Today’s timetable features the battle of San Jacinto on its “historic landmarks” page. For those not familiar with Texas history, this was the battle after the Alamo in which the Texas forces routed the Mexicans and won their independence. This is number 7 in the historic landmark series.

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The page after the centerfold map is the first in a series of state capitol buildings that were featured on MP’s dining car service plates. MP did a service plate featuring state flowers in the steam era; both plates are shown here. On the plate, Missouri’s capitol is giving the top position, but apparently the timetables will present the capitols in alphabetical order as today’s page is for Arkansas. Continue reading →

The history page in this timetable features the Battle of New Orleans, which it describes as “a victory that was not really needed.” As most Americans may recall, the War of 1812 had ended two weeks before the battle, but neither the British nor the U.S. governments were able to inform their Gulf Coast armed forces of the treaty in time to stop the fight. The U.S. won the battle, losing 73 men to more than 2,000 lost on the British side.

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“Had the outcome been reversed the whole course of American history could have been altered,” the timetable claims. I’m not sure what would have been altered unless the British reneged on the treaty. In any case, the artwork, which shows a number of soldiers and specifically identifies Jean LaFitte on the U.S. side and Sir Edward Pakenham on the British side, is signed Keil. Continue reading →

We’ve previously seen a 1955 timetable that included an article on the Pony Express, which it described as one of a series of “historic landmarks in the MoPac empire.” Today’s edition begins moving in that direction with a four-color article on the Iron Mountain Railroad, a part of the MP system that celebrated a centennial in 1953.

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Like the landmarks page from 1955, the collage of illustrations on this page is signed “Keil.” I wasn’t certain before but now I am that this refers to John Mullan Keil (1922-2017), a New York advertising executive and artist.

Keil was born in Rochester, NY and served as a bombardier during World War II. He then earned a degree in economics from the University of Rochester, tried to start an acting career, and when that failed he became a writer and artist for a series of advertising agencies. During the 1950s, he was working for Needham & Grohmann, and it is quite possible that this agency was the reason why MP timetables of that decade were so entertaining. Keil’s Mad Men career was noteworthy enough to deserve an obituary in the New York Times.

Of the eight full-color pages in the timetable, the other one most relevant to passengers is the inside front cover, which advertises the reclining seats in Eagles coaches. The picture doesn’t show that the seats had leg rests. Though comfortable, they would have been disappointing compared with coach seats on other western overnight trains.

The inside front cover of this timetable advertises “beautiful new planetarium-dome coaches” for the Texas Eagle. The illustration accompanying the ad strangely shows saguaro cactus, which doesn’t grow anywhere in Missouri Pacific territory.

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The page before the centerfold map features Oklahoma, which it says is “no. 9 in a series of color pages featuring the states served by Missouri Pacific lines.” The centerfold map shows that, including Tennessee, which MP reached only by entering Memphis, and Mississippi, which MP reached only by entering Natchez, the railroad went through eleven states, so there must have been eleven in this series. Continue reading →

For November, Missouri Pacific made a small change to the front cover. Instead of red and black, the strip on the bottom of the cover is printed in yellow and black. This is a lot easier to read.

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As usual, the inside front cover is a full-color ad for a train, in this case the St. Louis-Galveston Texas Eagle, which MP had introduced on August 15. I’m sure it was no coincidence that Santa Fe had introduced its Chicago-Galveston Texas Chief earlier in the year on April 8. Continue reading →