The ''Firefly'' was a

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

operated by the

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(the "Frisco"). At various times, it served

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Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

and

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, and

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. It made its maiden run on March 29, 1940, and ended May 22, 1960. It was Frisco’s first streamliner, and the first streamliner to be built in the southwest.

History

The ''Firefly's'' first regular run was March 29, 1940 over the Kansas City—Tulsa—Oklahoma City route. It was intended to compete with the Santa Fe, which had expanded its diesel streamliner service '' The Chicagoan/Kansas Cityan/Tulsan'' to serve Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Despite utilizing elderly steam locomotives, the ''Firefly'' ran competitive times, running five hours and five minutes to Tulsa and seven hours and fifteen minutes to Oklahoma City. The Frisco provided convenient daylight service, while the Santa Fe, operating through-service to and from Chicago (a city the Frisco did not serve), arrived at and left from Oklahoma City in the wee hours of the morning. The ''Firefly'' proved popular enough to overwhelm its three-car consists, and mismatched conventional cars were often used to enlarge capacity during World War II. In the 1950s the train's itinerary was shortened to Kansas City-Tulsa.Frisco Railway timetable October 1959, Tables 5, 7 http://streamlinermemories.info/South/Frisco59TT.pdf The train's last run, between Fort Scott and Tulsa, took place on May 22, 1960; between Fort Scott and Kansas City it ran combined with the '' Sunnyland''. The ''Firefly'' was the last Frisco train serving the Tulsa-Fort Scott route.

Equipment

The Frisco decided to fit its steam locomotives with a cowling, described as a torpedo-type jacket giving it the appearance of a bullet-like projectile traveling down the track. The engines were converted by Frisco itself in Springfield, with the first one, No. 1026, being completed in May 1938. The engine was not new; it had originally been built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1910 as an ordinary

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

“Pacific”. Two other engines, Nos. 1018 and 1031, both also Baldwin 4-6-2’s from 1910, were later converted for the Firefly service as well. The driving wheels were enlarged from 69" to 73" by means of extremely thick driver tires, for greater speed. Frisco remanufactured the cars too, eventually collecting a fleet of eighty-nine passenger cars painted in the matching blue and gray livery. Two consists were necessary to protect the ''Fireflys schedule; each was composed of refurbished heavyweight cars. A standard consist included a baggage-mail coach (16 seats), coach (60 seats), and cafe-parlor car. In later years, the run was powered by various of the road's EMD E-8A locomotives named for racehorses, or by EMD FP-7 locomotives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Firefly (Passenger Train) Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway Railway services introduced in 1939 Railway services discontinued in 1960