What equipment would have run on passenger trains through Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the early 1950s? My father used take me to town every evening to watch the train pass through town.
The normal equipment would be as follows: E7 /E8 Unit from EMD or EMD steam generator equipped GP7L(when E units were unavailable) REA car (normally to Fort Smith only that originated in Springfield ,MO.)REA traffic to/from Fort Smith sometimes was heavy and a second REA car was not uncommon. RPO-Baggage Mail Car (ran to Paris,TX until pax service discontinued south of Fort Smith in 1958) Coach (Green and heavyweight is what I have seen in pictures) The FRisco operated a buffet in one of the coaches in the early 1950s. Coach -Streamlined Pullman Standard (sometimes) Sleeper (ten sections and three double bedrooms) Fort Smith-St. Louis. Equipment ratings were as follows: Monett-Fort Smith No 704 (Northbound) No. 709 (Southbound) GP7L - 6 cars ------- 9 cars E7 -6 cars ------------- 9 cars E8-7 cars----------------10 cars Northbound passenger trains with helper engine could haul 9 cars ( E7) or 10 cars (E8) Frisco Central Division steam between Monett and Fort Smith ended in the fall of 1950.
I found this information in FMIG Newsletter #30, June 1981. Jim Pye supplied a 1956 Psgr Car Inventory which he received from Art Johnson. Assigned to the Central Division psgr trains were: Baggage Cars 430 & 432, Shadow-Striped Sleeping Cars Villa Peerless and Villa Superb, Shadow-Striped Chair Cars 761 and 1102, 62 seat Buffet Coach 1602, 36 seat, 10 lunch counter seats, and one 3-man sleeping compartment
[Motive Power on] Passenger Trains Through Fayetteville I'm waaay out of my normal, relatively safe comfort zone of the wartime River Division...but referencing "Frisco in Color" I recalled seeing some FP-7s at the business end of Nos 709/710. I pulled it out and the earliest reference I can find in the caption is 1957 through 1965. Perhaps the FP-7s may have seen spot service prior to 1957? For what it's worth, #5047 seems to have been the unit of choice in the FP-7 days. While most of the action centers around Ft. Smith, Mike Condren's Railroad Pages have some swell images of Ft. Smith Sub passenger trains at http://www.cbu.edu/~mcondren/FSVB/Frisco-Passenger-Trains.htm
Re: [Motive Power on] Passenger Trains Through Fayetteville The locomotive information came from Office of General Superintendent, Springfield, MO dated June 3, 1952. It certainly is possible other models operated Monett-Fort Smith-Paris Tomd6
There were a couple of different periods during which FP-7's were used. During the first, the regularly-assigned units were 5043 and 5048. I don't know why two, though my suspicion is that the units covered both the Paris and the Wichita trains. Later there was a period when 5047 alone was the regular power. Expanding a bit on the earlier post regarding assigned passenger cars through Fayetteville, the shadow-lined 430-432 operated through between Paris and St. Louis and were so painted for operation on the Meteor. A second express car operated Fort Smith-Monett and was usually one of the low-300 series of steel-sheathed wooden cars with trussrods. For many years 101 was one of the baggage-RPO's frequently seen. Regularly assigned coaches were 1062 and 1068. 1602 was the regular Snack bar-Coach, the regular chef/attendant being Bailey, a man adept at simultaneously cooking three breakfasts while carrying on at least two different conversations with patrons. Villa Peerless and Villa Superb had ice-activated airconditioning and in the late 50's were replaced by Clan Campbell and Villa Cheer which were the same 10sec-3dbr configuration, but equipped with Pullman mechanical a/c. These cars were both painted in the standard Pullman two-tone gray and remained that way until finally replaced by LW 14-4's made surplus with the discontinuance of the Texas Special.
