Well, this year, 2012, is a Leap Year, and today is Feb 29, "Leap Day" (?), so, 4 x 15 = 60, and the Frisco was fully dieselized in 1952, 60 years ago, equal to 15 Leap Years ago. Just think - 60 years of diesel chants and chugs! Nice! K
Well, I for one, lift a glass to all those steelworkers, pipefitters, boilermakers, machinists, electricians, carpenters, engineers, firemen, laborers, and hostlers that made it all work like a Swiss watch so many years ago. Buck Dean aka Rancho Bob
Don, Nicely done! A toast to gold, doric stripes, Frisco Faster Freight wings, nickeled cylinder heads, melodious whistles, red-mouthed bells, and to the men that ran them and kept them running. Sic semper gloria mundi.
Speaking of, in September (29th?), it will be the 10 year anniversary of the last run of the 1522. I have seen the 844 and the 3985, plus the engines of the D&SNG, and as neat as they are, they don't compare to the 1522. My time in the presence of steam locomotives is very limited, but the 1522 seems to "talk" louder, plus that deep mournful whistle.....it's the stuff songs are written about. Plus, she just looks good. No smoke lifters, no streamlining, no articulation, just a classic steam locomotive. May she one day return to steam. Pat Moreland, Union Mo.
Speaking of longing for the good things of the past, I am finishing up reading the TRRA H&TS publication for 2007 on the subject of GM&O/GM&N/M&O/Alton pullman and parlor car operations into and out of St Louis. Larry has a lot of information in there on the Alton - later GM&O - parlor cars, truly the most civilized way to travel. What a pleasure it must have been to ride in a luxury parlor car on The Alton Limited between St Louis and Chicago, enjoying your luxury chair, your snacks, libations and porter service, while waching your train easily pass up all the auto, bus and truck traffic on the parallel US 66! We'll never see that way of travel again. Most of the Frisco's luxury passenger trains ran at night, so parlor cars were not a real big thing on the Frisco. Too bad! - we could have used one on #'s 3 & 4 between Rolla and StLUS when I was at MSM, as long as it offered beer service! Ken ps -The Alton Limited was billed as "The Handsomest Train in the World". The entire train, including its 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive (USRA), was decorated in the Alton's red and maroon livery as of 1924. This was in the era, of course, where passenger trains were almost always a dull pullman green color with a black locomotive. See Arthur Dubin's "Some Classic Trains", p152.
Then rolled in the Great Depression of the 1930s and SP president A.D. McDonald had Lima and Pullman-Standard construct The World´s Most Beautiful Train in the Daylight. Then came WWII with many railroaders, including Frisco employees, losing their lives to keep America free. Perhaps we should remember these heros who didn´t live to see The Texas Special capture the name! Is the TRRA Texas Special edition still available? Any Frisco fans who haven´t purchased a copy or if you are too late you are missing or have missed a truly great well researched and written publication! Joe Toth
