Nostalgia & History > Last Frisco Passenger train50 years ago today

The last Frisco passenger trains, "The Southland" #101 and 102, left their respective home terminals (Kansas City and Birmingham) on December 8, 1967. Because these were overnight trains, they arrived at their end terminals the next day, December 9. The northbound train #102 arrived in Springfield MO on its way to Kansas City that dreary Saturday afternoon. I believe Rathole's post of yesterday was actually this train in Memphis on the morning of December 9.
Some of the E-8's had been been repainted into the modern orange and white scheme. The second E-8 on this train is #2020, formerly "Big Red"

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Some of the passenger cars had been repainted with a Pullman green stripe where the original red was.
Here we have coach-lounge-buffet "Sterling Price", coach "Manchester" and a Baldwin switcher with coach "Webster Groves"

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Time to hop aboard for the ride to Kansas City. I am a 19 year old college sophomore. On the ride to KC, we meet a freight.

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Arrival in Kansas City at 7:13 PM according to my notes. Time for a couple blurry hand held time exposures.
The end.

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Who is the guy with all that hair?

Those Birmingham roster shots are great!
What is the name on the diner?

Those turned out really good Tony. I was in sixth grade back then.

Looking forward to more scanned slides.

Nice shots!! Old Frisco Lines RR train crews were based out of Kansas City and worked to and from Springfield, MO Springfield, MO train crews worked to and from Memphis.. Fort Scott, KS engine crews worked to and from Springfield, MO. Springfield enginemen worked to and from Thayer, MO.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/17 09:44 by RodneyZona.

Nice shots on a sad day.
Gary

It was a Saturday morning which I will never forget.... Memphis,Tennessee December 9, 2017. (The year 2017 has the same calendar dates as 1967)

Thanks Tony and Rathole for posting these views. I was there to witness this last run in my hometown of Memphis as a kid aged 16. Some of my earliest photography were of last runs in the pre Amtrak era. I did not have good camera then and relied on local fans Bill White and Terry Foshee, both who were expert photographers that used Kodachrome film, to record these events. My slides are tossers but only kept by me because of my fondness for the Frisco and being there on this historic and somber occasion.

There were 3 Frisco E-8 units painted into the new "Mandarin Orange" livery in 1966-67 time frame. They were 2017 (Pensive), 2020 (Big Red) and 2022 (Champion). T

Frisco E7 and E8 units bore the names of famous horses in the 50s and 60s but around 1964 a few units appeared in this simplified livery, without names as shown by the 2006. This E8 bore the name "Traveller" at one time. The units had cat whisker stripes on the nose instead of this solid yellow.

My records show the trailing unit on this very last trip was the 2017.

Here is a view of the 2017 at Memphis Central Station in February 1966 with my cheap Kodak Instamatic camera, at age 15.

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Thanks for sharing! I really like to see photos of meets with passenger trains and freights. The passenger train must of been in the siding because it was quicker and easier to get the passenger train in and out of the siding?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Instamatic or not, still a great, now historic Memphis photo Phil!

philgos Wrote:
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> It was a Saturday morning which I will never
> forget.... Memphis,Tennessee December 9, 2017.
> (The year 2017 has the same calendar dates as
> 1967)
>
> Thanks Tony and Rathole for posting these views.
> I was there to witness this last run in my
> hometown of Memphis as a kid aged 16. Some of my
> earliest photography were of last runs in the pre
> Amtrak era. I did not have good camera then and
> relied on local fans Bill White and Terry Foshee,
> both who were expert photographers that used
> Kodachrome film, to record these events. My
> slides are tossers but only kept by me because of
> my fondness for the Frisco and being there on this
> historic and somber occasion.
>
> There were 3 Frisco E-8 units painted into the new
> "Mandarin Orange" livery in 1966-67 time frame.
> They were 2017 (Pensive), 2020 (Big Red) and 2022
> (Champion). T
>
> Frisco E7 and E8 units bore the names of famous
> horses in the 50s and 60s but around 1964 a few
> units appeared in this simplified livery, without
> names as shown by the 2006. This E8 bore the name
> "Traveller" at one time. The units had cat whisker
> stripes on the nose instead of this solid yellow.
>
> My records show the trailing unit on this very
> last trip was the 2017.
>
> Here is a view of the 2017 at Memphis Central
> Station in February 1966 with my cheap Kodak
> Instamatic camera, at age 15.


Phil,

Where was "Seabiscuit" in all of this shuffle, retired by that late date?

There was not a full diner on this train, just a coach-lounge -buffet. Sort of like an Amcafe, only one person to do cooking, etc. You ordered and picked up your food/beverage at a counter, just like an Amcafe.
The car on the last Frisco train was "Sterling Price" named for a Missouri governor and general of the Civil War era.

When was the last passenger run to Ft. Smith? Wasn't the service to Ft. Smith a local from Springfield? What I remember was meeting the train in Rogers, Ark. at like 4AM. My first railroad memories, an aunt would come home from Pennsylvania every other year or so. Final run in the early 60's?

Great thread, interesting what the last Frisco lightweights looked like without their red window bands. As an aside that's a pretty damn good photo for an Instamatic back then, wished mine looked that good. Wow.

Amazing, Tony!! I Eliot wwas on the last southbound 101 from KC! From what you said, believe we must have passed you going northbound! I detrained at Memphis to. catch the Panama Ltd northbound which was at the time a main reason for the trip and got this Frisco last run more by accident. I was a Duluth guy at the time and Frisco not my main interest. But I remember the mentioned coach diner. And some of the Frisco coaches ended up in my area on GN and NP!
Best, Eliot Haycock

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/17 20:26 by viatrainrider.

Thanks Tony..Looking forward to more....really nice...

DD40 Wrote:
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> When was the last passenger run to Ft. Smith?
> Wasn't the service to Ft. Smith a local from
> Springfield? What I remember was meeting the train
> in Rogers, Ark. at like 4AM. My first railroad
> memories, an aunt would come home from
> Pennsylvania every other year or so. Final run in
> the early 60's?

The last Frisco passenger run to Fort Smith was September 17-18, 1965. The last southbound was a scheduled train, but the last northbound, after midnight, carried white flags as an extra for the final miles of its trip, because the discontinuance was effective 1201am September 18th.

Phil is correct. The second unit is 2017. Look at the blurry night photo in KC and you can see the number.
Not sure why my old slide caption was wrong, but it happens.
Tony