Proposed "Meet & Greet"(DCC, Frisco, et. al.)

It would be helpful to ask all who plan to attend on October 25 to post a note now to confirm that. A headcount ASAP would be valuable.

Ken

 

Had I a little more notice, I could get time off to be there, but alas, I cannot. Summer of 2009 sounds good (esp. the NMRA Midcon. meet).

It's been a long time (summer 1987 in Eureka Springs, MO) since I met several of my fellow Frisco Folks.

May I humbly propose plans be set in motion for a meeting of Frisco fans come mid-2009, at a place central to most of us?

 

At last count based on the responses I have seen, only four/five people are planning to attend, counting myself.

Unfortunately, we have a short-notice houseguest this weekend, so I will not be able to stay long at the NMOT. What I propose to do is to meet up with all of you who plan to be there at around 12noon at the NMOT. Once we get everybody in, I'll take you around to the locations where the Frisco stuff is out in the museum ..... then I'll have to leave.

Everybody who is going to attend, please confirm again.

Thanks.

Ken |-|

 

We were few in number but great in "Frisco fever" at the National Museum of Transportation in StL today. The weather was perfect! Wish more of you could have joined us. Quite a few people, including a lot of kids, were visiting NMOT today. Glad to see it is still a popular attraction.

Dwain Baltz (River Hills Travler), Craig Fletcher (Ozarktraveler) and yours truly (Meteor910) attended. We paid our respects to the Frisco steam power represented at NMOT: SLSF 1522, SLSF 1621, and SLSF 3695, as well as SLSF 3000 (autorack) and the two SLSTA cars that rode behind 1522 on her travels. We looked hard for "The Meteor" RPO SLSF 251 "Normandy" but could not find it. Hopefully, it is in the NMOT shop as the last time I saw it, it was in horrible condition. We also could not locate the SLSF caboose (no number) and SLSF business car 200 still listed on the NMOT roster.

Attached are a few pics taken today. As a long time member of NMOT, SLSF 3695 is a special project of mine - I maintain it deserves much more attention than it has received in the many years it has been at the museum. It is an 0-6-0 (they don't have many of this type), it is from a St Louis fallen flag road (SLSF), and it served a former major St Louis industry (Scullin Steel) for many years, a major railroad industry supplier, now also gone. Why they don't spruce up SLSF 3695 (as Scullen Steel 95) and add it to their highlighted collection I'll never understand. I'm working on ways to raise NMOT's awareness regarding SLSF 3695. At least it is now out in the museum, and not on the back lot covered by poison ivy as it was for years. Perhaps there is hope, but time is slipping away. See the pics.

Another frustration is with SLSF 1522. The best looking locomotive in the NMOT collection is sitting in the middle of a display barn so tightly packed in that you cannot really see much of it. At least it is out of the weather.

We also paid our respects to EMC 103, a FT A-unit; the "Diesel that did it". It sits in the same barn as 1522. I think this is the single most important locomotive, in terms of its industry impact, that exists in the substantial NMOT collection. I recalled the grainy pic of the EMC FT 103 demo set sitting in Newburg while demonstrating on the SLSF.

A good time! I enjoyed meeting Dwain and Craig.

Ken

ps - Also note the poling pocket bolted on to the frame of an arch-bar truck under an old Union Tank Line t/c in the collection. Dwain's sharp eye caught this detail. Anyone ever seen a pole pocket mounted on a car truck before?