MP 36, an EMD E8A in Jenks blue livery, with Train 1, the Texas Eagle, at Palestine, TX on September 6, 1966.

(Photo by Roger Puta, courtesy Marty Bernard, railfan 44, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

TEXAS EAGLE (MP)

The Texas Eagle was an American streamlined passenger train operated by the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Texas and Pacific Railway between St. Louis, Missouri, and multiple destinations in the state of Texas. It operated from 1948 to 1971. The Texas Eagle was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations in 1971, although Amtrak would revive service over the Missouri Pacific with the Inter-American in 1974. This train was renamed the Eagle in 1981 and finally the Texas Eagle in 1988.

Planetarium Dome coaches were featured equipment on the Texas Eagle.

(Missouri Pacific Railroad, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

History

The Texas Eagle began on August 15, 1948, with the renaming of the Sunshine Special.  For thirteen years, the Texas Eagle 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. In 1952, dome cars were added to the train. After 1961, the Texas Eagle was consolidated as a single, very long train, between St. Louis and Longview, Texas, where the train was split into several sections, each serving different Texas cities. The west Texas section (the West Texas Eagle) of the 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 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, going east towards Memphis.

On December 12, 1948, a few months after its inception the Texas Eagle carried through sleepers from the Pennsylvania Railroad's Penn Texas, providing a one-seat ride from Washington, D.C., and New York City to Texas. Through sleeper service ended on June 30, 1961, but it was still possible to make a connection between the two trains in St. Louis.

The western section ended May 31, 1969, leaving a San Antonio–St. Louis service. The Missouri Pacific discontinued the remaining Texas intrastate segment of the Texas Eagle on September 22, 1970. The Missouri Pacific bypassed the Interstate Commerce Commission by arguing (to the Texas Railroad Commission) that the "Texas Eagle" was not an interstate train but rather three intrastate trains: one which ran San Antonio–Texarkana, another which ran from Texarkana to the Missouri border, and a third which ran from the Missouri border to St. Louis. The Texas Railroad Commission accepted this argument and permitted the Missouri Pacific to end the Texas portion of the Texas Eagle. The Texas Railroad Commission ruling was handed down less than a month before President Nixon signed Railpax legislation which placed a moratorium on passenger train discontinuances in anticipation of the start-up of Amtrak. The St. Louis–Texarkana truncation of the Texas Eagle continued running until the advent of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, when it was discontinued.

Texas and Pacific train No. 1 the "Texas Eagle" headed by Engine No. 2001, a 4000 H.P. electro-motive

diesel in Dallas, 1950. Photo by Roger S. Plummer.

(Museum of the American Railroad to The Portal to Texas History,  UNT Libraries.)

International service

From its beginning, into the latter 1960s, the South Texas Eagle had cars that continued from Laredo, Texas, where a connection was made to the Aztec Eagle and Aguila Azteca for Nuevo Laredo and Mexico City, operated by the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México. Likewise, there were through Pullman sleepers continuing to Mexico City.

Sample consist

The December 1952 edition of the Official Guide of the Railways listed the following for a southbound Texas Eagle:

No. 1 : St. Louis—Fort Worth—El Paso

No. 21 : St. Louis—Palestine—Houston/San Antonio

No. 201 : Memphis—Little Rock

Photograph of the last Eagle passenger train to go through Austin. The train stops at the Austin International & Great Northern (I&GN) Railroad depot in Austin. There are no passengers waiting on the platform. The engine has the logo of C&EI (Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad). I&GN Railroad operated in Texas. It was created when the International Railroad company and Houston-based Great Northern Railroad company merged on September 30, 1873. I&GN's Austin depot was completed on 3rd and Congress Avenues on December 28, 1876. In 1924, the I&GN was bought by Gulf Coast Lines (GCL), which was subsequently purchased by Missouri Pacific on Januray 1, 1925. I&GN operated as a subsidiary of Missouri Pacific until March 1, 1956, when all GCL subsidiaries were merged under Missouri Pacific, and I&GN ceased to operate as a corporate entity. The old Austin depot had been demolished in 1950. The station in the photograph, at 250 North Lamar Boulevard, was built in 1947 by Missouri Pacific. It discontinued the Texas Eagle on September 22, 1970. Later Amtrak assumed operation of the station and the Eagle. (Bayne, Tom. Last Eagle passenger train through Austin, photograph, 1970~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124410/m1/1/?q=C%26EI: accessed October 21, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.)

Overview

Service type: Inter-city rail
Status: Discontinued
Locale: Midwestern United States/Southwestern United States
First service: August 15, 1948
Last service: April 30, 1971
Successor: Inter-American (train)
Former operators: Missouri Pacific Railroad, Texas and Pacific Railway
Route Termini: St. Louis, Missouri / El Paso, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; Galveston, Texas; Mexico City, D.F.
Stops: 45 (St. Louis–El Paso)
Stops: 37 (El Paso–St. Louis)
Stops: 18 (St. Louis–San Antonio)
Stops: 17 (San Antonio–St. Louis)
Stops: 23 (St. Louis–Galveston)
Stops: 21 (Galveston–St. Louis)
Average journey time: 29 hours 45 minutes (St. Louis–El Paso)
Average journey time: 30 hours 20 minutes (El Paso–St. Louis)
Average journey time: 18 hours 10 minutes (St. Louis–San Antonio)
Average journey time: 18 hours 31 minutes (St. Louis–Galveston)
Average journey time: 18 hours 20 minutes (Galveston–St. Louis)
Service frequency: Daily
Train numbers: 1 (St. Louis–El Paso)
Train numbers: 2 (El Paso–St. Louis)
Train numbers: 21-221-21 (St. Louis–San Antonio)
Train numbers: 22-222-22 (San Antonio–St. Louis)
Train numbers: 21-221-21-25 (St. Louis–Galveston)
Train numbers: 26-22-222-22 (Galveston–St. Louis)
On-board services
Seating arrangements: Reclining seat coach
Sleeping arrangements: roomettes, double bedrooms; carried-over Slumbercoach transferring at St. Louis from the National Limited (1961)
Technical
Track gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Operating speed: 
Operating speed: 45.6 mph (St. Louis–El Paso)
Operating speed: 44.7 mph (El Paso–St. Louis)
Operating speed: 50.8 mph (St. Louis–San Antonio)
Operating speed: 46.7 mph (St. Louis–Galveston)
Operating speed: 47.2 mph (Galveston–St. Louis)
Track owner: Missouri Pacific Railroad

See Also: 

Named Passenger Trains A-K

Named Passenger Trains L-Z