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 (the other being the M-K-T) authorized by the federal government to build across Indian Territory.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (known simply as the Santa Fe), 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[ing] 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.""St. Bernard Progress: Gigantic Scope of the Plans of the Frisco: Buying Upland Up to the Orleans Parish Line." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Times-Democrat, July 16, 1903, p. 7 (subscription required).
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 (via Clinton, Missouri) Monett, Missouri (Pierce City)–Wichita, Kansas Monett, Missouri–Hugo, Oklahoma–Paris, Texas St. Louis–River Junction, Arkansas (Memphis, Tennessee) 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.Starr, Timothy. The Back Shop Illustrated, Volume 2: Midwest Region.
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, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
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 (giving rise to Frisco High School's mascot, the Fighting Raccoons).
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 (a joint Frisco–Katy operation inaugurated between Tulsa and Houston on January 23, 1938, and continuing until January 18, 1960) The Bluebonnet (St. Louis to San Antonio—with through service by M-K-T—leaving early afternoon, arriving Dallas/Ft. Worth the next morning, and arriving San Antonio late afternoon.) Chadwick Flyer (Branch line from Springfield to Chadwick, Missouri; discontinued by March 1933) Firefly (at various times serving St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Scott, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. This was Frisco's first streamliner, and the first streamliner to be built in the southwest, the streamline modifications being done by Frisco itself) General Wood (Originally between St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri, from May 1941; truncated in June 1942 to service between St. Louis and Newburg, Missouri; and, discontinued entirely in the fall of 1946.) Governor (Joplin–Tulsa–Oklahoma City) Kansas City–Florida Special (Kansas City–Jacksonville) Kansas Limited (St. Louis–Wichita–Ellsworth) Kansas Mail (St. Louis–Wichita) Memphian (St. Louis–Memphis) Memphis Passenger (St. Louis–Memphis) Meteor (St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City by night with connecting train Monett–Fort Smith–Paris, TX) Oil Fields Special (Kansas City–Tulsa–Dallas–Ft. Worth, with through service to Houston) Oklahoman (Once connected Kansas City–Tulsa but was later rerouted between St. Louis–Oklahoma City) Southland (Kansas City–Birmingham) (truncated successor to the Kansas City–Florida Special) Southwest Limited (St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City–Lawton) St. Louis-Memphis Limited (St. Louis–Memphis–Birmingham) Sunnyland (Kansas City/St. Louis–Atlanta/Pensacola/New Orleans) Tulsa Texan (a joint Frisco–Katy operation inaugurated between Tulsa and Houston in 1937, and phased out between March and July 1940) Texas Flash (Tulsa–Sherman–Dallas by day) Texokla Limited (St. Louis–Springfield–Dallas) Texas Limited (St. Louis–Springfield–Dallas, with through service to Houston–Galveston) Texas Special (St. Louis–Springfield–Dallas–Ft. Worth, with through service to Austin–San Antonio) Will Rogers (St. Louis–Oklahoma City/Wichita by day, 1936–1965; with through service northbound out of St. Louis to Chicago via the Alton Railroad or Wabash Railroad)
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.
Kansas City – Springfield – Memphis – Birmingham: Operated by BNSF St. Louis – Springfield – Tulsa – Dallas: Operated by BNSF Fort Scott, Kansas, to Afton, Oklahoma: Operated by BNSF St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee: Operated by BNSF Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Avard, Oklahoma: Operated by BNSF Fredonia, Kansas, to Cherryvale, Kansas, to Columbus, Kansas: Operated by South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad Cherokee, Kansas, to Pittsburg, Kansas: Operated by South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad Fredonia, Kansas, to Ellsworth, Kansas: Abandoned Cherokee, Kansas, to Cherryvale, Kansas: Abandoned Monett, Missouri, to Fort Smith, Arkansas: Operated by Arkansas and Missouri Railroad Lakeside, Oklahoma, to Hope, Arkansas: Operated by Kiamichi Railroad (Genesee & Wyoming Inc.) Tulsa (Sapulpa), Oklahoma, to Oklahoma City: Operated by Stillwater Central Railroad Oklahoma City to Snyder, Oklahoma: Operated by Stillwater Central Railroad Snyder, Oklahoma, (Long Siding) to Quanah, Texas: Operated by BNSF Enid, Oklahoma, to Frederick, Oklahoma: Operated by Grainbelt/Farmrail Amory, Mississippi, to Pensacola, Florida: Operated by Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway (RailAmerica) Springfield to Kansas City (via Clinton)(two routes): Abandoned Monett (Pierce City) to Carthage, Missouri: Out of service Carthage, Missouri, to Wichita, Kansas: Mostly abandoned Chaffee, Missouri, to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to Hoxie, Arkansas (Hoxie Sub): Abandoned
Surviving equipment 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. (Note: While the locomotive is in Frisco livery and the Frisco Heritage Association says the locomotive “stands to honor” the Frisco Railroad heritage, this unit did not actually operate on the SLSF. It is the former Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad 19. It was purchased by the City of Frisco, Texas, as a static display, and is representative of a typical SLSF locomotive. Frisco operated a number of Consolidations as Frisco-series 1306 engines.http://www.steamlocomotive.com/mikado/?page=slsf , Retrieved 6-11-15. However, Caboose #1144 from 1946, which is paired with the locomotive, came to the town in 1976 as a gift from the Frisco Railroad, and did serve throughout the Frisco’s southern routes. Frisco 73, a 2-6-0 "Mogul" built by Baldwin in 1916. It has 19-inch cylinders and 49.5-inch driving wheels. Numbered as 34 when Frisco acquired its owner, the Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad in 1925, the locomotive was renumbered to 73 and kept by the Frisco until sold on September 19, 1945, to the Delta Valley and Southern Railway, a short line operator in northeast Arkansas. It is preserved on the Lee Wesson Plantation in Victoria, Arkansas under the Delta Valley & Southern Locomotive No. 73 name with no visible numbers on the cab or tender, but with the original Frisco raccoon-skin-shaped number board and "73" on its nose. Frisco 76 and Frisco 77, 2-8-0 Consolidation-type engines built as Numbers 40 and 41 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in December, 1920 for the Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad. When that line became part of the Frisco, the locomotives were re-numbered as 76 and 77. After performing freight service for years, both engines were sold in 1947 to the Mississippian Railway where they retained the Frisco numbers. Following several further changes in ownership for each engine, #76 is now owned by the Oakland B&O Museum in Oakland, Maryland, where it has been renumbered and relettered as the Baltimore & Ohio 476, and #77 is now with Alberta Prairie Railway in Stettler, Alberta, where it pulls excursion trains and has been renumbered back to 41.