Since I moved to Muskogee, I've been adding to my HO scale Frisco motive power collection. Here's a shot of some of the diesels I've been acquiring at swap meets, the FMIG site, and "that" auction site: Left to right: custom-painted-and-detailed Bachmann Spectrum GP35, Atlas Trainman GP38-2, and Athearn "blue-box" SD40-2. Those two engines at the far right are SD45s which will be redone as Frisco units. The "torpedo-boat" GP35 was a custom job by Howard Biby, a fellow Frisco modeler. I need to add the necessary details to the other two (nose Gyralites, plow pilot, rotary beacons, Leslie 5-chime horns, MU hoses) to make them more Frisco-like.
Now you just need a layout to run them on LOL. Reminds me of the engines I used to see running here in Dallas back in the 70's (the red and white ones). I wasn't aware of the black and gold scheme until I saw some on a (surprise) MOP video.
We have a FRISCO on our 'full-scale' layout at the Oklahoma Railway Museum in OKC. It pulls or pushes Thomas the Tank train when it's in town. Come on over some time. The ORM is open on Saturday. http://www.oklahomarailwaymuseum.org/index.html
Nice. Thanks for keeping the memories alive. I suppose I ought to model the Frisco, after the tales Dad told me about operating a crane for Flint Steel in Tulsa right after the war and using the raised seat as a platform for watching the comings and goings from the Frisco roundhouse. Apparently some of their nicer units nearly caused a mishap or two for Flint. But it's all dad's fault. The first train he bought me was Santa Fe, and I seldom look back...
Nothing wrong with Santa Fe. I started getting interested in the Frisco because my family moved to Afton, OK in April, 1973. Afton is roughly between Tulsa & Monett on the Cherokee Sub, and on the south end of the Afton Sun, so I saw a lot of freight action. And at night, in the deep, dark hours, I could hear hotshot QLA race west thru town on its way to Tulsa. Music to my ears....... Had I to do it all over again, I could conceivably be modeling the UP in the 70s, or even the 60s, especially the Encampment (WY) Branch in southern Wyoming. Or perhaps even the CB&Q or Rock Island.
I've been there- impressive display! While not a real, genuine Frisco F-unit, it's a good-enough stand-in to evoke memories of Frisco Fast Freight in the 1950s. I especially like that Rock Island RS1- over on my RailImages Account I have an album devoted to ORM equipment.
