The Frisco Diesel Shop in Springfield, MO is being demolished as we speak. It sat vacant for years after BNSF closed it and moved the work to their Argentine shop in Kansas City, KS. This was the first Diesel shop west of the Mississippi, built by the first railroad to be all Diesel - the Frisco. I started my railroad career in this shop as an apprentice machinist. Worked with, and learned from, some of the best locomotive people there were.
Sad to hear that.
Welcome to the forum Mike.[8D]
That news makes me very sad. I remember when BN took over Frisco. When it was Frisco you could not see across the yard, shortly after BN took over they turned Springfield into a ghost town as far as the railroad was concerned. [:(!] [:(] [:(!] I am not sure what they did but Springfield was a very busy railroad town BEFORE BN. Some of the business has returned but nothing like it was BEFORE BN.
I was never very fond of green engines before BN and after BN I was less so. Many people of Frisco background feel the same way.
Too bad. I’m not a foamer, but, when I worked in Springfield I would have really liked to walk thru the old shops and see a little bit of history.
Sorry to see a building like that go.
Unfortunately for the info here, but the little Tex Mex beat the Frisco to the all-Diesel stat by several years.
I don’t guess any of you ex-Frisco hands predate 1960? I remember when the Frisco held their open house at the Tenessee Yard just east of Memphis… What a facility that was! I got a guided tour w/ the yardmaster, Pappy Rose. That was a treat, not to mention a cab ride over to the Harvard Yard in Arkansas and back.