The page before the centerfold map presents the state of Arkansas, noting that this would be “No. 1 in a series of color pages featuring the states served by Missouri Pacific Lines.” The article is accompanied by a photo of the Arkansas capitol building, the same photo that would be used in the April 1956 timetable as part of a series on state capitols in Missouri Pacific states. In retrospect, a different photo should have been used here, perhaps one of the Ozarks or Hot Springs.
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The page after the centerfold is an article about “Lincoln, the Capitol of Nebraska” accompanied by an aerial photo that could be any mid-sized city, USA. The text of the article itself was “prepared by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.”
The inside front cover ad says “You’ll smile away the miles on the Eagles.” The back cover ad says Missouri Pacific is building a new freight terminal in Houston “to keep pace with the fast-growing Texas city and port.” I’m sure that was a good idea as Houston would continue to be one the nation’s fastest growing urban areas until the present day.
The smaller articles in this timetable are a little more self-serving than in previous editions. One justifiably complains of overregulation of the railroads. Another combines two half pages to reprint an article from Reader’s Digest about how heavy trucks are damaging highways. Less self-serving articles promote Hot Springs, Texas dude ranches, and Mexico.
Wow. Heavy trucks damaging highways even back then. Of course, back in those days we knew how to build and if necessary repair things, a skill that seems to have been lost in a lot of places. When I go back and visit my old neighborhood in Orange County, CA I am amazed at how basic stuff like filling potholes gets neglected.
But David P. Morgan had it right, I think, when he penned his essay “Who Shot the Passenger Train,” and observed that every form of transportation has their hand in Uncle Sam’s pockets to see if there’s any goodies to be had. The railroads resisted the idea of getting into bed with the government because during the first world war they were brought under direct control of the federal government, and they did not want a camel’s nose under the tent that could lead to a repeat.