Hello Everyone,

I have a dilema on my hands and need some advice or help in getting out of it. After being involved with 2 failed musuem attempts my family and I are tired. We are considering parting with a couple pieces of equipment that we are not able to care for and feel they need a new home. The first is a heavyweight ACF built car. It was built for the Frisco in 1912 as a coach but was converted to a cafe-lounge in the 30's and was modenized somewhat in the 50's. After that it disappeared and for a long time what happened to it was unknown. It is belived to behave been sold to Royal American Shows or another one of the circus trains. Dad bought it in Alabama and it was moved to Tennessee on it's own wheels. It is on friction bearings with cast sideframe trucks. It is former Frisco 1506. It is the last one left of a series. The body of the car is in ok shape. It has some rust, but not bad. It was harrimanized and had sealed windows with a/c. It had a small kitchen, a dining area and a lounge area with 3 big windows and windows on the end, sort of like a blunt end observation. The windowline is intact, but the kitchen door has been enlarged slightly. The interior is gone. The floors will need replacing and right now all the windows are out of it. It still has some of the mahogany woodwork on the walls for patterns if someone wanted to take the time to restore it. The other piece of equipment we are looking at parting with is a Seaboard M-5 caboose. Not quite as rare, but they aren't making more of them. The body is in good sahpe, but the iterior has been vandalized. It is on friction bearings, too. We also have a 20 ton Davenport and a 44 ton GE. What I would like to do is sell the passenger car and caboose and use the money to move the GE. I'm not here to make a profit, I just don't want to see this stuff scrapped. That's one of the reasons we've held on to it for all these years. There has been some good discussion about cars on here in the last few days and by posting this here, I'm hoping that someone out there knows someone or a group that would take the Friso 1506 and bring her back to her former glory. She wasn't much when we got her, but that's another story. Any other suggestions or alternatives are welcome.

So, lets hear it :-)

Stuart

Davenport6_1941@msn.com

ps if you'd like to talk in person, email me... I'm usually free in the evenings...

Was this car listed as a restoration project by ozarkmountainrailcar.com before the brokering end was purchased by Bob Moen?

Tom Cornillie

Hello Tom,

This car has not been listed ever as far as I know. We have owned it since before the ban on friction bearing cars in interchange as it moved on it's own wheels to where it is stored now.

Stuart

I was thinking of a different car:

From
http://205.214.89.196/discus/messages/5/214.html?1016255854



Also there was this list of surviving SLSF passenger cars:

City State Car # Location and additional Information
Birmingham AL 1062 coach Heart of Dixie Railroad Club restored and operating, last I heard
Birmingham AL 1603 buffet lounge Heart of Dixie Railroad Club condition unknown
Springdale AR 360 baggage used as storage car
unknown location KY? 15XX? cafe lounge not on trucks in photo (is probably either 1503 or 1505 which were sold to the Alton and Southern in 1961)
Rolla MO 563 coach Schuman Park near old Frisco mainline
St Louis MO 430 baggage Nat Museum of Trans in storage 5 years ago
Springfield MO Oklahoma City Frisco Museum
Armory MS streamlined Next at the old hospital which is now a museum.
Hugo OK 372 baggage on display
Jenks OK 762 chair car display
Jenks OK 1214 coach display
Jenks OK 1064 coach Jenks Chamber of Commerce HQ, (missnumbered 1062}
Dallas TX 759 chair car state Fairgrounds display
Rusk TX "Enid" coach Texas State Railroad Museum operating

Hi Tom,

If you scroll down, you might notice where I tried to correct the 15XX located in Kentucky, supposedly off it's trucks. I saw the add from Ozark Mountain. That was a nice car.

Anyway, This car is marked on the trucks with it's number. At first it was thought to have been the 1503, but after doing some investigating it was found to be 1506. If I remember right, the obvious difference was 1503 was a Pullman car and this is an ACF car.

Feel free to ask questions,

Stuart

Unfortunately, the market for used passenger cars has been declining steadily since the early 1990’s. There are many cars actively on the market (and many more that probably could be with the right offer) that could be restored as a complete museum display or some use. So, unless somebody really wants this particular car, I don’t foresee a buyer coming forward to purchase it for these purposes. And as there is no demand, the market price is about zero, as any purchaser would have to pay for transport.

However, I do think the car does offer some interpretative potential for a museum. From your description, it sounds like the exterior is relatively unchanged from when it was last used by the SLSF and that it wouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish an exterior restoration to one of its SLSF paint schemes. The open interior could then be developed as a multi purpose space, variously housing interpretive exhibits, meeting space or special events. The remaining woodwork would be restored, while a compromise solution would be developed for the areas where it does not remain. The widened door could be an important asset if it is wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Treating the car in this fashion provides a museum with a very useful space at a relatively low cost, housed within the atmosphere of a historic car, while avoiding the ethical problem of destroying historic fabric to facilitate adaptive reuse. The question then comes to who would be interested in the car? I think it would be a great accompaniment to the 1522 in the St. Louis Museum of Transport. Likewise, the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff or the Dallas Railway Museum may be interested in it as they also have equipment restored/painted for the SLSF. Moreover, it would nicely compliment the equipment display at the Kansas City Union Station, as the car actually operated through Kansas City and they do not have any other heavyweight equipment. There are other options out there too. A small, non railroad oriented museum may be able to use it as the Port Huron, MI museum does with their wood combination car. If marketed along these lines, I think it is fair to ask small price for the car as the car can offer a use and utility that cannot be readily supplied by another car.


Tom Cornillie

Hi Tom,

Now if I were approached with a proposal like that, It would be going to a new home in a heartbeat.

I appreciate your comments and ideas. They are similar to what I had in mind concerning the car.

Thanks

Stuart

Hello Everyone,

Here is a link to a website I put together on 1506. It shows what the car looks like. It may be a little more rusty, etc.. but it should give an idea of what it is, etc... Now, don't pay attention to the site itself. It was my first attempt and I had big plans for the car, but I'm older and wiser now and see that although this car has potential, I don't know if i will have the time or the finances to devote to it. so, therefore, I'm looking for someone that does.....

Stuart

http://www.geocities.com/gnufe/myproject.html

Please do not use the contact on the site. If you need to contact me, pm me or email me at davenport6_1941@msn.com or call me in the evenings at 270-885-7475 thanks

The link does not work. I get an error message that the transfer has been exceed.

Wesley