The Heritage Series Union Pacific and Cotton Belt Midwest Joint Lines
All aboard for a look at a
time when Union Pacific and Southern Pacific trains ran side by side on two
lines into St. Louis in Missouri and Illinois.
S.P. subsidiary St. Louis
Southwestern gained trackage rights over the Jefferson City Subdivision as part
of the U.P.’s approval to acquire the Missouri Pacific in 1982. Locations
visited on this line include Kirkwood, Valley Park, Castlewood and Gray
Summit.
S.S.W. trains ran over the
Chester Subdivision in Illinois since the early 20th Century, as part of a
joint deal where MoPac trains also used S.S.W. owned trackage in Missouri.
Locations seen on this line include Dupo, Gorham, Johns Spur, Reynoldsville and
Thebes.
This program was filmed
during a period of variety, when locomotives and cabooses painted for MoPac,
M-K-T and Denver & Rio Grande Western were still common. S.P. Kodachrome and yellow MoPac units are
also seen.
It was certainly an era of
variety never to be repeated!
