Caboose SLSF 1705 - BN 11680 Caboose SLSF 1705 - BN 11680 Galena, KS. Photograph dated 8/25/1998. On display.
If you are ever out getting your kicks on Route 66, stop in at Galena, KS and see caboose SLSF 1705. Unfortunately, it is painted in green and yellow as BN 11680. They also have a Frisco inspection motor railcar and several other goodies there as well. The anchor building is the relocated Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT or Katy) Galena depot. And besides being a railroad museum, it is also a mining museum.
They have a Whitcomb 44-ton center cab diesel there as well! It is a brother to SLSF 3. What railroad was that locomotive from? According to Louis A. Marre and John Baskin Harper in their book Frisco Diesel Power, Whitcomb 44-ton SLSF 3 was sold off in 1962 to a paper company in Mt. Vernon, Alabama. Ken
According to the folks at the museum, it was used at a plant near Pittsburg, KS, and was never a Frisco unit. Although, to be honest, it would look nice in black with yellow stripes. Also in downtown Galena, there is an Alco switcher, late of the Erie Lackawanna (EL) Railroad and still wearing its early EL colors. The paint was an adaptation of the Erie colors used before they came out with the gray.
The Whitcomb 44-ton locomotive is former Navy. It was later used at the Spencer Chemical, later Gulf Chemical, plant north of Riverton, Kansas. The Alco also came from the Gulf Chemical plant. A friend of mine purchased them off of Gulf. He gave the Whitcomb 44-ton locomotive to the museum and the Alco to an individual in Galena, KS who owned the property it currently sits on. The Alco has been parted out. The 44-tonner was painted Gulf orange and white when given to the museum. They painted it in the green and yellow to match the caboose. John Chambers
Please see the following links for views of Frisco caboose SLSF 1705. http://Frisco Library.rrarchives.com/download/file.php?id=147&mode=view (better days and proper colors) http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=101446 (3/8/2005) http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1142185 (4/29/2008) http://www.flickr.com/photos/23711298@N07/3180842050/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_idiot/1393529560/sizes/l/in/set-72157600275303152/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/11311958@N06/3640658185/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_idiot/1393527130/sizes/l/in/set-72157600275303152/ http://forums.rrarchives.com/download/file.php?id=147&mode=view This is one of the of the Frisco built cabooses intended for road and pool service. This car was constructed during 4/1973. It was built form a main car body provided by a Pullman Standard PS-1 boxcar, SLSF 18442. Note in the end view at the end eve the vertical reinforcement tabs characteristic of the Pullman Standard car ends from which this car was fabricated. The lower side sills also hint at the cars origins. The views also highlight many features common to these cars. These include the lower side sills that have reinforcements at the truck bolsters and cross beams, the electrical conduit along the roof ridge that at one time powered the eve end red marker lights (lights missing on this car), restroom vent stack and smoke stack with support brace to the cupola. This is one of three Frisco cabooses preserved in Columbus County, KS. The others are in Columbus (SLSF 1701) and Baxter Springs (SLSF 1709). Unfortunately this car is in full paint for that successor railroad. This caboose is located in southeastern Kansas at the Galena Mining and Historical Museum (MKT Depot Museum). The museum is located on the west side of town. Please see http://www.kansastravel.org/galenaminingmuseum.htm. The location address is 319 W. 7th St. (a/k/a U.S. Hwy 166 or Historic Route 66), Galena, KS 66739-1211. Please see http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...sevWtjQg4EnPLDl7D0PnSQ&cbp=12,332.27,,0,16.46. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
