Will the real caboose SLSF 1186 please stand up? Two Frisco cabooses numbered SLSF 1186. The smaller one is obviously, a former NEO car and was shot at St. Louis on November 28, 1974. The side-door caboose was photographed at Pensacola, FL in August 1978. Any clarification on their lives would be appreciated. Rick Morgan Edit 5/26/2024: The first photograph shows caboose SLSF 1186 (2nd). It was constructed by the Northeast Oklahoma (NEO) Railroad during 1951 at their shops in Miami, OK. When the NEO was acquired by the Frisco in 1967 the caboose was renumbered SLSF 164. During the system wide caboose renumbering program, during 7/1986 it became caboose SLSF 1164. The caboose was set aside in 3/1971. The caboose was temporally assigned number 116 after a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) all steel caboose ATSF 1654 was numbered SLSF 1164 (2nd). The former NEO car was reinstated to service during 12/1971 and was renumbered caboose SLSF 1186 (2nd). Shortly before being retired it was again renumbered to caboose SLSF 1157 (2nd). It was sold to Southwest Railroad Car Parts during 7/1974. The second photograph shows caboose SLSF 1186 (3rd). It was constructed by the Frisco during 1954 at their shops in Springfield, MO. It was one of three cabooses built from retired Howe truss boxcars. These cars featured steel sides that had replaced single sheathed wood sides on steel exterior and under frames. Theses cabooses, SLSF 155-157, included a less than car load compartment with sliding baggage doors and centered roof top copulas. This car was originally caboose SLSF 157. During the system wide caboose renumbering program, during 5/1968 it became caboose SLSF 1157. Caboose SLSF 1157 was set aside 3/1976.
Side door caboose SLSF 1186 photographed at Pensacola, FL is presently on the Sand Springs Railroad in Sand Springs, OK near Tulsa. Ii has been burned out by transients, but I am trying to buy it for restoration. i would appreciate any information about when and where it was built. The exterior bracing is remarkably similar to early outside braced Frisco cabooses without copulas. Could they have been rebuilt?
Continuing my previous post, note the photograph of Frisco caboose SLSF 952. It is listed under cabooses in the Frisco lines menu. The bracing is just too similar to be a coincidence.
Bill, Alas, no drawings that I can find in the Frisco Library here. I am not sure of build dates, either. Good luck with the restoration project. We will be eager to hear how it turns out. Maybe someone has drawings of these cabooses. That might include builder company and date. Since these could be used to haul passengers on trains as indicated in the Employee Time Table (ETT). Maybe it would qualify as a passenger car posting. A stretch, I reckon. Rick's original message not only had me wistfully thinking of watching "To Tell the Truth" but also has me flumoxxed. Roger Taylor's list of 1100-1195 series dispositions. (http://www.frisco.org/vb/showpost.php?p=9590&postcount=1) It shows SLSF 1186 as a "wood/outside-braced with side door", renumbered BN 11523. I would presume that it was the real SLSF 1186 as of the merger. The obvious patch job on the ex-NEO caboose where the "186" proves to be intriguing as well.
Could the Frisco have replaced wood in some of the outside braced cabooses with metal? Maybe that is why caboose SLSF 1186 was referred to as a wood caboose in Rick Taylor's list.