Frisco No. 4501 is a class 4500 4-8-4 steam locomotive that was built for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (a.k.a. SLSF or "the Frisco") by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in November, 1942.
Frisco-class 4500 locomotives, 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 railways named passenger train service known as the Meteor. These three locomotives were delivered in a distinctive zephyr blue, white and gray paint scheme with "Meteor" spelled out across the tender in bold red lettering. The Meteor would run overnight between Oklahoma City and St. Louis via Tulsa and was later extended to Lawton, Oklahoma on July 18th, 1955. These three passenger engines would also see service pulling the Texas Special. In 1948, No. 4501, while still in its Meteor livery, was used to pull President Harry S. Truman's whistle stop tour train through his home state of Missouri.
No. 4501 resides now on static display at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas.
Gallery[]
