page_title: Sunshine Special
hierarchical_section_title: Sunshine Special
caption_attribution_description: English: According to the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, the plate is a Missouri Pacific Lines Dining Car Service Plate. It was issued to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the newly-equipped "Sunshine Special". Artwork by William Harnden Foster. Syracuse China Co., 1927.
context_page_description: The Sunshine Special was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between St. Louis, Little Rock, and destinations in Texas, such as El Paso, San Antonio, Laredo and Houston. An auxiliary section of the train originated in Memphis, Tennessee and linked with the train in Little Rock, Arkansas.
  The train ran from St. Louis to either Longview or Marshall in East Texas. There 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 diesel powered streamliner in August 1948, the Sunshine Special served as the flagship of the Missouri Pacific Railroad'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 as the Águila Azteca or Aztec Eagle to Mexico City, Mexico.
context_section_description: The Sunshine Special was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, (later the Missouri Pacific Railroad), on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between St. Louis, Little Rock, and destinations in Texas, such as El Paso, San Antonio, Laredo and Houston. An auxiliary section of the train originated in Memphis, Tennessee and linked with the train in Little Rock, Arkansas.
  The train ran from St. Louis to either Longview or Marshall in East Texas. There 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 diesel powered streamliner in August 1948, the Sunshine Special served as the flagship of the Missouri Pacific Railroad'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 (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 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 on December 12. The last vestige of the Sunshine Special, an unnamed train did not disappear from Missouri Pacific timetables until 1962. The Texas Eagle achieved greater patronage volume and survived until 1971 when the MP gave up its passenger service to Amtrak.
caption: This dining car plate was issued to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the Sunshine Special.
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