Class 1 / 2274 (Locobase 8644)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Locomotive Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

A small Eight-wheeler that may have been the first for this Frisco predecessor. It was small, but possessed a healthy percentage of direct heating surface.

The O & CC was built by the O & CC., the Oklahoma Coal & Railroad Company Co., and the Muskogee City Bridge Company (which about sums up the interested parties, I'd say). The O & CC itself was originally chartered as the North Arkansas & Western Railway Company in 1899 but changed its name in April 1901. Its main line ran 144 miles from Fayetteville, Ark, to Okmulgee in the Indian Territory (later Oklahoma).

The Frisco bought the O & CC on 15 July 1907.

Class 182 (Locobase 8559)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Loco Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

At the turn into the 20th Century,three Frisco subsidiary/predecessors bought a common design from Pittsburgh. The Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham rail line that ran from Memphis to Birmingham purchased 2 that were built in November 1899 (works #2015-2016); the third locomotive in that batch (2017) went to the Kansas City, Fort Smith & Memphis at the same time. Nine months later, the KC, M & B bought its third engine (2126). Finally, the St Louis, Memphis & Southeastern, a Missouri-Arkansas railroad that was only just coming into being, bought the last 2 in 1902 (works #25309-25310).

By that time, the KC, M & B had been leased to the Frisco in 1901. On 19 July 1907, the St L, M & SE was sold to the Frisco. The KC, FS & M would remain independent for several more years.

Almost 3 decades later, the railroad superheated 4 of these locomotives; see Locobase 8560

Class 188 (Locobase 8561)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Coming into service in 1902, this pair was built in December 1901 as works #2362-2363. Perhaps surprisingly, the two engines were never significantly updated and retired early. 188 was "dismissed from service" in March 1928 at Springfield, Mo while 189 was "retired from service" in November 1936 at Hugo, Okla. Locobase isn't sure of the distinction between "dismissed" and "retired", except that the former sound more brusque and the latter as if they gave 189 a gold watch.

Class 188 (Locobase 10742)

Data from "Passenger Locomotive for the St Louis and San Francisco Railway," Railway Master Mechanic, (July 1902), p. 261.

This class followed the Eight-wheelers supplied by the same builder in 1899 (Locobase 8559). Many of the dimensions remained the same, but the boiler held a few more tubes, each of which was 9" shorter. The grate was smaller as well, possibly reflecting the availability of higher-grade coal.

Class 2 (Locobase 8645)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Locomotive Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

A Baldwin Eight-wheeler that bears some resemblance to the other O & CC engine that came on the road at the same time (Locobase 8644). It's difficult to know why the differences came to be what they were. In any case, the locomotive was given a Frisco number when that railroad bought the O & CC in 1907.

Class 20 (Locobase 8558)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

These locomotives were consecutively numbered on the B E & SW, but appear to have had slightly different tube configurations. 20 had the 201 tubes shown above and the 21 200 tubes of shorter length, at least initially. The all-time diagram represents them as having the same configuration.

Class 200 (Locobase 8562)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Pittsburgh supplied these 5 engines in a batch in April 1902 (works #2373-2377). They proved to be the first of several dozen built to the same design for the Frisco by 3 builders that would be amalgamated under the American Locomotive Company banner later that year. These were the lightest by about 9,000 lb.

From information found in latter-day diagram books, it seems that fitting 310 tubes into that boiler led to a variety of maintenance problems. Over time, most of the surviving locomotives in all three classes sacrificed as many as 68 tubes without adding a superheater. In the case of this KC, FS & M quintet, 202 carried only 248 tubes (1,708 sq ft total) at her retirement in August 1925 while the others each had 254 tubes (1,779 sq ft).

Locobase 8563 shows the results of this paring down, which was applied to the succeeding class built by Dickson. A slightly different outcome for the Rhode Island locomotives is shown in 8564.

203 was "dismissed from service in April 1926, followed by 200 (October 1926), 201 (December 1929) and 202 (September 1934).

Class 205 (Locobase 8563)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The second of the three Alco builders to supply this class of Eight-wheelers to the Frisco Lines had already been amalgamated into the combine when works # were assigned to these 15 boilers. Consequently, they numbered 26727-26741 and were produced in December 1902 and January 1903. Like the Pittsburgh locomotives shown in Locobase 8562, these had 310 fire tubes when delivered and bulked up to 2,135 sq ft of evaporative heating surface.

That number was soon reduced, probably because of maintenance issues. Most of the engines had 254 tubes as shown in the specs, 3 (208, 214, 217) had 268 tubes while 209 had only 248 tubes.

The first to be dismissed from service was 205 in August 1925, the last two were 210 & 213 in September 1934.

Class 220 (Locobase 8564)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The third of the three Alco builders to supply this class of Eight-wheelers to the Frisco Lines numbered its crop of 10 engines 27820-27829 and built them in June-July 1903. Like the Pittsburgh locomotives shown in Locobase 8561, these had 310 fire tubes when delivered. Because they were two inches shorter, the total came to 2,108 sq ft of evaporative heating surface.

As with all of the other Alcos supplied with that number (Locobase 8562-8563), that number was soon reduced, probably because of maintenance issues, to 258 tubes in most cases

225 was the first to go at a surprisingly early date of January 1919 - could this represent an accident and damage? 229 went in October 1926, 220 in September 1928, 222 in December 1933, and all of the rest in September 1934.

Class 232 / 2232 (Locobase 8642)

Data from SL&SF 1904 and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase can't say whether the "new Pittsburgh boilers" fitted to the Manchester engines changed the basic dimensions. Compared to other early '70s locomotives, it doesn't appear to have been so. Locobase doesn't know when these were retired.

Class 25 (Locobase 8560)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Long after the Frisco had absorbed the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham; the Kansas City, Fort Smith & Memphis; and the St Louis, Memphis & Southeastern; its shops decided to rework all 6 locomotives of the 182 class (Locobase 8559) that had been taken onto the Frisco rolls. For the most part, the makeover took the typical form in which many of the small tubes were replaced by many fewer larger flues for the superheater and outside valve gear now acuated 9" piston valves.

Except the railroad chose an unusual cylinder dimension of 17" diameter by 26" stroke. Also, the combined heating surface now came to more than the original saturated-steam total, which was an unusual result as well.

In four of the 6, the railroad installed a single Nicholson thermic syphon in the firebox. The combination of generous superheating and the larger firebox may well have overwhelmed the small-bore pistons, which were fed steam at a lower pressure than in saturated-steam days.

Obviously, the result pleased the Frisco, for it retained the locomotives for another 2 decades, dismissing the first from service (182) in July 1950, 183-184 in April 1951 and 185-186 in September 1951. 187's retirement date is not given

Class 28 (Locobase 8553)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This group of Eight-wheelers was delivered between September 1880 and April 1881. For their time, they had among the biggest boilers on a 4-4-0 and had among the highest adhesion weights.

They left service over a 20-year period. 1915 saw the retirement, dismissal, or scrapping of 28, 31, and 34 respectively. 33 followed in 1920, 29 in 1925, 32 and 30 in 1926, and, for some reason, 35 held on for another 9 years, being dismissed in July 1935.

Class 336 (Locobase 8554)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Built in February 1890 as works #1100-1101, this pair of Eight-wheelers had relatively small boilers for the period in which they were produced. And over time, 337 saw a 26-tube reduction in the number of tubes and a smaller amount of heating surface as a result. But their narrow, deep fireboxes offered a considerable amount of heating surface for their size and they put a good deal of weight on the drivers as well.

The two engines were part of the motive power holding taken in by the Frisco in 1925. Both served for just 7 more years before being "dismissed from service" in August and July 1923, respectively.

Class 44 (Locobase 8552)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This was one of the smallest Eight-wheelers supplied to a North American railroad in the early 1890s, especially in terms of its heating surfaces. Its service lasted over 40 years, however, as it wasn't "dismissed from service" by the Frisco until 1934.

Class 46 (Locobase 8643)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Loco Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase has very little information about this Eight-wheeler. Its non-appearance in the 1908 list suggests 46 (or possibly a renumbered 32) was scrapped before then.

Class 50 / 26 (Locobase 8587)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Locomotive Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The diagrams for this class (one of which was an Ozark & Cherokee Central engine) show the construction dates as 1870-1876, but the 1908 description pegs the class at 1880. All but one were credited to the Frisco, with the O & CC #34 being the odd one out.

Class 54 (Locobase 8548)

Data from KCC & S 1884 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase notices that all of the KCC & S locomotives shown in the so-called 1884 guide (which was prepared probably 30 years later) claimed 135 psi as a boiler pressure. This seems low. These Manchester Americans were the first locomotives on the line, which opened on 27 November 1885. Although on the small side for Eight-wheelers of the time in terms of total heating surface and very light in adhesion weight, the Manchesters had a relatively large amount of direct (firebox) heating surface.

Retirements occurred over an extended period.

The history of the "Leaky Roof" is detailed in an article on the railroad on http://tacnet.missouri.org/~mgood/clintonrr/leakyroof.html (accessed 21 August 2005). It is a fascinating tale of complicated corporate history, some chicanery, and no little financial stress. The most mileage ever operated on this line was 162.8, but, unlike many other roads, at least the railroad actually served the towns in its name.

The Frisco took over effective control of the road when it acquired the parent Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf in 1901. To keep Missouri opponents concerned with a Frisco monopoly out of Kansas City, the KCC & S maintained a separate identity for years and was known as the "Clinton Line". In 1925, the Frisco merged the KCC & S into its structure as the Osceola Subdivision of the Eastern Division.

The Leaky Roof nickname stemmed from the principal commodity shipped on its line, which was clay tiles. Since clay tiles were relatively impervious to rain, they could be carried in any open gondola available. A flour miller once canceled a rainy-day shipment from his mill when he saw the consist of the KCC & S train and said to his GM: "Don't send out any flour today; they've got another bunch of those leaky roofs in the yards."

Class 65 / 45 (Locobase 8586)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Locomotive Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

An early set of Frisco engines was this group from the Paterson builder in 1880 (works #2622, 2624-2629). The design had long boiler tubes, which resulted in a long profile and a very large heating surface area for an Eight-wheeler of the time. The 1904 diagram shows a purchase price of $8,500.

Class 71 / 44 (Locobase 8588)

Data from SL&SF 1904 Locomotive Diagrams and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This single locomotive (works #784) may in fact be 3 although the evidence in the Frisco documents is contradictory and does not square with information about the Pittsburgh Works' production. The other two were later numbered 106-107 and were works #782-783 and their data are essentially identical.

The KC, M & B was incorporated in 1886-1887 and had a main line between Memphis and Birmingham with branches to Sipsey, Ala and Bessember, Ala. The Frisco bought the railroad on 1 September 1928.

Class 83 (Locobase 8555)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works numbers were 9002 and 8997, respectively) in January 1888 and 9078-9080, 9082 in March.

Engine 85 - by then renumbered as 140 - was sold for scrap to St Louis Material & Supply in Pacific, Mo in November 1935.

Class 98 (Locobase 8556)

Data from SL&SF All Time Loco Diagrams HS Pub and SL&SF 7 - 1908 Description of All Equipment supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Rogers produced this quartet of Eight-wheelers in a two sets of two separated by a single engine (works #3723-3724, 3726-3727. Thanks to a high tube count in their boilers, their heating surface dimensions placed them near the top of North American 4-4-0s built in those years and they were among the heaviest third of such locomotives as well.