frisco car was painted in Seaboard colors so I'm guessing this was a regular visitor.

 

Many of the photos on that DVD show cars used for special movements.

In regular service, Baltimore and Ohio (B&O), Wabash (WAB), and Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) all had sleepers that at one point ran a regular route on the trains No 1 and No 2, The Texas Special. The PRR also had cars that were used on trains No 9 and No 10, The Meteor. PRR even went so far as to paint a few sleepers to match the red and silver paint scheme.

The other train(s) that saw regular foreign road passenger carrying cars were the trains from KC to Birmingham. The passenger carrying portion of trains No 105 and No 106, the Kansas City-Florida Special, was largely transferred to the Southern Railway for forwarding to Florida.

There were sometimes Seaboard cars in this portion of the train, it was also not uncommon to see a Seaboard Flexivan or piggyback car in the consist. Most of what I know about the exchange of cars at Birmingham comes from coverage provided by Lyle Key.

As far as Frisco cars painted in Seaboard colors, what you are actually seeing is Frisco lightweight cars painted using Pullman green paint for the lettering and car ends. This was a cost cutting measure in the last years of passenger service on the Frisco.

Paul

 

I wondered about the Seaboard car, but when I saw another shot of it from another angle, It was definitely a two-toned grey not a green.

There was a dark grey band along the windows with light grey above and below.

The idea of foreign roads' cars operating over the Frisco does offer some nice modeling ideas.

 

The trains No 105 and No 106, Kansas City Florida Special and trains No 107 and No 108, The Sunnyland, carried mail and express to and from the southeast and the western states through the Kansas City gateway.

I've seen head end cars from the Southern (Sou) Ry, Atlantic Coast Line (ACL), Seaboard Air Line (SAL), Seaboard Coast Line (SCL), Florida East Coast (FEC), Norfolk and Western (N&W), Central of Georgia (CofG), also Union Pacific (UP) and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific (CRIP).

On the other main route, trains No 3 and No 4, The Will Rogers, and trains No 9 and No 10, The Meteor, carried mail and express to and from the northeast to the southwest and western states. They might have cars from the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O), Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central (NYC).

Both routes also carried plenty of REA express cars. During the Christmas seasonal rush, REA refrigerator cars were available. Off season fruits and vegetables were also carried in addition to mail and express.

Tom G.

 

Foreign line Pullmans were frequently seen on 704/709, mainly transporting troops to/from Fort Chaffee, and these would have at least passed through Springfield.

Just in the few dozen consists that I recorded in the late '50's there were Pullmans painted for:

B&O
C&NW
D&RGW
L&N
PRR
Southern
UP
Wabash
and, of course, many two-tone gray Pullman pool cars.

Gordon

 

Gordon,

Any chance of getting those "few dozen" passenger consists posted here for reference?

The details on the off-line Pullman cars would be most interesting.

Bill