Frisco Archive

Business Car 2 in 19th St Yard, Kansas City, Mo in August 1976.

Photograph was taken in 19th Street Yard, mile post 0.0 (MP 0.0). The business car is sitting just south of the access road to the Mechanical Department’s service tracks and diesel shop area. In the distance to the right of and partially hidden by the tree is the southeast corner of the single track diesel shop. The shop is located at 1900 Allen Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64108.

Standing above the caboose roof is one of four standpipes for unloading diesel fuel tank cars. The horizontal pipe is a steam line from the boiler room in the southwest corner of the diesel shop. Just south of the diesel shop are two repurposed tank cars each mounted on a concrete saddle cradle. The tanks hold lubricants and waste oil.

There are several interesting features of note about the business car. The car has been turned in preparation for a trip south from Kansas City. The steam line connection to the left of the coupler has been removed. The underbody piping remains; however, by this time the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems were entirely self-contained on the car. Note the various underbody battery boxes, fuel tank holders and equipment between the trucks.

Starting from the rear of the car the side windows include 2 in the observation lounge, 4 along the hall, 2 in the dining room, 1 at the steward compartment and 1 in the kitchen. On the roof are multiple antennas for radios, telephones, televisions and a couple of kitchen ventilators. Also, someone has left a Coca-Cola can on the car’s end buffer.

View is looking northeast.

Special thanks to Mark Davidson for description.