FRISCO

The St. Louis - San Francisco Railway

This page will cover the former Frisco Lines.  Covering the area from St. Louis, MO and Kansas City, MO south to Birmingham, AL and southwest to the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX area.   The Frisco was a mid-size regional railroad that was bought by the Burlington Northern back in 1980.  This page includes photos from 1976 and 1977.

  A pair of SD-45's are parked at the house in St. Louis.

       Kansas City, MO.  March 20, 1976.

     GP38 662 leads a train into the yards at Kansas City.  March 21, 1976.

  GP 7 517 in the old black paint scheme works at Pittsburg, KS.

  The sign at the entrance to the Springfield, MO yard.  I received written permission to visit the shop area and was given a full tour of the shops.  Unfortunately it turned out to be a rather gray, overcast morning.   April 5, 1977.

I should note here, Joe H. wrote to advise the shops were torn down in November 2005 by BNSF.

      The 200 series switchers were EMD re-engined Baldwin units.

   EMD SW 1200 number 311 in the old black colors.

  GP7 515 

    The GP35's were numbered in the 700 series.

  800 is one of the very early GE U25B's.  The first units featured the high short hood.  This unit has probably been retired by this time.

823 is a later U25B with the low short hood.

  846 is a later U30B.  That 'XR' was supposed to mean "Xtra Reliability", but since virtually every GE from the 1960's and 1970's has been scrapped while many old EMD Geeps still soldier on makes you wonder how reliable they really were.

      The Frisco's big units were their fleet of SD45's.

  The diesel shop was rather crowded and difficult for photos with one exception.  I was lucky to get the 915 with the Frisco emblem on the nose in the only open spot in the building.

  854 on an eastbound at track speed crossing the M-K-T diamonds at Vinita, Oklahoma.

  The same train back a few miles passing through the rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma.

    854 crossing the huge bridge over the Verdigis River just east of Tulsa, OK.  April 4, 1977.

  Tulsa, OK was the site of Frisco's new engine service facility.

         Some views of Frisco power at Tulsa.  April 4, 1977.

  634 is assigned to Oklahoma City.

  413 leads three other GP 38's over some very light rail at Madill, OK.

        933 on an eastbound at Madill, OK.     Wonder how many derailments occured here?

  645 and some other GP38's are in Fort Worth, Texas.  April 2, 1977

Springfield, MO was the crossing point for the two main stems of the railroad.  The Frisco was largely a big X with St. Louis and Kansas City on the top and Fort Worth and Birmingham, AL on the bottom.  Below are images from the line to Birmingham.

    932 is westbound crossing the Mississippi River at West Memphis, Arkansas.  The Frisco had their own bridge, while the Cotton Belt and Rock Island used the other.  The mainlines of each crossed at the west end of the bridge.

     Union Pacific 2815 pulls a Frisco train out of Memphis, TN and on to the bridge.

        Memphis, Tennesse yard.  

  An eastbound ready to depart for Birmingham.

             A two train meet at the east end of the yard at Amory, Mississippi.  427 is westbound from Birmingham.  March 31, 1977.

  SW9 303 works the yard at Amory, MS.

    427 a few miles back toward Birmingham swinging through Aberdeen, MS.

  Some later model EMD switchers at Birmingham, AL.

    932 departs East Thomas Yard in Birmingham on March 30, 1977.  The Frisco's main interchange here was with the Seaboard Coast Line.

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