MP Air Conditioning

These blotters from the Dale Hastin collection tell a story of the progressive installation of air conditioning in MP’s passenger fleet.

This blotter is from early in the air conditioning era as it indicates that only diners and lounges were air conditioned. That would put it around 1932, the year before the Sunshine Special was fully air conditioned.

This blotter advertises that tourist sleepers on the Scenic Limited are air conditioned, which implies that Pullmans were as well but coaches were not.

Missouri Pacific-controlled Texas & Pacific advertises that “all thru trains” are “completely air conditioned.” This means coaches, sleepers, and feature cars, but suggests that the railroad has some non-thru trains that are not air conditioned.

When this blotter was issued, Missouri Pacific could state that all of its five St. Louis-Kansas City trains were completely air conditioned. While there is no date on any of these blotters, this one must be from the late 1930s.


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