Texas Eagle (MP train)

Texas Eagle

A Texas and Pacific EMD E7 leads an Eagle in this 1950s ticket cover.
Overview
First service	August 15, 1948
Last service	April 30, 1971
Former operator(s)	Missouri Pacific Railroad Texas and Pacific Railway

The Texas Eagle was a 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.

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, where a connection was made to the Aztec Eagle for Laredo, Texas and Mexico City. 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, with a through Pullman continuing to Mexico City. A third section of the Texas Eagle split from the main train at Palestine, providing service to Houston.