Nostalgia & History > Sad tale - burned Frisco sleepers -- Dec 74

In the Houston area on a tour of the Houston Belt & Terminal by rail on a miserable day we came upon a couple of Frisco sleepers.
I don't remember where or why the cars were in the weeds (there is a track there) but unfortunately the cars had burned recently.
They were two 14 roomette 4 double bedroom cars built in 1948 by P-S for the Texas Special.
The car on the right was the Henry Shaw. The one on the left while hard to read, I believe is the Francis P. Blair.

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(2) Henry Shaw

(3-4) Francis P. Blair - not as heavily damaged as the Henry Shaw - but bad enough.
It was to bad about these cars - who knows where they would have ended up.

Gary

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Uhhh, hurts to look at. It might fill some holes in someone's roster information, however. Thanks for posting. BSB

I was unaware of this incident -- too bad about it. Here is Henry Shaw in better days, operating Fort Smith - St. Louis on train 710-10 on June 4, 1962.

Gordon

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gbmott Wrote:
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> I was unaware of this incident -- too bad about
> it. Here is Henry Shaw in better days, operating
> Fort Smith - St. Louis on train 710-10 on June 4,
> 1962.
>
> Gordon

Much better days!
Thanks.
Gary

How sad!
Bob

Wow, that's sad. When was this, just recently? I didn't realize any of these cars were left.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> Wow, that's sad. When was this, just recently? I
> didn't realize any of these cars were left.


1974 according to the title.

Read the title....who knew. Thank you.

Incredibly disappointing to see.

Were these cars passed up by Amtrak in 1971?

mp51w Wrote:
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> Were these cars passed up by Amtrak in 1971?

Since they were here, that is very likely. Also, I don't think Amtrak took ownership of passenger cars from railroads that did not join Amtrak on May 1, 1971 (there may be exceptions, but I am not aware of any; equipment was part of the "payment" railroads who had been operating passenger trains made to join Amtrak). My question would be what did Frisco do with these cars after they discontinued passenger service in the mid-1960s? Were they still owned by Frisco, or had they been sold to some other entity?

The Frisco sleepers were steel cars with stainless steel fluting over the top. Lots of moisture trapped between them resulting in a lot of rust. Since Frisco passenger service ended in 1967 (I believe) the railroad had no reason to join Amtrak. These cars were out of passenger service for four years before Amtrak came into existence.

I am a bit surprised that all the 14-4s didn't go to the Canadian National in 1965. Obviously some stayed behind.