I am a long time fan of the Missouri Pacific, having grown up in Warrensburg, MO on MoPac’s original line between St. Louis and Kansas City. I personally model that same line, the Sedalia Sub, in the time period of my teen age years, 1983-1984 (merger era, running both blues and Missouri Canarys). I would like to hear from other MoPac fans about how you came to be a MoPac fan, what area and era you prefer, and any resources you know of that can help your fellow MoPac modelers. I look forward to hearing from y’all.
I grew up in St. Louis, MO. in the 60’s & 70’s. I eventually got into Broadcasting, which took me all over the Midwest. I have settled in Garden City, KS… I model the Missouri Pacific to honor a part of my heritage, but I model the MOPAC from Kansas City, MO. to Tribune, KS. to honor my present and future. The era I have chosen is the present. I model the MOPAC as if it took over the UP (and all the others the UP later absorbed). This gives me big, modern, power like SD90MAC’s (N-scale), and long trains. Resourses are the Missouri Pacific Historical Society, the Museum of Transport in St. Louis, The Missouri Pacific Historical Society Bullitin Board on Yahoo. Robert (MOPAC 1) Simmons
Sounds like a great idea for a layout, original and creative. I am also an N scaler. The MPHS does have some great resources. I only wi***hey could get the Eagle caught up to date. I love the Museum of Transportation too. Its the best collection of loco’s and rolling stock, not to mention MoPac items, I’ve found. Good to hear from you Robert. Hopefully we can get some more MoPacers to chime in here.
Ron
Bob,
Those blue and grey “Eagle” cars are from MoPac Merchendise Service in the 50’s. MoPac had an entire fleet of those cars as well as trucks, all aimed at serving car load and less than car load shippers. They are some of the greatest paint schemes ever put on a boxcar in my opinion. Thanks for the message, good to hear from you.
Ron
Its hard to believe that there aren’t any fans out there of MoPac or her subsidiarys (C&EI, T&P, et. al.). One last call for you MoPacers. Let us hear from you.
Ron
I very rarely check the MR forum, so that’s why there’s been a delay. I am also a Mopac fan, but I really don’t focus my modeling efforts on MP very often anymore. These days I’m more of a SOU modeler, but anyway…
I first saw Mopac right near my house when I was little. I grew up right off Chapman and 377 in Watauga, TX (along the T&P line) so I saw plenty of thunder chickens and canaries every day (I’m 28, by the way, so it was merger time then). If I had my druthers, I’d have a gang of GE B-boats in blue and canary paint, some heavy 6 axles in blue, a couple Katys in there for good measure (you’d see them now and then back in the 80s), and plenty of those cool bay window cabooses! Makes me want to get after that caboose project again…
Anyway, I may be moving back to Texas, so maybe we’ll run into each other back in my hometown.
Cool. Thanks for the reply. I grew up im MO as I said above, but now live only blocks from your old stomping grounds. Good to hear from you. Thanks for the MoPac memories.
Ron
Ron- my e-mail address is weyrleader@netzero.net.
If you want the roster booklet send me an e-mail with your snail mail address and I’ll be glad to send it to you. Bob
Although I live on the East Coast I like the
Missouri Pacific.The main reason for this is when I was building my first layout I managed to get hold of 6 Athern MoPac boxcars that are painted blue with a wide grey band. I believe they are Missouri Pacific Eagle cars and they all have different road numbers.I also got from the Missouri Pacific a booklet dated Jan.1977 a complete roster of all their equipment including affiliated companies which I found quite useful. I also repainted a MDC boxcab diesel and decaled it with a MoPac decal set. Just thought you might find this of interest.Bob
Ron-Thanks for the reply. Do you know of any companies that produce HO scale trucks with the Blue and Grey MoPac colors on them? Also seeing that you are such a big fan of MoPac I was wondering if you would like to have that MoPac roster booklet that I mentioned in my posting? The front and back covers have a little of my then young daughters artwork on them but the inside pages are in excellent shape. Let me know and I’ll give you my e-mail addy so you can tell me wheree to send it if you are interested. Bob
The roster book sounds great. Sounds like a valuable resource. Thanks. As for the trucks, I model in N scale, so I don’t keep up with all the HO stuff, and I havn’t seen them around off hand. Wish I could be more help there.
Ron
I just registered on this site this morning. First thing I did was run a search on Missouri Pacific. I live in Festus, MO(if any of you know where that is…you’re probably laughing). My house is within a few miles of both the DeSoto Sub and the old Mississippi River & Bonne Terre(later the Missouri-Illinois, I believe). The MR&BT/M-I were subsidiaries of the MoPac. Occasionally I still see a MoPac bay window caboose(still in service…still wearing the red MoPac screaming eagle paint scheme)on the local here in town. The DeSoto shops are really a trip if you’re a MoPac fan. If the cars at DeSoto are any indication, the UP isn’t in any hurry to slap a new coat of paint on all the old MP rolling stock. As far as modeling is concerned…all of my N scale equipment is packed away in boxes. Hope to someday(soon) build a layout based on the MP in Missouri and Illinois in the 1940s-50s. The main resource I look to is the MPHS and their yahoo group. The society’s leadership is active on the yahoo board, and they really know their stuff. This got long for a post a long time ago(probably long for an email), so I’ll say so long for now. Glad to see MP fans on here. Take it easy.
Dennis-Festus,MO
Thanks for that tip on the DeSoto shops, and yes I know where Festus is. I’d love to see the shops there. The old Sedalia shops are an interesting look-see too, though they are getting pretty run down now. UP uses them for little more than a giant storage shed these days. I still see lots of MP rolling stock in TX too. UP painted the loco’s pretty quickly, but the rolling stock will wear MoPac until they die. Thanks for chiming in Dennis.
Ron
Ron-Sorry I missed your first e-mail. Got the second one. The roster is in the mail. You should get it sometime next week depending on how fast snail mail moves between New Jersey and Texas.Let me know what you think of it once you have had a chance to look it over. Bob
Ron-Check back to my reply on 3-12. If you are interested in having that MoPac and affiliated companies roster booklet from 1977 I will be happy to send it to you. Given the fact that you are such a big fan of MoPac I think that you will find it very useful as it covers all types of rolling stock and engines. Let me know. Bob
Bob–I sent you and e-mail on 3/12, but apparently you didn’t get it. I am sending you another one right now. Let me know if you don’t get this one and we will find a different rout. Thanks again for the offer of the roster. Sounds like a great resource.
Ron
I grew up 1 block from the MoPac Chester Sub main line in Dexter, MO. I am starting an N Scale layout and have been repainting several of my locomotives as MoPac equipment(even some of the newer types as if the MoPac were still around).