On my fictional Colorado Kansas & Western I assume that they purchased the Ellsworth - Monett line as part of the BN merger. I'd like to add a few Frisco units patched for my road to the roster. At the time of the BN merger what types of units in you guys opinion would have been most likely sold to my road? I'd like to add 2 to 3 units and as always want to be as plausible as possible. Matt
The older guys on here could give you a better idea than I could, but I'll through in what I think. I know that all the GP38's, 40-2'd and 50's went to BN. Maybe a GP35? Or a GE unit? Lets here from some guys that know more. Ethan 14 and young.
Ethan - Everything the SLSF had on its roster in November, 1980 went to the BN and received a BN number. Some of them lasted a relatively long time, some did not and were only around for a while. I have a good renumbering table, SLSF to BN, around here somewhere. If I can find it I will post a scan of it. Ken
Is there any info on units BN got rid of rather quickly. As it stands now my road will be picking up 2nd hand RI power to power it's Frisco line purchase. I figure there were quite a few RI units floating around in 1980.
If the traffic was light enough to spin off the route, it may have needed power intended for such. The GP-15's mostly worked the branches in Oklahoma, but probably got in your area. They ran some on the Central Division, as the cover to Frisco in Color testifies. I think you can find a thread about details for them in the message history.
Several of the frisco gp-7s went on to second careers with other roads or industries (some are still active). None of these were on the roster at the time of the BN takeover, but some were on the roster as late as December 1979. Paul
Refering to Marre/Harper's Frisco Diesel Power, U25B's 808-831 were sold for scrap in September and October 1981. NW2's 250-265 were sold or scrapped in 1982 and 1983. Other classes must have survived past the book's 1984 publication date. Rich
Right now I'm leaning towards an acquisition of 3 U25B's and 2 GP38's from the Frisco augmented by a RI SW1500, and 2 RI GP38-2. I think that would have been plenty of power to handle the Ellsworth - Monett line at the time of my road's acquisition. I know the odds are that BN wouldn't have let go the 38's, but I really would like some Frisco 38's on my line.
Matthew and All: In the 70's the Frisco assigned either a single GP7 or GP38 to the Ellsworth line which was referred to as "The North End". There also was a 1200 series extended vision caboose assigned to that run and it was parked next to the building that served as a Division office and a crew locker room. When the GP15's were delivered, #102 was immediately dispatched the Wichita and the rumor was that it was going to be assigned to "The North End". It never made it that far as we (Friscotony and myself) were told that there was a bridge restriction stopping it. I scoured through Marre's book trying to figure out how a GP38 could go up there and not a GP15. The only conclusion that I ever made was that the GP15 had a shorter wheelbase and therefore more weight on each axle. GP15 #102 did remain in Wichita and replaced NW2 #261 and was used as the yard switcher. As for the bridge, there was a very interesting bridge just on the west outskirts of Valley Center that was an old turntable center. We always assumed that was the culprit is there ever was one. Back to GP15 #102 and that class of locomotive in general, the yard crew cussed the thing every day as it had a limited coupler swing. I think I read somewhere that the crews on the Ft. Smith line weren't happy with them either as there were several tight industrial spurs.
Attached is a scan of the renumbering sheet I did in the early 1980's of the Frisco locomotive roster as transferred to the BN, and the resulting assigned BN numbers for each. I hope you can read this - the original is not in good shape. I plan to make a .pdf of it as well if anyone wants that. This is a Frisco Form MP-204 loco maintenance check-off sheet with each Frisco locomotive on the roster on 8/80 - just before the time of the BN merger (11/80) noted. Each Frisco road number is listed - I then wrote in the new BN number for that same unit. So, to find the new BN number for any SLSF unit, look up the SLSF r/n and note the new BN r/n. Note also the following missing Frisco units pre-merger, plus a few changes that happened just after the merger. As listed in SLSF r/n order on the sheet: o Note MP15's SLSF 361-354 were assigned BN 4000-4004, but were quickly renumbered to BN 1000-1004 o Note GP38-2 SLSF 460, BN 2315, was wrecked and rebuilt to a GP38-2 "B-unit", BN 2601 o Note GP38 SLSF 651 was wrecked and gone prior to the merger o Note GP38-2 SLSF 660, BN 2136, was wrecked and rebuilt to a GP38-2 "B-unit", BN 2600 o Note GP38-2 SLSF 674 was wrecked and gone prior to the merger o Note GP35 SLSF 723, BN 2573, was wrecked and gone just after the merger o Note GP50 "to be" SLSF 790 was actually the second GP50 delivered and was given r/n BN 3101 o Note GP50 "to be" SLSF 791 was actually the first GP50 to be delivered and was given the r/n BN 3100 (and was left in mandarin orange & white for a while) o Note U30b SLSF 856 was wrecked and gone prior to the merger o Note SD45 SLSF 909 was wrecked and gone prior to the merger o Note SD45 SLSF 926 was wrecked and gone prior to the merger Ken
In the realm of Alternate History, you could have a couple of Frisco U-boats (the U25Bs, from 808-831) picked up from a BN not wanting to deal with worn-out power. Perhaps a GP35 or two as well.............. Most likely, you'd be working with secondhand GP7s and GP9s. With luck, a GP7 from the CNW (and ex-Frisco at that) could wind up on the CK&W.
