Locomotive pulls last excursion ride

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- It's been a good ride, but the steam locomotive, Frisco No. 1522, pulled its last excursion over the weekend, a victim of high maintenance and insurance costs.

The St. Louis Steam Train Association, which restored the former museum piece 15 years ago, has decided to get out of railroading.

The 300-ton locomotive pulled excursion rides Saturday and Sunday to just past Rolla and back that were dubbed "farewell to steam."

"A good ride is worth all the heartache," said fireman Don Morice, 59, who fed water into the boiler.

Behind the locomotive were 22 cars filled with 670 people who paid to grab one last chance at riding a steam railroad. Along the way, hundreds more waved or took pictures as the train rolled by. For many Americans, the old iron horse never lost its charm.

One of the passengers was Jane Schwartz of Affton, whose father was a passenger agent for the old Nickel Plate line to New York. Schwartz, 71, was drawn to the ride because of all her memories of taking trains with her family.

"I feel like a kid again," she said. "All the people are so friendly, just like back then. It has always been such a wonderful way to travel and watch everything go by."

Killian V. Coerver, 89, worked for the old Frisco railroad for 49 years, sometimes on passenger trains that were pulled by the 1522. Coerver, of Chesterfield, said he didn't want to miss the last ride. "There is an end to everything, including me," he said. "We might as well ride it out together."

But nostalgia isn't enough to make the thing work.

Excursion promoters say a combination of skyrocketing insurance costs, new federal boiler standards and the constant trouble of arranging passenger cars and routes have led to the decision to end it. If insurance rates ever drop, the locomotive's furnace may get fired up again, but it will be by someone other than the steam train association.

Rick Sprung, trip director for the local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, said the two runs cost $190,000 in insurance, passenger-car rentals and other costs. Just two years ago, a two-trip weekend cost $80,000.

Coach tickets Sunday were $165 and first-class, $370. In 1988, a ride cost $65.

So the 1522 is headed back to a siding at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis County, where it once was just another rusting artifact. The association members rescued it in 1985, spent two years yanking rivets and turning old pipe joints, and proudly rolled it out in 1987.

The locomotive was built in 1926 for the old Frisco Railroad, which used it for passenger and freight until 1951.