Volume 11 1998 Number 3

VOLUME 11 1998 NUMBER 3

Summer Days in the Ozarks 3Bed and Breakfast - A new idea or a reworked, repackaged,and renamed old idea? This feature profiles 1917-1921 bedand breakfast, Frisco style.

Classic Frisco 5Call them what you will - Inspection Car, Motorized HandCar, Speeder, etc. They were an essential tool for sectioncrews, signal maintainers, anyone who needed theirservice. This photo feature presents two examples ofearly Classic Frisco models!

Yale Roundhouse Remnants 6A recently discovered archival file provides some rare photosof what appears to be the last remnants of the Frisco's Yale,TN, roundhouse and machine shop.

Frisco Roster Tales 9In this installment of Roster Tales Frisco Folk Ken Wulfertconcludes his Yard Power series, installment number ten,Frisco's First Diesels.

Mail Car 10A rare look at Frisco train wrecks, head-on variety, is thesubject of this installment of our Mail Car feature.

Frisco Standard Plans 12-13This is the fifth in our Standard Plans series that providesreprints of original Frisco Standard Plan designs. This issuefeatures plans for Data For Typical Mile Of Track.

Caboose Chronicles 14Book 2 of our Caboose Chronicles series profiles - Phase IWood Cupola Era -of Frisco caboose construction and history.

Down At The Depot 18Station G664 on the Chickasha Sub, Southwestern Division,and Station K744 on the Enid & Hobart Sub, WesternDivision, was one and the same at Snyder, OK, our DownAt The Depot feature in this issue.

Rick's Tips 21This edition of Rick's Tips provides our model railroadingmembers with some tricks and tips for making wooden decksmore realistic.

"Frisco passenger car on fire " 22Frisco Baseball Flash 23

Want to know how Frisco travelers kept up with the currentbaseball game scores? Check out the Frisco Baseball Flash!

FRONT: No, it's not a mistake! We intentionally turned our frontcover on its side so you could appreciate the full majesty of JohnWinfield's "That Frisco Flair" color print of Frisco motive power!

BACK: A rare glimpse at the cover of the Frisco System Magazine,Christmas November 1902, is featured on our back cover.

Ozarks

BOOKLET Giving a List of PrivateHomes, Hotels and Boarding Housesin the Ozark Mountains of NorthwestArkansas, where one will find rest and

recreation, with a hospitable welcome; a cool,invigorating climate ; magnificent views,

and many interesting places.

It has been said that90% of the new ideas peoplecome up with now days aresimply old ideas that have beenreworked, repackaged, andrenamed. While some mightquestion such a statement, arecent museum acquisitionseems to suggest that there isan element of truth in it.

One "new" idea that hasgrown in popularity over thepast few years has been theBed and Breakfast concept oflodging. Many folks acrossthe country have opened theirhomes to the traveling public,offering "down home" hospi-tality as an alternative to theimpersonal atmosphere of achain operated motel. Manyold abandon homes and store

WALNUT GROVE FARM. The homeof J.N. Woods situated 4 1/2 miles northeastof Frisco station. Has nine rooms; modern.Farm of three hundred acres; plenty of goodfruit, fresh butter, eggs, vegetables, etc. Apleasant drive to town through beautifulorchards. Bath and conveniences. Canaccommodate ten persons. Livery charge,$1.25 per trip to and from Frisco station.Rates, $1.25 per day, $7.00 per week. J.N.Woods, Walnut Grove Farm, R.F.D. No. 3,Rogers, Ark. (1917)

fronts have been given new lifeas remodeled Bed and Break-fast accommodations. It isestimated that there are cur-rently over 4,000 such facili-ties in operation nation wide.

New idea, or simply anold one reworked, repackaged,and renamed? According totwo brochures recently acquiredby the museum, Bed and Break-fast accommodations, "AlongThe Frisco Lines," have beenaround for a long time!

A 1917 (Summer DaysIn The Ozarks) and 1921 (Va-cations In The Ozarks), bro-chure produced by the FriscoPassenger Traffic Departmentlist homes, hotels, and board-ing houses in the Ozarks re-gion of Southwest Missouri and

Northwest Arkansas. Accord-ing to our records, these travelguides were updated and is-sued on a yearly basis.

Here are some classicexamples of Summer Days InThe Ozarks, Along the FriscoLine.

NEW ST. LOUIS FLATS. A 25-roomhouse on summit of mountain, at end of carline. Light housekeeping. Hasaccommodations for 75 persons; proprietorkeeps cows and raises vegetables andchickens. Rates on application. T.J.Reynolds, New St. Louis Flats, EurekaSprings, Ark. (1917)

THE home of E.B. Julien is located abouta mile and one-half north of Frisco station atSeymour, Mo., on a two hundred and eightyacre farm. The house contains eight roomsand can accommodate eight guests. Goodfishing, bathing and boating in the JamesRiver, which is about a half mile distant.Excellent meals. Will meet guests at trainwith conveyance when requested; no charge.Rates: #1.50 per day; $10.00 per week;$35.00 per month. E.B. Julien, Seymour,Mo. (1921)

HOME OF MRS. A.F. WOLF. FormerlyArkansas building at St. Louis World's Fair,now located on Mt. Nord, in the suburbs ofFayetteville; altitude, 24000 feet. Canaccommodate a few summer boarders.Rates, $10.00 per week. Bus service fromstation, charge 25c. Mrs. A.F. Wolf,Fayetteville, Ar. (1917)

HOME of Josie Smith, twelve milesnorthwest of Lebanon, Mo. A 12-roomhouse, capable of accommodating twentypeople. Niangua River is one-half miledistant and affords good fishing, boating,and bathing; Our own farm products areserved on the table. Conveyance may beobtained at Lebanon. $2.00 per day; $12.00per week. (1921)

HOME of W.K. Deffebach, two and one-half miles southwest of Frisco station atSullivan, Mo. Six room house withbeautiful shade trees; screened porches.Accommodations for eight or ten persons.Bathroom in house. Plenty of milk, cream,butter, eggs, and vegetables. Fruit andberries in season. Good cooking. Rates:$2.00 per day; $14.00 per week; will meetguests on request; charge, fifty cents. W.K.Deffebach, Sullivan, MO. ( 1921)

HOME OF W.R. WINN. A farm housewith seven rooms. One mile north ofWinslow, Ar., up in the mountains. Canaccommodate ten persons. Has largeorchard. Proprietor raises chickens andvegetables; keeps cows. Rates, $1.50 perday, $7.00 per week. W.R. Winn, Winslow,Ark. (1917)

This folder is exhaustively revised each season,and each resort shown herein is investigatedas carefully as possible. Vacation parties whodiscover inaccuracies will confer a favor uponthe Railroad by reporting same. ( 1917)

Call them what you will - Inspection Car,Motorized Hand Car, Gang Car, Section Car,Motor Car, Speeder, etc. Whatever they werecalled by those who used them, (some of whichare probably not suitable for print) these uniquepieces of rail equipment were a mainstay onAmerican railroads, including the Frisco, formany years. They were an essential tool forsignal maintainers, section crews, bridge gangs,and anyone else who needed their services.

Our Classic Frisco feature in this issueincludes rare photos of two examples: Onesteam powered unit and one, complete withcow catcher.

RC 1100 is shown, complete with cow catcher, atthe Frisco's Oklahoma City yards, August 12, 1926.Gentleman standing alongside is identified asJ. Roy Sloan. Photo from the collection of FriscoFolk Jerry Broudy.

Steam powered speeder. Date and location unknown. Photo from Museum collection.

Yale Roundhouse RemnantsA recently discovered

archival file has provided somerare photos of what appear tobe the last remnants of theFrisco's Yale, TN, roundhouseand machine shop.

In addition to the pho-tos, the file contains corre-spondence from June, 24, 1940,through October 22, 1952,

regarding additions and re-model of the old shop for thePatterson Transfer Company.The old roundhouse was ap-parently being used as theirwarehouse No. 2, with whatappears to be storage for alocal automobile dealer.

According to a June 25,1951, diagram contained in

the file, their warehouse No. 1was a two-story concrete build-ing adjacent to the old round-house to the south.

If anyone has additionalphotos of the roundhouse and/or information about its his-tory, please contact the mu-seum office!

Old Yale (Memphis) Roundhouse, May 27, 1940, south elevation. Frisco photo

Old Yale (Memphis) Roundhouse, May 27, 1940, west elevation. Frisco photo

Old Yale (Memphis) Roundhouse, May 27, 1940, north elevation. Frisco photo

Old Yale (Memphis) Roundhouse, May 27, 1940, north elevation. Frisco photo

Old Yale (Memphis) Roundhouse, May 27, 1940, northeast corner. Frisco photo

Old Yale (Memphis) Roundhouse, May 27, 1940, interior looking north. Frisco photo

VO-1000 201, in service at North Yards, Springfield, MO, March 1, 1954.A. Johnson photo

The last two installmentsof Roster Tales (All Aboard,Summer 1995, and Winter 1995-1996), discussed the group ofFrisco diesel switcher locomo-tives reviewed in this ten-partmini-series, in which we dis-cussed these very importantyard locomotives. This finalgroup was, of course, the 38Baldwin VO-1000 switchers,which were the first group ofdiesel locomotives received andput in service by the Frisco,plus the lighter Baldwin VO-660's and the later, improvedBaldwin DS-4-4-1000's. Thiscurrent Roster Tale will wrapup this discussion on Frisco'sdiesel switchers.

First, though, I must com-ment on the passing of LeeBuffington (All Aboard, Fall1995, "FarewellMr. Frisco") Leewas one of the grand people ofthe old Frisco, and was a closefriend of mine and many oth-ers in the Frisco family. Heand I often had detailed dis-cussions about Frisco motivepower, and I always marveledat how clear his mind was onthis topic, even up to his lastyear. He had detailed notesand reference material, muchof which is in the museum'sarchives now, and was alwayswilling to share informationabout his beloved Frisco. In-deed, the idea and inspirationbehind these Roster Tale ar-ticles came from Lee, as didmost of the information con-tained in the articles. Lee will

be missed by many, includingyour author. I was honored toknow him!

Lee's last letter to mecontained more information onthe Baldwin switchers we havebeen discussing in the last twoRoster Tales. The informa-tion he provided follows:"An item of interest may be the orderpattern of the early Baldwins. Thefirst order called for five 1000HPswitchers (Baldwin VO-1000's); thesecond called for two 660HP (BaldwinVO-660's) and eight 1000HP switch-ers. The third order called for five660HP and five 1000HP switchers,but this order was changed later toten 1000HP switchers. This accountsfor a total of 23-1000HP and 2-660HPswitchers in the early group fromBaldwin. The 660HP orders werecanceled and replaced by more 1000HPunits because we soon found out thatthe smaller switchers were not heavy

or powerful enough to provide theperformance the Frisco wanted.The entire Baldwin switcher orderpattern was as follows:

• First order-1000HP-SLSF 200-204• Second order-1000HP-SLSF 205-

212; 660HP SLSF 600-601• Third order-1000HP-SLSF 213-222• Fourth order-1000HP-SLSF223-229• Fifth order-1000HP-SLSF 230-235• Sixth order-1000HP-SLSF 236-237• Seventh order-1000HP-SLSF 238-

241 (DS-4-4-1000's)All this information is from my per-sonal notebook."Thank you Lee. May you restin peace.

The next Roster Taleseries will discuss the newest,and last, diesel locomotives theFrisco ordered, the 3500HP EMDGP-50's, which were to be num-bered SLSF 790-799.

QUESTION: At a garage salerecently, I purchased a bookabout train wrecks and wasfascinated with the chapter onhead-on collisions. I am surethe Frisco had their share ofwrecks. Did they ever have anyhead-on ones and do you haveany pictures of them?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The book our readeris referring to is Train Wrecks-A PictorialHistory of Accidents on The Main Line,by Robert C. Reed, 1968.

ANSWER: Yes, the Frisco hadtheir share of train wrecks,including the four head-onvariety pictured here.

Just Time To JumpAn early wood cut depicts everytrain crew's worst nightmare. Withthe inevitable about to happen, thereis little time to act.

Both photos from the Ed Galbraith collection, date and location unknown.

Caption on this photo reads, 'Wreck on the AV and W. Near Tulsa. Jan. 4 '09." The Arkansas Valleyand Western was the Frisco predecessor between West Tulsa and Avard. Ed Galbraith collection.

Frisco 442 and 810 got together in Republic, MO, in this rare 1902 photo. Ed Galbraith collection.

DATA FOR TYPICALMILE OF TRACK

Book 2 "Buggy, cage, clown,

wagon, crib, crummy, doghouse,hut, louse cage, monkey house,shanty, way car... what did allthese names have in common?They were all railroad slang forthe most enduring and univer-sal icon of railroading... the ca-boose!

Over the years, locomo-tives have changed in appear-

ance, size, color, and operation.Freight cars have progressedfrom 30' all wood box cars, to 86'all steel high capacity giants, toarticulated intermodal contain-erization unit trains. The vastassortment of passenger equip-ment once operated by the rail-roads has come and gone. Theonly class of rail equipment thathas remained relatively the samein size, design, and use has been

the railroad caboose. On theFrisco, the color even stayedbasically the same for over ninetyyears!

Although the caboose inrevenue service is now a thing ofthe past, for those of us whohave fond memories of their pre-dictable appearance at the endof the train complete with wav-ing crew, something will alwaysbe missing on modern consists.

This is the second in ourCaboose Chronicles series inwhich we are profiling the his-tory of Frisco cabooses, prima-rily through the eyes of thosewho had enough foresight tocapture their simple beauty onfilm. The word "attempt" shouldbe emphasized in describing thegoal of this series because whilethey were the most stable ele-ment of Frisco freight operations,

'MullyType" side-door caboose No. 319 in service on the Frisco July26, 1915.The side door has beenblocked, side step removed, and end platforms added. Notice the word FRISCO in place of thecorporate coon skin logo and the "St.L.& S.F." reporting marks.

Photo from the collection of Larry Parrish

'Mully Type" side-door caboose No. 343 in service on the Frisco in 1950, at Tulsa, OK.Photo from the collection the Frisco Railroad Museum Inc.

the amount of information aboutFrisco cabooses currently avail-able in our archives is regret-fully lacking. Consequently, asthe series progresses our read-ers are encouraged to help us fillin the gaps by sharing any infor-mation and/or photos hey haveabout Frisco cabooses.

The early side door ca-booses (see All Aboard, Volume11, Number 2, pp. 18-21) wereeventually phased out by mostrailroads due to safety issues.Getting on and off of a movingcar from the side door proved tobe a dangerous and often deadlyoperation. It is interesting tonote, however, that according toour records at least one was stillin service on the Frisco as late as1950.

A July 26, 1915 photoshows No. 319 in service withside doors blocked, side stepremoved, and end platformsadded. A 1938 company dia-

gram indicated that in 1929-1930 some of the side door "mullytype" cabooses were rebuilt bythe Frisco with side door still inuse. A 1950 photo shows No.343 in service at Tulsa, OK, stillconfigured in the early side en-trance design.

On March 28, 1923, thedesign and appearance of Friscocabooses forever changed whenplans were approved for a newshop built "Standard Caboosewith Steel Underframe." Al-though this plan was modifiedmany times over the years, itbecame the standard for Friscocabooses for over twenty years.

Phase I Wood Cupola Era1923-1938

The original design Frisco shopbuilt cabooses featured a steelunderframe and wood super-structure, with a slant sidewood cupola. These early units

were originally sided with tongue& grove car siding and their roofswere covered with canvas andtar. They were numbered, non-consecutively, in series 199-940.They rode on Bettondorf typetrucks equipped with full ellipticsprings.

While they all basically"looked" the same, as the ac-companying photos show, overthe years the standard designwas subjected to a wide varietyof modifications.

According to our records,1938 was the last year the Friscocabooses were constructed withthe wood cupolas.

In our next installment ofCaboose Chronicles, we will ex-amine Phase II of Frisco cabooseconstruction - The Steel CupolaEra - 1938-1946.

SL-SP 746 is the oldest photo we have that matches the oldest diagram we have of the early shop build Frisco caboosesdesign. Items to note: 1) Standard design wooden slant side cupola. 2) Space between first and second windows. 3)Two tread platform steps. 3) Single end platform railing. 4) Ladder mounted to end edge of roof. 5) No end windows.6) Size and placement of Frisco logo and reporting marks. Photo from the collection of W.C. Pollard

SL-SF 709 is shown in service at Springfield, MO, November 27, 1947. Items and modifications to note: 1) Metal rodbracing on cupola (original standard design) 2) Two tread platform steps replaced with three tread units. 3) Size andplacement of Frisco logo and reporting marks. 5) Railings and grab irons painted same color as caboose. (originalstandard design). A. Johnson photo

SL-SF 813, in service at Pittsburg, KS, May 30, 1948. Items and modifications to note: 1) Addition of end windows.2) New safety railing on end platform and all railings, grab irons, and step edges painted yellow (September, 1947modifications). 3) Frisco Lines logo. A. Johnson photo

SL-SF 937, in service at Enid, OK, May 30, 1958. Items and modifications to note: 1) Spacing between second andthird windows. 2) Addition of safety ladder (1938 modification made on some units 3)Addition of 10" silver Scotchlitediamond reflectors on end of car (1953 addition). 4) Raising of platform whstle position. 5) Frisco logo.

Photo from the collection of John C. La Rue, Jr.

DOWN AT THE DEPOT

The crossroads of theFrisco in southwest Oklahomawas Snyder, OK, Station G664on the Chickasha Subdivision-Southwestern Division andK744 on the Enid & HobartSubdivision-Western Division.Both station numbers reflectdistance from St. Louis, MO.

The east-west segment of theSnyder crossroads began onJuly 15, 1899, when the Okla-homa City and Western Rail-road Company was incorpo-rated. It was organized by C. G.Jones and associates of Okla-homa City. Aside from com-pleting the organization, noth-ing was done until the latterpart of 1901 when the con-tracting firm ofJohnston Broth-ers of St. Elmo, IL, enteredinto an agreement to constructthe line, with payment to bemade in stock and bonds ofthe company.

On October 15, 1901,

Johnston Brothers agreed tosell all the securities it re-ceived to the St. Louis TrustCompany of St. Louis. OnApril 4, 1902, the securitieswere in turn sold to the St.Louis and San Francisco Rail-road Company. Ownership ofthe line was officially trans-ferred to the Frisco on July18, 1907. At that time, thecompany owned about 174miles of standard gauge, singletrack railroad, located entirelywithin the State of Oklahoma,extending from Oklahoma City,southwesterly, to the southbank of the Red River.

This (Postmarked) September 21, 1925 Fred Harvey postcard identifiesthe subject as the FRISCO STATION AND LUNCH ROOM, SNYDER OKLA-HOMA.

The north-south seg-ment of the Snyder rail cross-roads began on March 6, 1900,with the incorporation of theBlackwell, Enid, and South-western Railway Co. It wasorganized by Ed L. Peckhamand associates of Balckwell,OK. Prior to construction ofthe line, the Mississippi ValleyTrust Company of St. Louisbecame interested in the projectand formed a syndicate to fi-nance construction. Controlpassed to the syndicate onAugust 31, 1900.

Early in 1902, the syn-dicate incorporated its inter-est under the name of Bes LineConstruction Company, whichon February 27, 1902, madean agreement with the St. Louisand San Francisco RailroadCo. to complete the line of TheBlackwell, Enid, and South-western and to sell the entirecapital stock of the companyto the Frisco upon completionof construction. On February8, 1903, the capital stock wasdelivered to the Frisco and onJuly 20, 1907, a formal deed

was executed conveying allproperty, rights, and franchises.At that time, the companyowned about 238 miles of stan-dard gauge, single track rail-road, located entirely in theState of Oklahoma, extendingfrom Blackwell to a connec-tion with the track of the Friscoat Red River.

Although probably notthe first depot in Snyder, theone pictured above served thetraveling needs of the commu-nity for well over fifty years.

Built in 1910, the allbrick station measured 221'10" long and 25' 2" wide. Theeast half of the station wasdevoted to railroad business,including an express room onthe east end, baggage room,"negro" waiting room, womensrest room, ticket office, andlarge "white" waiting room.

The west half of the de-pot was occupied by the FredHarvey lunch room, kitchen,storage room, and an enclosedbrick courtyard area. The

second floor of the buildingprovided living quarters for theHarvey Girls working in thelunchroom below. The SnyderHarvey House was one of overnineteen newsstands and lunchrooms operated by Fred Harveyon the Frisco between 1896and 1930.

The depot featured a tilehip roof design with an ap-proximate 1/3 & 1/4 pitch.The exterior was red brick ona concrete foundation. Inte-rior floors were tile and con-crete, walls brick and plaster,and the ceilings were 15' tall.Steam heat was provided, restroom facilities were inside, andthe station had electric light-ing.

In 1950, the Snyder fa-cility also included a signaldepartment supply house,50,000 gals. water tank, el-evated fuel oil tank and pump-ing station, machine shop, sandhouse and bin, track scales,cotton platform, bunk houseand section house.

The first passengertrains to serve the 1910 builtSnyder station were 9-10, theMeteor connection betweenOklahoma City and Quanah,TX., and 609-610 betweenKansas City, MO and Vernon,TX.

In the 1920's, servicewas increased with the addi-tion of trains 7 & 8 the South-west Limited, and a local be-tween Enid and Vernon, Nos.621-622. The 1930's and 40'ssaw the continuation of theMeteor connection and Tulsato Vernon local.

According to our records,passenger service to Snyderended on the Meteor connec-tion in 1955 and the Enid toVernon line in 1956.

Snyder, OK, depot end, looking northwest. December, 1967

Snyder, OK, depot end, looking southwest. December, 1967

Snyder, OK, lunch room end, looking southeast. December, 1967

gondola. The only drawback isthat the plastic deck must firstbe carved away in order to putthe wood deck in place. This isa time consuming task but theresulting effort can produce arealistic "see-through" effect ifall of the planks are not buttedup against each other tightly.

before applying to the car andstill achieve a plausibleweathered deck look. I like usinglighter colors like Floquil Primer(110009), SP Lettering Gray(110130), Concrete (110082) andUP Harbor Mist Gray (110167). Ilike to follow both painted andstained decks with a very light

Frisco Folk Rick McClellanshares with us an assortmentof modeling tricks, tips, andneat things to do that arerelatively simple, inexpensive,and quick, all of which canenhance the appearance andoperation of your layout.

Making WoodenDecks More

Realistic

I enjoy seeing cars thathave open loads like flat carsand gondolas. Modelers willoften go to great lengths to makea prototypical load but set it ona deck that is painted the samecolor as the car on which it rides.Flat car decks are normally woodand are rarely painted and steelrusting in very short order.

I know of two ways tomake a wooden car deck morerealistic. Each has its meritsand drawbacks. The first is tocarve the plastic deck off andglue prestained wood planks onthe plastic carbody. The other isto paint the deck and make theeye believe that the plastic iswood. I have seen some veryconvincing painted wood decks.

Real Wood DecksReal wood decks have the

distinct advantage of being madeout of the same thing thatprototype car decks are madefrom, real wood. Scale lumber iseasy to find and stain and itlooks great on a flat car or

The planks should beprestained/painted and precutto length before they are glued tothe car. This is the fast and mostrewarding part of the project.Many modelers use variousmixtures of India ink to staintheir scale lumber with very goodresults. Lumber stained withIndia ink usually has shadesthat vary from charcoal to darkgray. The photograph of SLSF

1306 shows what a real wooddeck stained with India ink cando for the appearance of a flatcar.The scale lumber could also bepainted various shades of gray

coat of Floquil Grimy Blackairbrushed on to blend thedifferent colors together just abit to show that they have allseen the same bout of foot trafficor the effects of numerous loads.PAINTED PLASTIC DECKS

Plastic decks have theadvantage of already being inplace. Their big drawback isthat they are usually paintedthe same color as the car and

lack wood grain detail. Theplastic deck can be painted toresemble wood and be verybelievable. This is the timeconsuming process, painting

each individual plank.As already mentioned, I

use Floquil Primer (110009), SPLettering Gray (110130),Concrete (110082) and UPHarbor Mist Gray (110167) topaint the deck. I alternate thecolors on adjacent planks tohighlight each plank with adifferent color. SLSF 95434shows the initial painting ofPlanks with the first shade ortwo of gray. Modelers wantingan even better looking deck cango over gray painted planks witha slightly lighter shade of gray in

a dry brush fashion. Thestreaking caused by the drybrush technique will resemblethe wood grain often left off ofmost plastic flatcar decks. Don'tworry if you put a small amountof paint on the next plank. Yourgoofs will be covered when theadjacent plank is painted. Onceall the planks are painted, use ahobby knife or the point of acompass to rescribe the spacesbetween the planks. This willdefine the edges of each plankand get rid of some of the unevenbrush strokes.

The final step is to applya very light coat of Floquill GrimyBlack (airbrush on) to blend thedifferent colors together just abit to show that they have allseen the same amount ofweathering and service. Slsf4173 shows a finished plasticdeck that is painted andweathered.

Now that you know a littlemore about wood decks, try thesetechniques on a few of your flatsor gons and see how you like theresults. With better looking flatsand gondolas your customersare certain to...

Description on back of this photo reads, "Frisco passenger car burning (caughtfrom roadside brushfire) just west of Northview on west bound train No. 3. Picture taken about 3:00 p.m., March 28,1962 by Howard Fillmer. Strafford (MO) fire department in background."

Before the days of portable radios, wrist televisionand cell phones, if you were riding the train duringthe big game, your only source of news and scoreswas by way of the FRISCO BASEBALL FLASH,periodic game up- dates provided as a service to folksriding on the Frisco.