Frisco’s "Firefly" (Train): Consist, Route, Timetable

Last revised: September 30, 2026

The Firefly was the St. Louis–San Francisco’s first streamliner, and Springfield built it. The West Coach Shops rebuilt heavyweight cars. The locomotive shop put a torpedo shroud on three Baldwin Pacifics of 1910, Nos. 1018, 1026, and 1031. The color was Zephyr Blue with a Silver Gray band. The train ran in daylight between Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City, No. 117 south and No. 118 north. The last run was May 22, 1960.

Santa Fe had moved first. On December 10, 1939 the Chicagoan and Kansas Cityan were extended to Oklahoma City, and the Tulsan went on between Kansas City and Tulsa. That same day Preston George photographed shrouded Pacific 1031 at Oklahoma City on a train he identified as the Firefly’s first run into the city. The blue-and-gray equipment made its first revenue trip later, on Friday, March 29, 1940, Tulsa to Kansas City behind 1026. The second set, behind 1018, followed on April 30.

Frisco Pacific 1018, shrouded for the Firefly, at Oklahoma City Union Station with a blue-and-gray passenger consist

Frisco 4-6-2 #1018 is seen here at Oklahoma City Union Station with the Firefly, circa 1940. Engine 1018 with cars 83, 757, and 1502, entered service on April 30, 1940, and 1018 kept the shroud until she was dismissed on May 22, 1950. Photographer unknown.

On this page: At a glance · December and March · Three cars · 1018, 1026, and 1031 · October 6, 1940 · After the shrouds · May 22, 1960

At a glance

Item	Detail
What it was	Frisco daylight streamliner, Kansas City to Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Heavyweights rebuilt at Springfield. No sleeping cars
Name	Rudolf Friml’s 1912 operetta, The Firefly
First Oklahoma City run	December 10, 1939. Preston George. Shrouded 1031, identified as the first run into the city
Revenue streamliner	March 29, 1940, Tulsa to Kansas City. Engine 1026, mail-coach 82, chair car 754, cafe-lounge 1501. Second set April 30, 1940, engine 1018, cars 83, 757, and 1502
Numbers	117 south. 118 north
October 6, 1940	378.9 miles. Leave Kansas City 8:30 a.m., Tulsa 1:30 p.m., Oklahoma City 3:45 p.m. Northbound leave Oklahoma City 11:55 a.m., Kansas City 7:10 p.m.
Steam	Baldwin Pacifics of 1910, class 1015, Nos. 1018, 1026, and 1031. Shrouded at Springfield. 73-inch drivers, 24-by-28-inch cylinders, 200 pounds, 37,558 pounds tractive effort
Paint	Zephyr Blue. Silver Gray center band and sash. Frisco Lines on the tender band
Later power	E8As named for racehorses, and Mountains. June 29, 1950: E8A 2010, Count Fleet, on the Firefly. The same day, 4-8-2 1501 had train 117 at Claremore, five cars
Last run	May 22, 1960, Fort Scott to Tulsa. Fort Scott to Kansas City combined with the Sunnyland

The day Santa Fe moved, and the day the cars were ready

The name came from the operetta. Rudolf Friml’s The Firefly opened in 1912. The Frisco Railroad Museum, writing up the train in 1989, treated Friday, March 29, 1940 as the maiden revenue run of the streamlined equipment, Tulsa to Kansas City, and called the result the first streamliner the railroad had, designed and built in its own shops in the Southwest. Construction of that first set started in November 1939.

December 10, 1939 is a different photograph, and it is earlier. George’s caption puts shrouded 1031 on the Firefly at Oklahoma City that day and calls it the first run into the city. The engine was already dressed. The finished three-car set the museum describes was still in the shop. Those cars came out of the West Coach Shops over the winter. A Frisco photograph of cafe-lounge 1501 on the ready line at Springfield is dated March 22, 1940, a week before the revenue trip.

The point of the schedule was daylight against Santa Fe’s through trains. The Tulsan was a Kansas City–Tulsa streamliner, about five hours for 256 miles, connecting at Kansas City with the Chicago trains. The Chicagoan and Kansas Cityan reached Oklahoma City on a timing that put that city in the small hours, because the cars were also covering Chicago. Chicago was off the Frisco map. The railroad could put a daylight train on its own Kansas City–Tulsa–Oklahoma City line and be home for supper. That is what 117 and 118 were for.

Frisco publicity photograph of the three-car Firefly behind a shrouded Pacific, 1940, with Frisco Lines on the tender

The three-car Firefly in 1940, the railroad’s publicity photograph. A shrouded Pacific, Frisco Lines on the tender band, and the rebuilt heavyweights behind it. The pose is a broadside on open track.

Mail-coach, chair car, cafe-lounge

Two sets protected the card. The inaugural consist, March 29, 1940, was engine 1026, mail-coach combination 82, chair car 754, and cafe-lounge 1501. George photographed 1026 on the Firefly at Oklahoma City the next day, March 30, so the Oklahoma City end was in use as soon as that set was. The companion set entered service on April 30: engine 1018, mail-coach 83, chair car 757, and cafe-lounge 1502. A third shrouded Pacific, 1031, was already in the pool.

The cars were heavyweights. Cafe-lounge 1501 had been built in May 1912 by American Car & Foundry at St. Charles, Missouri, as cafe-club 1801, one of three cars in lot 6368 at $19,267 each. Springfield made her 1501. The dining room was trimmed in light green, with a deep-nap carpet and Venetian blinds. Three tables for four and three tables for two seated eighteen at a time. The china on the first trips was the railroad’s Blue Denmark. The whole car, and the two cars ahead of it, went out in Zephyr Blue with a Silver Gray center band and sash, skirting along the bottom, and enclosed diaphragms.

The number 1501 was used twice on this railroad. The cafe-lounge was 1501. The 4-8-2 that later drew train 117 was also 1501. One was a car from 1912. The other was a Mountain.

Frisco equipment listing for trains 117 and 118, the Firefly, lounge-diner and chair car between Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City

Equipment listing, trains 117 and 118, “Fast Frisco Streamliner.” An air-conditioned lounge-diner in parlor-car service, and an air-conditioned chair car with seats free, Kansas City to Tulsa and Oklahoma City and return. A chair car also ran Kansas City to Joplin, arriving Joplin at 12:35 p.m. on 117 and leaving Joplin at 2:55 p.m. on 118, with coach service between Fort Scott and Joplin. Joplin was that car connection, off the Oklahoma City train.

“Seats Free” is the folder’s own line for the chair car. The lounge-diner is marked parlor-car service, which is the accommodation a railroad charged for. The head end was the mail-coach combination, a baggage and mail compartment and a small coach seating, in the usual account of these cars, sixteen. The chair car seated sixty. That is a short train on purpose: one Pacific, three cars, and a daylight card.

Frisco 1026 at the Springfield shops following her rebuild and streamlining in 1938

Frisco 4-6-2 #1026 is seen here at the shops in Springfield, Missouri soon after she was rebuilt and streamlined in May, 1938. Photographer unknown.

Three Pacifics, and the bell left outside

The engines were Baldwin’s of 1910, class 1015, road numbers 1015–1039, the Pacific type. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Springfield rebuilt a large part of the class with 24-inch cylinders, piston valves, and 200 pounds of boiler pressure, in place of the 26-inch cylinders and 160 pounds they had been built with. Five of them, 1016, 1018, 1023, 1031, and 1037, kept Walschaert valve gear. The others, 1026 among them, were given Baker.

The Firefly job went further on three engines only. Drivers went from 69 inches to 73, on thick tires. The firebox burned oil. The tender behind the shroud held 10,000 gallons of water and 3,800 gallons of oil. The casing was a bullet nose, a faired stack, and a valence over the running gear, with the rods still visible. A broad band along the valence and the tender read “Frisco Lines.” George H. Drury’s line on the result is the one worth keeping: streamlined or not, the bell and the whistle were out front where they could be heard. The photograph at the top of this page is that sentence. The bell is on the nose, above the headlight.

	As streamlined
Road numbers	1018, 1026, 1031
Builder	Baldwin, 1910. Shrouded by the Frisco at Springfield
Drivers	73 inches
Cylinders	24 by 28 inches
Boiler pressure	200 pounds
Tractive effort	37,558 pounds
Valve gear	Walschaert on 1018 and 1031. Baker on 1026
Tender	10,000 gallons of water, 3,800 gallons of oil

Number	On this train	Dismissed
1026	Baker gear. Out on a test train to Willow Springs in 1939. Inaugural revenue set, March 29, 1940, with cars 82, 754, and 1501. At Oklahoma City the next day	May 31, 1949
1031	Walschaert. Preston George, December 10, 1939, first run into Oklahoma City, already shrouded. Otto Perry, train 117 leaving Kansas City, July 20, 1940	October 4, 1949
1018	Walschaert. Second set, April 30, 1940, cars 83, 757, and 1502. The photograph on this page	May 22, 1950

As far as the photographs show, the shrouds stayed on until the engines left the roster. The diagram record dismisses 1026 on May 31, 1949, 1031 on October 4, 1949, and 1018 on May 22, 1950. None of the three was saved. The class they came from was gone by December 11, 1951.

Table 8, October 6, 1940

The public table of October 6, 1940 is the card that can be read. Table 8, Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. Train 117 leaves Kansas City at 8:30 a.m. and is into Oklahoma City at 3:45 p.m., 378.9 miles, seven hours and fifteen minutes. Tulsa, mile 261.7, is 1:30 p.m., a five-hour run, and the train leaves there at 1:35. Northbound, 118 leaves Oklahoma City at 11:55 a.m. and is into Kansas City at 7:10 p.m.

After Fort Scott the next time in the 117 column is Miami. After Vinita the next time is Tulsa. South of Tulsa the flag is Bristow. Claremore is on the line. The 117 column on this card has no time there. The other columns on the same page are the Will Rogers, the Black Gold, the Oklahoman, and a rail motor. An “f” on the scan is a flag stop. The reference marks stay on the scan.

117, south	Miles	Station	118, north
8:30 a.m.	0	Kansas City	7:10 p.m.
9:23 a.m.	42.2	Paola, Kan.	6:16 p.m.
10:00 a.m.	73.2	Pleasanton	5:39 p.m.
10:35 a.m.	97.9	Fort Scott	5:05 p.m.
11:54 a.m.	171.9	Miami, Okla.	3:48 p.m.
f 12:23 p.m.	197.8	Vinita	f 3:19 p.m.
1:30 p.m. Ar / 1:35 p.m. Lv	261.7	Tulsa	2:08 p.m. Ar / 2:13 p.m. Lv
f 2:19 p.m.	297.3	Bristow	f 1:25 p.m.
3:45 p.m.	378.9	Oklahoma City	11:55 a.m.

Trains 117 and 118 on Table 8, October 6, 1940. Southbound is read down. Northbound is read up. Times that do not read cleanly in those two columns are left on the scan.

Frisco public timetable Table 8, October 6, 1940, Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City, with trains 117 and 118, the Firefly

Public timetable, Table 8, October 6, 1940. Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. Trains 117 and 118 are the Firefly columns. The Will Rogers, the Black Gold, the Oklahoman, and a rail motor are the other trains on the page.

Count Fleet, and a Mountain at Claremore

The three shrouded Pacifics were finished by the spring of 1950. The train was not. On June 29, 1950 Preston George photographed E8A 2010 on the Firefly. The Frisco named its E8As for racehorses. No. 2010 was Count Fleet, the 1943 Kentucky Derby winner. The same day he photographed 4-8-2 1501 leaving Claremore with train 117, five cars. The Mountain and the diesel were both on the name within a month of 1018’s dismissal. The diesel roster stays on the company page.

Five cars at Claremore is already a longer train than the 1940 folder. The three-car train was the advertisement. Wartime traffic, and the consist George counted in 1950, had left that advertisement behind. What stayed was the name, the numbers, and the Kansas City–Tulsa line.

Oklahoma City came off the card in the 1950s. The miles that remained were the 261.7 already printed at Tulsa in 1940. By the late 1950s the Firefly was a Kansas City–Tulsa train, still 117 and 118, with a reclining chair car and a chair-lounge-buffet.

Fort Scott, and the Sunnyland

The Southeast Missourian reported on December 18, 1959 that the Firefly might be dropped. The last run was May 22, 1960, between Fort Scott and Tulsa. Between Fort Scott and Kansas City the train was combined with the Sunnyland. It was the last Frisco train on the Tulsa–Fort Scott passenger run.

The new-car streamliner on this railroad was a different train. The Texas Special, with the Katy, came back in May 1948 in lightweight equipment and a louder paint scheme. The Firefly never got that. It was three rebuilt heavyweights, then whatever the shop could add, then an E8 with a horse’s name, and it lasted twenty years from the Friday it left Tulsa behind 1026.

Sources

Frisco Railroad Museum, All Aboard, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1989). Friday, March 29, 1940, maiden revenue run, Tulsa to Kansas City. The train’s name from the 1912 operetta The Firefly. First set started November 1939: engine 1026, mail-coach 82, chair car 754, cafe-lounge 1501, Zephyr Blue with a Silver Gray center band and sash. Cafe-lounge 1501 built May 1912 by ACF at St. Charles as cafe-club 1801, lot 6368, one of three, $19,267. Dining room for eighteen. Frisco photograph of 1501 at the Springfield West Coach Shops, March 22, 1940. Second set April 30, 1940: engine 1018, mail-coach 83, chair car 757, cafe-lounge 1502. Third shrouded locomotive, 1031, also in service.
Preston George Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society, via the Gateway to Oklahoma History. December 10, 1939: SLSF 1031, streamlined 4-6-2, on the Firefly, “first run to Oklahoma City” (ark:/67531/metadc2299556). March 30, 1940: SLSF 1026 on the Firefly at Oklahoma City (ark:/67531/metadc2299595). June 29, 1950: 4-8-2 1501 on train 117, the Firefly, leaving Claremore, five cars (ark:/67531/metadc2294285). June 29, 1950: SLSF 2010 on the Firefly (ark:/67531/metadc2294286).
Frisco public timetable, Table 8, October 6, 1940, Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. The scan on this page. Trains 117 and 118. The times in the table above are the ones that read in those two columns. Equipment listing for 117 and 118: lounge-diner in parlor-car service, chair car with seats free, and the Joplin car line, arriving Joplin 12:35 p.m. and leaving 2:55 p.m.
St. Louis–San Francisco locomotive diagrams, as compiled for the class 1015 rebuild and the three streamlined engines (Locobase 8632 and 8633, from the railroad’s diagram books, including the 1943 issue). 73-inch drivers, 24-by-28-inch cylinders, 200 pounds, 37,558 pounds tractive effort, 10,000 gallons and 3,800 gallons of oil, Walschaert on 1018 and 1031, Baker on 1026. Dismissed: 1026 on May 31, 1949; 1031 on October 4, 1949; 1018 on May 22, 1950. Shrouds retained. Drury’s sentence on the bell and the whistle is the one Locobase quotes from Guide to North American Steam Locomotives (1993).
Otto Perry, July 20, 1940: 1031 leaving Kansas City with train 117, the southbound Firefly.
Springfield–Greene County Library, Frisco photograph: 1026 with the Firefly equipment on a test run to Willow Springs, 1939.
Santa Fe: Chicagoan and Kansas Cityan extended to Oklahoma City on December 10, 1939, with Kansas City–Tulsa trains 211 and 212, the Tulsan, begun at the same time. The Tulsan was about five hours for 256 miles.
E8A names: Doug Hughes and Kenneth Wulfert, compiled by Mike Condren. No. 2010, Count Fleet, the 1943 Kentucky Derby winner. The E8As were 2006–2022.
Southeast Missourian, December 18, 1959, “Frisco ‘Firefly’ May Be Dropped.” Last run May 22, 1960, Fort Scott to Tulsa, combined with the Sunnyland between Fort Scott and Kansas City. The last Frisco passenger train on the Tulsa–Fort Scott run.

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