THE TEXAS FLASH
The Texas Flash was a short-lived, Kansas City-Tulsa-Dallas, post-war train that was operated in 1946 and 1947 by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco). Later information shows the train traveling Tulsa-Sherman-Dallas by day.
"The Texas Flash, which made its inaugural run on May 12, 1946, was the Frisco's third attempt to operate fast, daylight, limited-stop “streamliner” passenger service. Before the Firefly, there was the Black Gold, which offered speedy Tulsa-Dallas service with through Pullmans over the Katy to Houston. During its brief existence, the Firefly underwent numerous operational changes, and with the war’s end, the Frisco seemed ready to give the Dallas-Tulsa corridor another go. The experiment was short-lived, and the Firefly went back on the time card on May 2, 1947." - Karl Brand, Ship It On The Frisco
Frisco Passenger Trains
While the Texas Special may be the most famous passenger train operated by Frisco, it was just one of a fleet of named trains. These included:
- Black Gold (a joint Frisco–Katy operation inaugurated between Tulsa and Houston on January 23, 1938, and continuing until January 18, 1960)
- The Bluebonnet (St. Louis to San Antonio—with through service by M-K-T—leaving early afternoon, arriving Dallas/Ft. Worth the next morning, and arriving San Antonio late afternoon.)
- Chadwick Flyer (Branch line from Springfield to Chadwick, Missouri; discontinued by March 1933)
- Firefly (at various times serving St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Scott, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. This was Frisco’s first streamliner, and the first streamliner to be built in the southwest, the streamline modifications being done by Frisco itself)
- General Wood (Originally between St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri, from May 1941; truncated in June 1942 to service between St. Louis and Newburg, Missouri; and, discontinued entirely in the fall of 1946.)
- Governor (Joplin–Tulsa–Oklahoma City)
- Kansas City–Florida Special (Kansas City–Jacksonville)
- Kansas Limited (St. Louis–Wichita–Ellsworth)
- Kansas Mail (St. Louis–Wichita)
- Memphian (St. Louis–Memphis)
- Memphis Passenger (St. Louis–Memphis)
- Meteor (St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City by night with connecting train Monett–Fort Smith–Paris, TX)
- Oil Fields Special (Kansas City–Tulsa–Dallas–Ft. Worth, with through service to Houston)
- Oklahoman (Once connected Kansas City–Tulsa but was later rerouted between St. Louis–Oklahoma City)
- Southland (Kansas City–Birmingham) (truncated successor to the Kansas City–Florida Special)
- Southwest Limited (St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City–Lawton)
- St. Louis-Memphis Limited (St. Louis–Memphis–Birmingham)
- Sunnyland (Kansas City/St. Louis–Atlanta/Pensacola/New Orleans)
- Tulsa Texan (a joint Frisco–Katy operation inaugurated between Tulsa and Houston in 1937, and phased out between March and July 1940)
- Texas Flash (Tulsa–Sherman–Dallas by day)
- Texokla Limited (St. Louis–Springfield–Dallas)
- Texas Limited (St. Louis–Springfield–Dallas, with through service to Houston–Galveston)
- Texas Special (St. Louis–Springfield–Dallas–Ft. Worth, with through service to Austin–San Antonio)
- Will Rogers (St. Louis–Oklahoma City/Wichita by day, 1936–1965; with through service northbound out of St. Louis to Chicago via the Alton Railroad or Wabash Railroad)
