Frisco No. 1352 is a type of 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotive. It was built by ALCO in 1912 originally as a 2-8-0 Consolidation for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway as #1312. During WW2, the locomotive was rebuilt as a 2-8-2 and continued to haul freight until 1956 when she was retired and placed on public display in a park in Kansas City, Missouri.
She was stored at the Illinois & Midland diesel shed, awaiting funds for a restoration effort until 2023. Recently, the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat has purchased the 1352 for restoration into operating condition.
History[]
The locomotive was built in April 1912 as engine No. 1321, a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type, by the American Locomotive Company at the former Schenectady Locomotive Works. Due to the demands of World War II the Frisco railroad needed more heavy power to keep up with the demands in traffic. The Wartime Production Board at that time would not allow new locomotives to be built, but would allow existing locomotives to be rebuilt, so the Frisco took the task of rebuilding 6 of their existing 2-8-0s into 2-8-2 "Mikados". In June 1944 No. 1321 was rebuilt into a 2-8-2 and renumbered 1352. The locomotive went through a major overhaul/modernization including adding of Nicholson Thermic Syphons, Superheaters and a Coffin feedwater heater system.
The locomotive continued in regular service until it was retired in 1956, and it was subsequently donated to Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri, for static display. Stored outside in the park, Frisco 1352 deteriorated greatly during the years on display and being exposed to the weather and vandalism took its toll on the locomotive.
Due to flooding and vandalism, the KC Park Board wanted No. 1352 to be removed, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was donated to the Smoky Hill Railway and Historical Society(SHR&HS), who removed the locomotive from the park. The Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac) refused to allow its rail to be cut for a temporary turnout, so the movers constructed, for lack of a better description, a "vertical frog and vertical points" to lift the locomotive over the rails and then onto the MoPac mainline.
After its removal from Swope Park, the SHR&HS kept No. 1352 in an industrial park in Riverside, Missouri, where it suffered flooding on one occasion. The financially distressed SHR&HS sold the locomotive again to Ted Lemen, who moved it to Illinois for storage. As of 2021, No. 1352 is awaiting to be moved to the ex-Baltimore and Ohio roundhouse in Cleveland, Ohio for a restoration to operating condition by the American Steam Railroad. As of July 2022, the locomotive remains in Taylorville. As of 2023, the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat has bought the Mikado for a restoration project in Connecticut.
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