Frisco Silver Dollar Line

The Frisco Silver Dollar Line is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge amusement park heritage railroad and attraction located in the Silver Dollar City amusement park in Branson, Missouri. The railroad opened in 1962, making it one of the oldest rides in the park.[1] It is themed after American railways in the 1800s. The ride includes an 1800s themed train depot, a water tower, a trestle overpass bridge, a train wreck scene, a staged train robbery, a tunnel, a rectangular shaped roundhouse and an at-grade railroad crossing. The railroad has a total of 7 steam locomotives, with 5 of them in operating condition.

One of the five operational steam locomotives of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line.

In the middle of the ride, guests experience a show where uneducated train robbers try their best to rob the train, but guests are saved just in time by the conductor, who was tricked into searching for "Yankees" or "Indians." Recently, the conductor may be tricked into checking to see whether or not the tunnel down the line was blown up. During the Old Time Christmas festival at the park, the train is decked-out in lights and becomes the "Frisco Sing-Along Steam Train". During this time, the train robber act is replaced by Grandpa telling the Christmas story.

Locomotives
Frisco Silver Dollar Line
Roundhouse
(not open to public)
Valley Road
Funicular transfer
(via walk through cave inside park)

The Frisco Silver Dollar Line consists of a total of 7 steam engines. Currently, 5 are in operational shape, but as of 2019, 4 of them are currently in active service. All 5 of them fire on No. 2 diesel fuel. They are 610 mm (2 foot) narrow-gauge steam locomotives.[2][3]

Engine #7

Engine number 7 was built in 1934 by Orenstein & Koppel (O&K) in Hamburg, Germany. It is currently on display as in the train wreck scene, which is also known as the "Wreck of Old Engine 82". It poses as "Old Engine 82" in the fictional story of Ichabod Q. Peabody as he took said engine around a tight curve with a speed limit of 2.3 mph at the raging, blazing speed of 11.7 mph. The train jumped the tracks and crashed into the trees. Nobody was hurt and they sobered up Ichabod and got him running the train again.

Davenport locomotive

The Davenport is the original steam locomotive of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. It was built by the Davenport Locomotive Works in Davenport, Iowa in 1922. It was originally numbered 76 and it was the only engine on the line for about 8 years. It is a 4-4-2 type with a tender. While it is unknown the official current number (76 is the number of a different engine now), some people refer to it as "#9" or more commonly, the "Davenport". It was put on display after its retirement up until late 2008 when it was moved to the rail yard outside of the roundhouse. It has since been repainted and is currently sitting at the Depot on display.

Engine #43

Engine number 43 is currently the oldest and smallest operational steam engine of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. It was built by Orenstein & Koppel in Hamburg, Germany in 1934. #43 is the "sister" engine to number 7, simply meaning that both were built by the same manufacturer of the same year and of the same model. #43 weighs about 11 tons and is exactly 21 feet, 6 1/2 inches in length from pilot to coupler. #43's cab is about 4 feet wide. The operating pressure is about 135 lbs. #43 was sold to Silver Dollar City in the 1960s. It is on many brochures and billboards and other advertisements and has become one of the most popular and iconic engines of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. In early 2019, its pilot wheels were removed, so it is an 0-4-0T type again.

Engine #13

Engine number 13 is currently the largest and second oldest operational steam engine of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. It was built by Orenstein & Koppel in Hamburg, Germany in 1938. #13 weighs about 20 tons and is exactly 21 feet, 6 1/2 inches in length from pilot to coupler. #13's cab is between 5 1/2 and 6 feet wide. The operating pressure is about 145 lbs. #13 was sold to Silver Dollar City in the 1960s. It is probably the engine that runs the most on the line. #13 seems to have pretty strong endurance especially for an engine as old as it is. #13 started off with a "taper" shaped smoke stack meaning it was mostly straight but SLIGHTLY angled outward like a slight "V". It then had a diamond stack for a long while and eventually had a "funnel" shaped stack like #43's stack. #13 eventually got a smoke stack of its own. The particular type of stack is called "Radley and Hunter" which is shaped like an incongruent octagon. This particular stack had a "tin" sound and started trapping some of the smoke and exhaust inside the stack. The original taper stack was put back on in 2011 and has helped #13 sound more powerful than before. As of early 2018, #13 has been taken out of service and is currently awaiting a massive overhaul in the distant future. Some of its parts, most notably its bell, is currently being used on its recently restored sister engine #14.

Engine #76

Engine number 76 is currently the second youngest operational steam engine of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. It was built by Ceskomoravska Kolben-Danek in Czechoslovakia in 1940. #76 weighs about 13.75 tons and is exactly 21 feet, 6 1/2 inches in length from pilot to coupler. #76's cab is about 5 feet wide. The operating pressure is 160 lbs. She can keep a good amount of steam in the boiler to usually steams at or around 160 lbs. #76 was sold to Silver Dollar City in the 1980s. It seems to be very popular along Frisco Silver Dollar Line fans over the years. Two things that have stood out a lot to the community are the diamond-shaped smokestack and the use of a Western Locomotive Supply Southern 3 chime steam whistle. What is unique about that particular whistle is that it is made of steel as opposed to brass or cast iron. In early 2014, #76 went into a massive overhaul to make many changes and to replace the boiler. On November 7, 2015, #76 ran trains for the first time since the rebuild and also started off the 2015 season of Silver Dollar City's Old Time Christmas. Before Silver Dollar City’s Opening Day of 2019, they transformed #76 from a 2-4-0T type to an 0-4-0T type wheel arrangement by removing its pilot wheels.

Engine #504

Engine number 504 is currently the youngest operational steam engine of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. It was built by Ceskomoravska Kolben-Danek in Czechoslovakia in 1941. It is probably the same design as #76. It is an 0-4-0T type that was converted into a tender engine in the 1970s. It is currently the only operating locomotive on the Frisco Silver Dollar Line with a tender. The Davenport locomotive is the other engine with a tender, but is not in operating condition. In 2016, Silver Dollar City made purchases from an estate in Northfield, Minnesota. Those purchases were #504, a German tank engine originally numbered 2, which would be restored and renumbered to #14 to work on the Frisco Silver Dollar Line, and #2825, a little Plymouth 24" Switching Diesel engine. #504 began restoration to operation at Silver Dollar City. It was also converted from burning wood to burning oil and would be heavily Americanized. #504 made her first runs in February 2018 and she made her official debut to the public on June 18, 2018. Since then, #504 quickly became one of the most popular engines working on the Frisco Silver Dollar Line behind both #76 and #43.

Engine #14

Engine number 14 is currently the second largest and third oldest/youngest operational steam engine of the Frisco Silver Dollar Line. It was built by Orenstein & Koppel in Hamburg, Germany in 1938 after her twin sister, #13. She steams at about 150 lbs. They both originally worked for a rock quarry in Germany as #1 and #2. In the 1960s, #1 was sold to an amusement park in the US called Silver Dollar City. It was renumbered to #13 and ran trains up until about early 2017 and then being taken out of service in early 2018 awaiting a rebuild in the distant future. #2 worked at the quarry until the 1970s when it was purchased by the original owner of #504, Jim Machacek. He passed away in 2012, and in 2016, both locomotives were sold to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. #504 retained its original number and #2 was renumbered to #14 to work on the Frisco Silver Dollar Line, as it is the younger twin of engine #13. #14 has been restored to operating condition and she made her official debut to the public on March 20, 2019. #14 is heavily Americanized with an 1880s style look. It is an 0-4-0T type just like all of the other engines. She weighs about 14 tons and is 13 feet tall.

Frisco’s Involvement

The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, also commonly known as the “Frisco”, was a standard-gauge railroad which operated in the general area. It supplied construction help to the park, along with the rails and ties, back when this line was being built in 1962. Perhaps for these reasons, the trains sport the Frisco name and logo. However, this was never an actual Frisco rail line and the steam locomotives were never actual rolling stock on the Frisco.[4]

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See also

References
  1. Branson's Best Day Trips: A Guide to Discovering the Best of Branson & Ozark Mountain Country, p. 80
  2. http://www.startribune.com/steam-engines-that-gave-children-rides-sold-to-theme-park/380374971/
  3. http://sdcfans.com/sdc-purchases-additional-steam-trains/
  4. "All Aboard--Silver Dollar City Boasts Historic Steam Locomotives, Romantic Ride on the Rails". Laurinda Joenks, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, July 30, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2020.

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