My great grandfather was a brakeman on the Frisco between 1905 and thew 1950s, when he retired as a conductor. I have pictures of him and the train crew in the Monett MO railyards standing with Engine #1231. He was a brakeman before the advent of Pullman brakes. Once he was on the top of a car, trying to turn the brake wheel, when he slipped and fell. Sliding toward the edge of the moving car, he clawed for any purchase he could find, to avoid going over the side and under the wheels. As he slid, something caught just long enough for a flailing hand to grab the edge of the catwalk and he pulled himself to safety. When he got into Springfield, he saw that the little heart locket he wore on his watch chain was dented! His wife, my great grandmother, had given him the locket in 1906 as a first wedding anniversary present. When he got back home to Monett, my great grandmother saw the dent and said "I can take this and have it fixed." and he said "Absolutely not! That locket saved my life! The dent stays!" I still have that little gold locket, on a section of his watch chain. The dent is there. Had it not been for that locket... he could have been killed, and I would not exist! SHIP IT ON THE FRISCO!!
I grew up in West Plains, MO in the late 70s early 80s. Had a teacher whose husband was an engineer and we could see his train from our 3d grade window when he'd go by...Mrs Gayle and Mr Wayne Sowell, thanks for memories of 1977.
Fun times! I remember the Frisco, going through my hometown of Lockwood, MO.....if I recall correctly, Burlington Northern bought out the Frisco in 1980, when I was 12....BNSF still rolls through my hometown, part of the Ft Scott subdivision....still miss the Frisco, though
Those trains were flyin'! And, great camera angles of those trains coming around a bend, speeding into the frame from behind a viaduct, and emerging from trestles. The filmographer knew what he was doing. I need to read up on this railroad. It is a road I know little about except that they ran The Texas Special with The Katy out of St. Louis for a while, and that Frisco became part of Burlington Northern.
Thanks for posting. As a railfan and especially a Frisco fan, these bring back some memories from when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's in Tulsa. I remember seeing these, from the Frisco Cherokee Yard in west Tulsa, east thru Vinita Ok.
Not sure what this was filmed on, but pretty unusual to have the real sound with it. I lived in both St. Louis and Springfield in the 70’s as a kid. I was allowed to ride a switcher around Lindenwood one time. One of the highlights of my young life!
That's a very nice video of the latest 1970's. The Frisco caboose is still sitting here at Valley Park, Missouri today and for pictures and photos of it only.
Cool video! I’m very familiar with that location and have seen a lot of trains pass through there. The old metal bridge crossing over the Meramec River is still in use today. Its sister (141 bridge) was replaced maybe in the mid-80’s. I used to be terrified crossing that bridge when I was a kid.
11:10 you can make out the number 440 on the lead unit. 440 was a GP38-2 built August 1974. The minimal amount of weathering would indicate its still fairly new. Scenery gets greener as the video goes on, so I would say it's reasonable to nail down filming dates of late 1974 into 1975.
There are a handful of T54s, Northerns, and Mikados on static display. I think 1630 is the only operational one left, since 1522 retired due to major maintenance issues in 2002
@Steven Williamson. Indeed, the frisco was fast freight done right. With a well maintained locomotive fleet and immaculate track conditions to allow those high speeds. I'm sure the efficiency was high too. As the title says, "Ship It On The Frisco!" It was sad when 1980 rolled around though.
Was the Frisco known for running short and fast freights? These trains look like they’re moving 60 at least. Except for the ones that seem to be pulling a grade.
Frisco was almost all Leslie S5Ts save for a few M5s on GP7s. The horns were not maintained and constantly went out of tune. Each engine seemed to have its own unique horn sound.
My great grandfather was a brakeman on the Frisco between 1905 and thew 1950s, when he retired as a conductor. I have pictures of him and the train crew in the Monett MO railyards standing with Engine #1231. He was a brakeman before the advent of Pullman brakes. Once he was on the top of a car, trying to turn the brake wheel, when he slipped and fell. Sliding toward the edge of the moving car, he clawed for any purchase he could find, to avoid going over the side and under the wheels.
As he slid, something caught just long enough for a flailing hand to grab the edge of the catwalk and he pulled himself to safety.
When he got into Springfield, he saw that the little heart locket he wore on his watch chain was dented! His wife, my great grandmother, had given him the locket in 1906 as a first wedding anniversary present. When he got back home to Monett, my great grandmother saw the dent and said "I can take this and have it fixed." and he said "Absolutely not! That locket saved my life! The dent stays!"
I still have that little gold locket, on a section of his watch chain. The dent is there. Had it not been for that locket... he could have been killed, and I would not exist!
SHIP IT ON THE FRISCO!!
Hence the slogan" Frisco fast freight"!!!!!!!!!!! Loved it. Brought back memories from my college years. Thank you.
I grew up in West Plains, MO in the late 70s early 80s. Had a teacher whose husband was an engineer and we could see his train from our 3d grade window when he'd go by...Mrs Gayle and Mr Wayne Sowell, thanks for memories of 1977.
Fun times! I remember the Frisco, going through my hometown of Lockwood, MO.....if I recall correctly, Burlington Northern bought out the Frisco in 1980, when I was 12....BNSF still rolls through my hometown, part of the Ft Scott subdivision....still miss the Frisco, though
FRISCO. Gone but not forgoten.
That's old school railroading at it's best..
Holy cow, those trains are flying!!!
I remember waiting on a Frisco freight while walking on west Main St. in Antlers, OK on the Arthur Sub.(Fort Smith to Hugo, OK)
All gas no brakes from start to finish. Holy fuck, this KICKS ASS.
Frisco Fucking Flying. Looks like Valley Park MO. MoPac on the high fill in the background and all the new Chryslers on the auto racks.
This is crazy to see, especially with the shot of the frisco in valley park going past the wye before 141 was put there.
Those trains were flyin'! And, great camera angles of those trains coming around a bend, speeding into the frame from behind a viaduct, and emerging from trestles. The filmographer knew what he was doing.
I need to read up on this railroad. It is a road I know little about except that they ran The Texas Special with The Katy out of St. Louis for a while, and that Frisco became part of Burlington Northern.
Its amazing how much more prosperous the railroads looked then compared to the graffiti plastered ones of today.
yes, in comparison to today they were heaven.
Love those old emds
Thanks for posting. As a railfan and especially a Frisco fan, these bring back some memories from when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's in Tulsa. I remember seeing these, from the Frisco Cherokee Yard in west Tulsa, east thru Vinita Ok.
Not sure what this was filmed on, but pretty unusual to have the real sound with it. I lived in both St. Louis and Springfield in the 70’s as a kid. I was allowed to ride a switcher around Lindenwood one time. One of the highlights of my young life!
That's a very nice video of the latest 1970's. The Frisco caboose is still sitting here at Valley Park, Missouri today and for pictures and photos of it only.
7:01 Ha, I knew right where he was. Was just there last week. It’s a great spot to lookout.
Grew up in Grandview, MO. Used to ride the Clinton mixed- “Passengers carried in the caboose between Centropolis and Clinton”.
Classic Beautiful of Mid70s in the St Louis area
Love the Frisco
Cool video! I’m very familiar with that location and have seen a lot of trains pass through there. The old metal bridge crossing over the Meramec River is still in use today. Its sister (141 bridge) was replaced maybe in the mid-80’s. I used to be terrified crossing that bridge when I was a kid.
Throttle 8 , no brake. I wish I would have been around those days
I remember the gyro lights too
11:10 you can make out the number 440 on the lead unit. 440 was a GP38-2 built August 1974. The minimal amount of weathering would indicate its still fairly new. Scenery gets greener as the video goes on, so I would say it's reasonable to nail down filming dates of late 1974 into 1975.
Sad that Frisco (or SLSF) Was Merged to Burlington Northern in 1980, But We Still have the 1522, and 1630
There are a handful of T54s, Northerns, and Mikados on static display. I think 1630 is the only operational one left, since 1522 retired due to major maintenance issues in 2002
Please tell me theres more?!
They had to be pushing at least 70-75 miles per hour at 07:20.
And at 8:40.
@Steven Williamson. Indeed, the frisco was fast freight done right.
With a well maintained locomotive fleet and immaculate track conditions to allow those high speeds.
I'm sure the efficiency was high too.
As the title says, "Ship It On The Frisco!"
It was sad when 1980 rolled around though.
Frisco maintained everything but those odd sounding air horns.
@UPking. Yeah, they do sound quite fouled.
A Leslie S5T shouldn't sound like that.
But yes, everything else was highly maintained.
Looks like Frisco had two speeds for their trains.
Fast and sit down,shut up and hang on.
For sure. Can you believe BNSF trains max out at 45 MPH on this line today? Unacceptable!
Nice 👍
Did Frisco gp7s have dual controls for long hood and short hood forward operation
I'm sad those days are gone.
cool
Was the Frisco known for running short and fast freights? These trains look like they’re moving 60 at least. Except for the ones that seem to be pulling a grade.
Most were about 60-100 cars. They did run some pig trains which were usually shorter than their traditional freights.
What kind of horn is that on these engines?Nathan M5?Leslie rst3?Nathan K5lla?
Frisco was almost all Leslie S5Ts save for a few M5s on GP7s. The horns were not maintained and constantly went out of tune. Each engine seemed to have its own unique horn sound.
Wooden axle railroad!