St. Louis–San Francisco Railway


The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, commonly known as the "Frisco", was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central United States from 1876 to November 21, 1980. At the end of 1970, it operated of road on of track, not including subsidiaries Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway and the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad. That year, it reported 12,795 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers. In 1980 it was purchased by and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad. Despite its name, it never came close to San Francisco.

History

The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, commonly called the Frisco, was incorporated in Missouri on September 7, 1876. It was formed from the Missouri Division and Central Division of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. This land grant line was one of two railroads authorized by the federal government to build across Indian Territory.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, interested in the A&P right of way across the Mojave Desert to California, took the road over but went bankrupt in 1893. The receivers retained the western right of way but divested the ATSF of the St. Louis–San Francisco mileage on the Great Plains. After bankruptcy, the Frisco emerged as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, incorporated on June 29, 1896. It later also declared bankruptcy.
In 1903, Frisco executives engaged in negotiations to purchase large tracts of land in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana "up to the Orleans Parish line" as part of plans of "gigantic scope" to further the expansion of the company's rail lines and operations facilities across the state. As part of this plan, the executives proposed relocation of the residents of the historically Black community of Fazendeville to the much smaller, neighboring village of Versailles, which was described as a "settlement consist merely of a row of very small properties along a public road running at right angles from the river to the railroad track"; however, many of Fazendeville's residents resisted and then ultimately refused the railway's financial offers. According to one of the newspapers which reported on those plans, "The Frisco road cannot obtain title to the National Cemetery, but is after all the rest of the river front, and wants to cross the present public road practically at grade in many public places."
In 1901, the Frisco took control of the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway, which it operated as an independent subsidiary, and constructed several extensions of the latter. However, after the Frisco entered bankruptcy in 1913, it made no further extensions of the FW&RG, which in most years failed to make a net profit. In 1937 the Frisco sold the FW&RG to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway for $1.5 million, giving the latter an entry into Fort Worth from the west.
On August 24, 1916, the Frisco was reorganized as the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, though the line never went west of Texas, terminating more than from San Francisco.
The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway had two main lines: St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City-Floydada, Texas, and Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham. The junction of the two lines was in Springfield, Missouri, home to the company's main shop facility. The corporate headquarters was at 906 Olive Street, St. Louis. Other lines included:
  • Springfield–Kansas City
  • Monett, Missouri –Wichita, Kansas
  • Monett, Missouri–Hugo, Oklahoma–Paris, Texas
  • St. Louis–River Junction, Arkansas
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma–Dallas, Texas
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma–Avard, Oklahoma
  • Lakeside, Oklahoma–Hugo, Oklahoma–Hope, Arkansas
  • Amory, Mississippi-Pensacola, Florida
Frisco attorney John T. Woodruff secured 320 acres and over $1,000,000 to expand the railroad's operations in Springfield, Missouri, establishing a base of operations. There were three separate back shop facilities in and around the city: North Side, which handled light locomotive repairs; South Side, inherited from the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis, for heavy locomotive repairs and overhauls; and West Side, which were the primary car shops for the railroad. In 1912 a new facility was built in Memphis, Tennessee to handle the eastern section of the system, consisting of a yard, roundhouse terminal, and car shops. At Kansas City, Missouri was another substantial back shop site, consisting of a roundhouse terminal and several shop buildings served by a transfer table.
From March 1917 through January 1959, the Frisco, in a joint venture with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, operated the Texas Special. This luxurious train, a streamliner from 1947, ran from St. Louis to Dallas, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas.
The Frisco merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad on November 21, 1980.
The city of Frisco, Texas, was named after the railroad and uses the former railroad's logo as its own logo. The logo is modeled after a stretched-out raccoon skin.

Passenger trains

While the Texas Special may be the most famous passenger train operated by Frisco, it was just one of a fleet of named trains. These included:
  • Black Gold
  • The Bluebonnet
  • Chadwick Flyer
  • Firefly
  • General Wood
  • Governor
  • Kansas City–Florida Special
  • Kansas Limited
  • Kansas Mail
  • Memphian
  • Memphis Passenger
  • Meteor
  • Oil Fields Special
  • Oklahoman
  • Southland
  • Southwest Limited
  • St. Louis-Memphis Limited
  • Sunnyland
  • Tulsa Texan
  • Texas Flash
  • Texokla Limited
  • Texas Limited
  • Texas Special
  • ''Will Rogers''

    Former Frisco lines today

The core of the former Frisco system continues to be operated by BNSF Railway as high-density mainlines. Other secondary and branchlines have been sold to shortline operators or have been abandoned altogether.

Steam locomotives

  • Frisco 19, a 2-8-0 Consolidation-type built in 1910 and on static display in Frisco, Texas located adjacent to the Frisco Depot replica and the BNSF tracks that run through the city., and converted by Frisco to a 2-8-2 Mikado in November 1943. Now on static display in Collierville, Tennessee.
  • Frisco 1352, built by ALCO in 1912 as a 2-8-0 Consolidation, and converted by Frisco in June 1944 to a 2-8-2 Mikado. This was sent to Taylorville, Illinois in 2008 and was disassembled, awaiting restoration to operating condition. In November, 2023, it was reported that the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat in Essex, Connecticut, which is a heritage railroad that is operated by the Valley Railroad Co., purchased No. 1352.
  • Frisco 1355, built by ALCO in 1912 as a 2-8-0 Consolidation, and converted in October 1945 to a 2-8-2 Mikado in Frisco's main shops in Springfield. Given that the 1350–1356 series were both the last steam locomotives rebuilt by Frisco and the last Mikados built anywhere in the United States, No. 1355 is the last surviving. Following refurbishment by Frisco, it was donated to the City of Pensacola and moved to a location on Garden Street in that city in March 1957, near the site of the SLSF passenger depot demolished in 1967. Additional refurbishment was done by the Naval Brig Staff of the Pensacola Naval Air Station in late 1991 and early 1992.
  • Frisco 1501, one of thirty 4-8-2 Mountain-type locomotives purchased from Baldwin for freight and passenger service. The 1500 series, all oil-burners, arrived in three batches, being Nos. 1500–1514 in the spring of 1923, Nos. 1515–1519 in 1925, and Nos. 1520–1529 in the summer of 1926. No. 1501 has been on static display in Schuman Park, Rolla, Missouri, since 1955. Several .
  • Frisco 1519, a Baldwin 4-8-2 Mountain-type delivered in 1925, now at the Railroad Museum of Oklahoma in Enid, Oklahoma.
  • Frisco 1522, a Baldwin 4-8-2 Mountain-type delivered in 1926. It was at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, until 1988, when it began pulling excursions. In 2002, it was returned to the Museum of Transportation.
  • Frisco 1526, a Baldwin 4-8-2 Mountain-type delivered in 1926, located at the Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton, Oklahoma.
  • Frisco 1527, a Baldwin 4-8-2 Mountain-type delivered in 1926. On static display in Langan Park in Mobile, Alabama since 1964.
  • Frisco 1529, a Baldwin 4-8-2 Mountain-type, delivered in 1926. The locomotive pulled a train carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934, and was eventually the last steam engine to make a passenger run for Frisco. Now on static display in Frisco Park in Amory, Mississippi.
  • Frisco 1615 and the other locomotives in Frisco-series 1600 were 2-10-0 Russian locomotive class Ye with a 5’ gauge built for the Tsarist government in Russia. When that government was overthrown before delivery, the units were rebuilt as standard-gauge locomotives and sold through the United States Railroad Administration to American railways. Frisco acquired 20 of the units, which became Nos. 1613 to 1632. Of these, Nos. 1615, 1621, 1625, 1630 and 1632, all coal-burning, were later sold in the 1951 timeframe to Eagle-Picher and used to haul lead and zinc from the Picher Field to the E-P mill in Miami, Oklahoma. All these units were placed in storage by 1957 when that operation was closed. By 1964, homes were being sought for all of these engines. Frisco 1615, built in 1917 as part of Frisco's first batch of engines which were constructed by ALCO's Richmond Locomotive Works in the fall of 1917 and spring of 1918, was acquired by the City of Altus, Oklahoma, on October 22, 1967, and remains on static display there.
  • Frisco 1621 is another 2-10-0 Russian Decapod, built in 1918. On static display at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • Frisco 1625 is another 2-10-0 Russian Decapod, built in 1918 at ALCO's Schenectady Locomotive Works. Now on static display at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas.
  • Frisco 1630 is another 2-10-0 Russian Decapod, part of Frisco's batch which were all constructed by Baldwin in 1918. It has been in excursion service at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, since 1972, and is considered by the museum as their most famous locomotive.
  • Frisco 1632 is another 1918 Baldwin 2-10-0 Russian Decapod. It was donated to the Smoky Hill Railway and Historical Society in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1964, and was moved in 1991 to the Belton, Grandview and Kansas City Railroad in Belton, Missouri, where it is on static display.
  • Frisco 3695 is a Frisco-series 3600 locomotive, which were 0-6-0 switch engines built between August, 1883, and July, 1906. Ninety-five in number, the only survivor is No. 3695, built in July, 1906 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and serving Frisco thirty-one years before being sold to the Scullin Steel Company and renumbered No. 95. The engine was donated in 1956 and is on display at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis.
  • Frisco 3749 is a Frisco-series 3700 locomotive, which was a class of forty-six 0-6-0 switch engines built between 1906 and 1910. However, another source says No. 3749 in particular was built in 1913, by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Retired from Frisco service in 1952, the engine was leased to the Atmore Prison Farm in Atmore, Alabama, before being used in 1956 as a prop in an MGM movie, The Wings of Eagles, starring John Wayne. After later sitting idle for a number of years and being sold for scrap, the engine was moved to the Church Street Station in Orlando, Florida, as a static display. In 2012 it was acquired and put on display by the Florida Railroad Museum.
  • Frisco 4003, a coal-burning 2-8-2 Mikado built in 1919 by Lima and on static display at the Fort Smith Trolley Museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas. See
  • Frisco 4018, a coal-burning 2-8-2 Mikado built in 1919 by Lima which is on static display at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama. This locomotive has the distinction of being the last Frisco steam locomotive in regular service, completing its final run on February 29, 1952.
  • Frisco 4500, a 4-8-4 oil-fired Northern-type built in 1942, on static display in Tulsa, Oklahoma, being a locomotive which pulled the Frisco's crack Meteor passenger train.
  • Frisco 4501, an oil-fired 4-8-4 on static display at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas, also a former Meteor locomotive.
  • Frisco 4516, 4-8-4 Northern-type coal-fired locomotive on static display at Missouri State Fairgrounds, Sedalia, Missouri, also known as "Old Smokie".
  • Frisco 4524, another wartime 4500-series 4-8-4 coal-fired Northern-type, donated to Springfield, Missouri, in November 1954, now on static display at the Railroad Historical Museum inside Grant Beach Park in Springfield, and wearing the "Frisco Faster Freight" paint scheme. Being the last engine of the last group of steam locomotives that Frisco purchased, this engine has the distinction of being the last steam locomotive built for the Frisco.