Missouri Pacific Lines Dining Car Service Plate

The ''Sunshine Special'' was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, (later the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

), on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, and destinations in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States, such as El Paso, San Antonio, Laredo and Houston. An auxiliary section of the train originated in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and linked with the train in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

. The train ran from St. Louis to either Longview or Marshall in East Texas. Their cars for Dallas, Ft. Worth and El Paso were cut out and forwarded over M.P. subsidiary Texas and Pacific. Cars for Houston were cut out at Palestine, Texas. Until being shifted into a secondary role by the ''

Texas Eagle The ''Texas Eagle'' is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and San Antonio in the central and western United States. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the ''Eagle''. Trains #21 (southbound) and 22 (northbound) ...

'' diesel powered streamliner in August 1948, the ''Sunshine Special'' served as the flagship of the

's passenger train service. Prior to the advent of the ''Texas Eagle,'' the San Antonio/Laredo section of the train continued over the

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (better known as N de M and especially in its final years as FNM) was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 (dating from the regime of Porfirio Díaz), a major railroad con ...

(N de M) as the ''Águila Azteca'' or ''Aztec Eagle'' to Mexico City, Mexico. Between July 7, 1946, and April 25, 1948, the Missouri Pacific and the Pennsylvania Railroad operated the ''Sunshine Special'' jointly between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and Texas. Low traffic west of St. Louis prompted the Missouri Pacific to withdraw from the joint operation in favor of exchanging sleeper cars. The PRR renamed its train the ''Texas Eagle'' on August 15, then finally the ''

Penn Texas The ''Penn Texas'' was a named passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad that ran from New York City's Pennsylvania Station to St. Louis' Union Station from 1948 to 1970. The train also had a branch from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Washingto ...

'' on December 12.Sanders (2008), 106. The last vestige of the ''Sunshine Special,'' an unnamed train did not disappear from Missouri Pacific timetables until 1962. The ''

'' achieved greater patronage volume and survived until 1971 when the MP gave up its passenger service to Amtrak.

Baylor University's ''Immortal Ten''

The ''Sunshine Special'' was thrust into the national spotlight on January 22, 1927, when it struck a bus carrying members of the

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

basketball team in

Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Williamson County (with a small part in Travis County), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 as of the 2020 census. The city straddles the Ba ...

. According to reports, the bus driver, 19-year-old Joe Potter, failed to see the train approaching the crossing at nearly sixty miles per hour from the bus' right. When Potter did see the train, he felt he had no choice but to attempt to beat it across the tracks. Attempting to put more distance between the bus and the train, Potter veered to his left, moving the bus farther ahead of the train. The results were disastrous, with ten Baylor students killed. The tragedy gave rise to Baylor's longstanding tradition of remembering "The Immortal Ten."

Notes

References

* * International named passenger trains Passenger trains of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Named passenger trains of the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Railway services introduced in 1915 St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Baylor University Railway services discontinued in 1948 {{US-train-stub