Meteor (train)

The Meteor in 1909. The Meteor 4500 moved to its permanent position in Tulsa, OK. The Meteor at left, with the Texas Special as diesel equipped trains and new colors.

The Meteor was a named passenger train operated by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (a.k.a. SLSF or "the Frisco"). It ran overnight between Oklahoma City and St. Louis via Tulsa. The name was shared with a branch line Meteor running between Monett, Missouri, and Paris, Texas. Later this line was truncated to terminate at Fort Smith, Arkansas. These Frisco trains should not be confused with Amtrak's Silver Meteor.

The Meteor began early in the 20th Century; one engineer who joined the Frisco in 1917 recalled that the Meteor was already a well-known train at that time.^[1] Initially the trains were pulled by Frisco-class 1300 locomotives, being high-wheeled Baldwin engines with 2-8-0 wheel arrangements.^[2] During the late 1930s and into the early years of World War II, Frisco-class 1500 Baldwin engines with 4-8-2 wheel arrangements took over the job.^[3]

Frisco-class 4500 locomotives, and specifically locomotives No. 4500, 4501 and 4502, being three of twenty-five Northern class Baldwin 4-8-4s built for Frisco during World War II, were later designated for use on the Meteor. These locomotives were delivered in a distinctive zephyr blue, white and gray paint scheme with "Meteor" spelled out across the tender in bold red lettering. These three passenger engines also saw service pulling the Texas Special. In 1948, Frisco 4501 still in its Meteor livery pulled President Harry S. Truman's whistle stop tour train through his home state of Missouri.

When the Meteor was converted to use diesel locomotives, No. 4500 was re-painted into Frisco's standard black with gold striping and lettering and assigned to passenger trains such as the General Wood and the Will Rogers.

Engine No. 4501 resides at the Museum of the American Railroad, in Frisco, Texas.^[4] The cosmetically-restored Engine No. 4500 resides at the Route 66 Historical Village^[5] in Tulsa, OK.^[6]

The new streamlined, diesel equipped Meteor began westbound operations on May 14, 1948, with its first eastbound train departing Oklahoma City on May 15. After its maiden trip the president of the Frisco - in an interview - pointed to a glass of water in his private car filled nearly to the brim with water. "Not a drop spilled between St. Louis and Tulsa," he said proudly.^[7] Frisco purchased the EMD E7 locomotives and Pullman cars for the Meteor at the same time as they purchased ones for the Texas Special, so the two trains shared a distinctive look; bright red with corrugated aluminum side panels. Frisco bought sets of named cars for each train.

Named cars

Named trains frequently had named cars; the Frisco named Meteor cars after cities and rivers. Not all cars may have been named, but the ones that were bore their names prominently on their side panels.

Models of the Meteor

• Hallmark Models, Inc., a model train manufacturer has produced brass E7 diesels and corrugated passenger cars in red and silver without lettering, so that modelers can customize them for either a Meteor or Texas Special train.

References

• Condren, Mike (December 31, 2002). "Frisco-Katy Streamlined Passenger Equipment". Christian Brothers University. Retrieved January 22, 2008. 
• "Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western No. 63". SteamLocomotive.info. Carstens Publications. 2004. Retrieved January 22, 2008. 
• "St. Louis - San Francisco Railway Company ("Frisco") 4501". Museum of the American Railroad. Retrieved June 19, 2015. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Meteor (train).

• 1948 timetable