St Louis–San Francisco Railway

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Frisco Lines logo.png
The "Sunnyland" train in Birmingham in April 1963

The St Louis–San Francisco Railway (also known as the Frisco Lines or SLSF) was a national railroad that offered service to Birmingham on its Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham line that crossed with its St Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City line at Springfield, Missouri. The company was incorporated in 1876 from the Missouri Division and Central Division of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It acquired the assets of the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad on September 1, 1928.

Frisco acquired the assets of the Muscle Shoals, Birmingham and Pensacola Railroad in 1947, and purchased the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad on December 28, 1948. That line was operated as a separate division until it was merged into the St Louis–San Francisco line in 1971. The company negotiated to purchase the Central of Georgia Railway in 1956, but the Interstate Commerce Commission objected, and that line was eventually sold to the Southern Railway in 1961. In 1967 the St Louis–San Francisco Railway acquired assets from the liquidation of the Birmingham Belt Railroad.

The railway provided passenger service on its Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham line on the Southland and Sunnyland passenger trains. St Louis–San Francisco Engine No. 4018 which formerly hauled freight between Birmingham and Bessemer was preserved and displayed at the Alabama State Fairgrounds from 1952 to 2009. It is currently displayed facing 32nd Street North on the grounds of the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark.

The St Louis–San Francisco Railway was acquired by the Burlington Northern Railroad on November 21, 1980. BNSF continues to operate freight trains on the Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham line.