Missouri Pacific Lines

The Pacific Express

Missouri Pacific Lines

In this section, we cover the first of the merger partners that the Union Pacific would have during the 13 year period of 1983 to 1996, culminating with the addition of Southern Pacific to what has since become a 33,000 mile Union Pacific Railroad serving the western two thirds of the United States.

1982 Profile of the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Mileage: 11,167
Locomotives: 1602
Passenger cars (1970); 17
Freight cars: 47,825
Company service cars: 3035.

Operational Set Up: Operating Districts and their total Mileages:

Southern District, 4436.1 miles

Western District, 3411.2 miles

Eastern District, 2910.3 miles

These districts were composed as follows:

Eastern District

1.Chicago Division

2.Illinois Division

3.St.Louis Terminal Division

4.Arkansas Division

5.Little Rock Terminal Division

6.Louisiana Divisionn

Western District

1.Northern Division

2.Kansas Division

3.Central Division

Southern District

1.Red River Division

2.Rio Grande Division

3.Palestine Division

4.Kingsville Division

5.DeQuincy Division

6.New Orleans Division

Information taken from Missouri Pacific System Timetable No.12, Nov.26,1978.

Composition of Missouri Pacific Freight Car Fleet by Car Type

Plain Boxcars 7692

Equipped Boxcars 12,049

Covered Hoppers 11,233

Flatcars (all types) 3,111

TTX Flatcars 3,257

Gondolas 7,278

Open top Hoppers 6,928

Cabooses 681

Unlike Union Pacific, which acquired it, Missouri Pacific's freight service was geared more toward carload traffic than it was intermodal traffic, which later became the darling of Union Pacific's overall freight operations. To service its freight service needs, the Missouri Pacific maintained major terminals in the following locations: Kanas City, Little Rock, Dallas, Fort Worth, St.Louis, Pueblo, and Chicago, to name a few. All through freight trains on the MoPac also handled TOFC and COFC traffic in addition to carload traffic, though the railroad also had a few dedicated intermodal trains, though not to the extent that Union Pacific,, or Chicago and Northwestern and their neighbors did.

Missouri Pacific Diesel Fleet-Road Diesels 1982/83

The following are the road diesels Missouri Pacific had in operation at the time Union Pacific bought the railroad, many of them   here were renumbered by UP and UP road numbers given these engines are shown here:

EMD     GP15-1     1500 hp      1555-1744       190 units, MP nos.

EMD     GP18         1800 hp      1850-1994       117 units,MP nos.

EMD     GP28         2000 hp      2000-2001            2 units,MP nos.

EMD      GP38        2000 hp      2002-2007            6 units,MP nos.

EMD      GP38-2    2000 hp      2008-2334        326 units,MP nos.

EMD      GP35       2250 hp       2502-2564          47 units,MP nos.

EMD      GP35M    2000 hp       2600-2617          18 units,MP nos.

GE         U30C       3000 hp       2965-2999          35 units,UP nos.

EMD      SD40-2    3000 hp      3090-3321        232 units,UP nos.

EMD      GP50       3500 hp      3500-2529           30 units,MP nos.

GE         U23B       2250 hp      4500-4666            67 units, UP nos.

GE         B23-7      2250 hp      4667-4684            18 units, UP nos.

GE         B30-7A   3000 hp       4800-4854           55 units, UP nos.

EMD     SD40-2    3000 hp       6000-6073           74 units,MP nos.

FREIGHT OPERATIONS

Missouri Pacific Railroad was basically a carload service railroad, but did also operate a substantial TOFC/COFC business supported by a total of 73 ramps located around the system by state as follows:

1.Arkansas, 11

2.Colorado,1

3.Illinois, 3,

4.Kansas, 8

5.Louisiana, 9

6.Missouri, 11,

7.Nebraska, 3

8.Oklahoma, 3

9.Tennessee, 1

10.Texas, 23

Sample Freight Schedules (1973-74)

Table 1. Kansas City- Houston

KH           Stations               HK

0400 L Kansas City   A   0600

1130      Coffeyville            2230

1530      Muskogee            1830

0330 a   Fort Worth      L   0600

0630 L   Fort Worth      A   0630

1830 A   Houston          L   1500

Table 2. Kansas City-San Antonio

KSA             Stations                SAK/LK

2000   L    Kansas City      A    0100

0600         Coffeyville                1700

0130   A    Fort Worth         L    2030

0700   L    Fort Worth         A    1201

2100   A   San Antonio      L     2200

Table 3. Kansas City-Pueblo

MKP              Stations                 PKM

2130     L      Memphis        A    1830

1730         Kansas City              2030

1830    A Pueblo                 L    2000    3 days each way.

Table 4. New Orleans-Fort Worth

NF              Stations                     FN

0530   L   New Orleans       A   2330

2330        Shreveport                2645

0430        Dallas                         0230

0730 A   Fort Worth            L 2330

Table 5. Shreveport- Fort Worth

123            Stations                    122

0500   L    Shreveport        A   1500

1330          Dallas                       0530

1530   A    Fort Worth         L   2330

These were just a few of the hundreds of daily freight trains operated across the Missouri Pacific system. At this time, the railroad had begun to use an alpha code to indicate the origin and destination of each through service train. The first letter indicated the train's origin, the second letter, its final destination. This marked the beginning of the phase out of the traditional train numbering system long in use by Missouri Pacific and other railroads. Examples: N indicates New Orleans, F indicates Fort Worth,M indicates Memphis, and so on. A variation of this is the two letter code now in use on Union Pacific to indicate a train's origin and destination. Traditional train numbers still apply to Amtrak passenger trains operated on MP and UP portions of the railroad.