I found this in my files tonight - don't recall if it has ever been posted on frisco.org before. This looks to be a four-page folded letter sized item for passengers on No's 1 & 2, the Texas Special. The first page, the front, looks like a page of stationery for passengers to write a letter on, the second and third inside pages are views of passengers on the train, and the fourth page, the back, is a very nice map of the route of the Texas Special over the SLSF and MKT systems. Nice item. It's in mint condition, and I have no idea whatsoever where I got it! Enjoy. Ken
The map has several prominent cities, but I wonder if anyone bought a ticket on the Texas Special just to go to Newburg!!?? TG
To All: if anyone else is up to some fun and maybe a learning experience along the way, I would like to propose a game of sorts identifying some of the objects in the photos and commenting on them. I will start with three things. (1) Notice there is a conventional rotary phone indicative of the times on the desk and the woman pictured is attempting to make a call. How was making a call accomplished? Also what car were they in? (I am guessing the Joseph Pulitzer) (2) What is the flat panel object mounted on the end of the desk? (3) What major city is pictured on the mural to the right of the bartender or waiter and what car were they in?
This is a very nice souvenir (and practical stationery item with public relations/advertising potential), Ken. Thanks for posting. O.K. I will take the quiz. 1. The telephone had some kind of radio transmitter and receiver attached. That seems to me the only way to do it. 2. The object on the end of the desk is also visible in another picture. I think it is a mailbox for letters mailed en route. 3. Seriously, I had no idea the mural depicted city. At first it looked to me like bottles on a shelf to the right of the bartender. I await other replies and, eventually, the answers! George
Sherrel - I'll certainly go dig some more. I have a thick notebook with many paper items like this in it. Bob - Neat idea for the quiz! George - I didn't see a city either. I was thinking booze bottles! I'll guess an answer in the negative sense - it ain't Newburg! Another bit of trivia about this item - it is one of the few Texas Special items that showed the Frisco coonskin logo being prominent - on top of the MKT logo (first page), and first (to the left) on pages two and three. It was, after all, a Katy train. Obviously, the Frisco printed this on their own to put in their cars ..... or ..... I wonder if the equivalent MKT car in their consist had the MKT logo on top over the coonskin on the first page, and appearing first on pages two and three? We should ask some of our MKT friends if they have seen this. Ken
I think the panel on the end of the desk is a speaker grille. This would be used by the conductor to make announcements to car occupants. I believe the city in the mural may be Dallas. Did anyone else notice the scenery out the windows beyond the desk is a painted backrop outside the windows?
All - I have a mint copy of the Frisco Lead Belt Line booklet. Has this ever been posted? I just did a quick search and did not find it. If you all agree it has not been already posted somewhere, I'll pull it out, scan it, and post it in a different thread. It's a neat little booklet! What about Frisco menu covers? I have several of them. We could start a menu cover thread, as the Frisco had many, many different ones. Ken
These kinds of things that aren't directly operations related should probably go in the Historical, Memorabilia sub-forum.
The bobtail lounge car Joseph Pulitzer had a full length antenna on the roof which I always assumed was a radio antenna for reception (i.e. radio reception). Somewhere I thought that I remembered that phone calls could be made at terminal stops when a wire was hooked up to the train. Except for HAM operators, was their even telephone service via the airwaves back then?
Tom - Perhaps, like the Meteor, the TS carried some Fort Leonard Wood passengers? Possible, but unlikely, unless the military passenger were traveling on his own, as the TXSP would have arrived from St. Louis in Newburg at around 8:00 PM. During late 1940s-early 1950s I think the military would have preferred to meet a day train. The telephone needed to be plugged into a stationary receptacle during a depot stop. I do not know how many Frisco (or Katy) depots were set up for this. As well, except in larger cities like Springfield, Tulsa, etc., there likely would not have been sufficient dwell time to make much of a telephone call. GS
I don't know about the Texas Special, but the Meteor only stopped for about 60 seconds at Newburg the half dozen or so times I rode it ca. 1960. If anyone got on or off they really had to pick it up! TG
Thanks Ken, really a great item to post! Wonder where the photos were shot? The passengers could be Frisco or Katy employees or both if taken in St. Louis. Great posed publicity photos just the same. The "train" must have been on time. Note all the happy smiling faces! Back in the 90s while I was employed with the Deutsche Bahn, the InterCity trains had regular pay phones in the first class cars. I wonder how many other passenger trains of the period had on board phone service? Pennsy's Broadway Limited, NYC's 20th Century and Santa Fe's Super Chief come to mind. The city might be Dallas. Hard to make out any minute details to confirm though. It looks like the metal object is indeed a mailbox as it is located on the writing desk. The letter drop can be seen and the open slits were provided so crew members could see if any letters had been mailed enroute. Were they handed over to the RPO car for further handling? Wonder how many through tickets were sold in St. Louis with Wichita Falls as the final destination? All aboard! Joe Toth
