A T&P GP9 that also made it into the gray and blue
A T&P GP9 that also made it into the gray and blue
And a GP7 in the original Swamp Holly Orange and black. The brakeman riding the top of the boxcar and giving the engineer hand signals was soon to be an anachronism.
Missouri Pacific had a weird fascination with round portholes on the sides of their EMD E6s and E7s, and since they were majority owner of the Texas & Pacific, the T&P also had those same round portholes installed on their E7s. Between that and the fact that they wore the same Raymond Loewy-designed livery (so that there wasn't a stylistic clash when the T&P's power took over the jointly-operated Eagles), one had to look at the top, to see if it was lettered for Missouri Pacific or Texas & Pacific or the nose, to see if the eagle was clutching the MoPac sawblade or the T&P diamond.
MoPac E7s at St. Louis with the MP/D&RGW Colorado Eagle
T&P E7s at Dallas
And SP E7s, showing the regular square windows, instead of the round portholes that MP preferred.
A Missouri Pacific Alco PA crosses the Colorado River with the South Texas Eagle at Austin, Texas in July of 1964. The Texas Eagle replaced the Sunshine Special in 1948, when MoPac/T&P began rolling out their line of Eagle streamliners that were in the vein of the Rock Island's Rockets, the CB&Q's Zephyrs and the UP's Cities. The Texas Eagle originally operated as two separate sections, leaving St. Louis in the late afternoon, one following behind the other at an approximately 10-minute interval. At Longview, the routes diverged. The west Texas section continued to Dallas and El Paso, while the south Texas section split off cars for Houston and Galveston at Palestine, then operated to Austin and San Antonio.
After 1961, the Texas Eagle was consolidated as a single, very long train, between St. Louis and Longview, where the train was split into several sections, each serving different Texas cities. The west Texas section (the West Texas Eagle) continued from Longview to Dallas, Fort Worth, and El Paso; the south Texas section (South Texas Eagle) served Palestine, Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo. A third unnamed section of the Texas Eagle split from the main train at Palestine, providing service to Houston. While at its northern end, the Texas Eagle served St. Louis, as noted above, it also had another section that split off at Little Rock and ran east towards Memphis. The Texas Eagle also carried through-service sleepers from the Pennsylvania Railroad's Penn Texas, providing a one-seat ride from Washington DC, through New York City, to Texas.
That Alco PA may be gorgeous in Missouri Pacific colors, but the PAs and the RS-3s sure didn't impress the MP very much. The reliability issues that MP experienced with the Alco 244 prime mover soured MP's relations with Alco in a hurry, and even after Alco replaced the 244 with the much-improved 251 engine, MP never returned to Alco for more locomotives.
EMD E7 #24 passing through a limestone cut near Austin with the South Texas Eagle
F-Units with a freight train pass E8A #38 with the Texas Eagle at Austin
An unusual mix of power on the northbound Texas Eagle as it leaves Austin. We've got an Alco PA, an EMD E7A and a "torpedo tube" Geep.
Another strange lashup of a PA-1 and two "torpedo tube" Geeps
The Texas Eagle is screaming through McNeil Station and if you look back, you can see that the RPO is prepared to snag that mail sack in the foreground. The lead E7A is now Missouri Pacific #18 but it was originally St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway #7009A. The Brownie, as the StLB&M was nicknamed, ran from Brownsville to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston and connected the citizens of Brownsville to nearby Corpus Christi for the first time on land rather than using water transportation, as well as having a bridge that connected Brownsville and Matamoris, Tamaulipas, Mexico in conjunction with the Mexican government. The StLB&M became part of the the New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway Co., which was incorporated in 1916 to hold the securities of four railroads: the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico; the Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western; the Orange & Northwestern; and the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad. The four railroads became known as the Gulf Coast Lines and were snatched up by the Missouri Pacific in 1924. Motive power was purchased and owned under the StLB&M name right up until 1956, when the Missouri Pacific exited trusteeship after it's 1933 bankruptcy and began consolidating it's holdings.
The passing siding isn't big enough to accomodate the MP freight, so instead, in an old reversal of standard procedure, it's the passenger train that's going "into the hole" at Round Rock.
The Eagle has arrived in San Antonio, and a Geep on a neighboring track is ready to take a connecting service on it's way to San Antonio.
The GPs are reminding me. I think Athearn sold an HO GP9 or 7, that was actually the other one. Been so long I can't remember the details though. Got out of model railroading ages ago, and if I get back in, with my eyesight, it'll be in O or G scale.
Geep #316 rolls out with the Aztec Eagle, headed for Laredo, while the northbound Texas Eagle is getting loaded up.
The MP's massive San Antonio station, which was originally built by the International & Great Northern (more commonly the International-Great Northern), which was a predecessor of the MP
The mail truck parked across active tracks is a little unnerving.
In reply to eastsideTim :
Athearn had an HO T&P GP in the grey and blue scheme. I'd love to find one. I have a Bachmann one and decals and paint to do the black and swamp holly orange scheme. At the new house everything is in the garage. Once I get it sorted, I may start posting RR photos too. If you get a chance to see how Lance Mindheim builds and operates model railroads it is really cool IMO. You could do a great O gauge shelf layout using his techniques. I know I'd like to see it. We have an old O gauge Lionel SP set we use at Christmas. Funny thing about it is that the engine is an RS-3. Guess how many of those SP used?
Blown away by Nick providing photos and info of SP, T&P and my favorite passenger trains. All of them ran before my time, but I'd have loved to see them in action. I mostly remember the grey and scarlett red of the SP growing up, all freight by then.
The Texas Eagle at Round Rock with "torpedo tube" Geeps in the lead. The little air deflector at the rear of the cab is an interesting detail that I've never noticed before. The photo was taken in 1969, just two years before the Texas Eagle was discontinued on Amtrak's formation. The route would be revived in 1984 as the Inter-American, which was then renamed to the Eagle in 1981, and then finally revived the full Texas Eagle name in 1988.
First-generation EMD power crosses the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, en route to the MP's yard on the west bank.
Taken at Round Rock in 1964, the lead F-unit on that jumble of motive power has the Texas & Pacific diamond on the front of it. The station also wears the Missouri Pacific Lines logo on the side of it that is missing in the later photo.
MP GP18s in the late Jenks Blue livery. I always liked the angled low hood used on the GP18s.
The fireman and front brakeman aboard Missouri Pacific #814 are prepared to snag orders on the move at Mcneil Station. You can see how there are two sets at different heights. The high set was for the head end crew, and the low set was for the crew back in the caboose, or in this case the brakeman hanging off the rear of the locomotive, for if the fireman missed.
Second generation EMDs, with the Screamin' Eagle logo, at Hearne, TX, viewed from underneath a boxcar.
MP SD40s duck under the Southern Pacific at Jacksonville, TX
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