Union Pacific Merger Years, Part 2, MoPac, Katy, CNW

Come along for a continued look at the merger era Union Pacific begun in Union Pacific, The MoPac Merger Years. We begin with as the Missouri-Kansas-Texas is merged into U.P. subsidiary Missouri Pacific. By this time, the Katy’s own route into St. Louis had been abandoned in favor of trackage rights over MoPac from Sedalia. The daily Katy train into the Gateway City is seen at several locations in St. Louis proper, as well as in the western suburbs. One train has a rare locomotive: the last F Unit on the roster.
br>As the Katy was merged into the MoPac, the Katy train symbols were kept for some time even as operations were otherwise consolidated. This resulted in a mix-and-match of power appearing on the Katy trains.
br>Next, we move onto the former Missouri Pacific as both Jenks Blue locomotives and yellow locomotives with MoPac lettering run side by side with their Union Pacific cousins. This section also includes appearances by a Western Pacific Geep and a Katy Geep on a coal train passing the semaphores at Nielson tower.
br>Next, it’s back to the St. Louis area for a quick look at the Chicago & North Western’s former Litchfield & Madison line at Granite City and Madison, Illinois. First generation Geeps are seen doing switching work in the yards. From there, it’s off to the Nebraska mainline during the era when Union Pacific and the North Western were partners in both coal and transcontinental traffic. North Western locomotives were common in all types of service on the U.P.’s transcontinental mainline, and this partnership set the stage for the merger that was to come.
br>We end our show at Rochelle, Illinois, a year after the North Western was merged into the Union Pacific. Plenty of North Western power was still running about on home rails, including some first generation Geeps on local freights.
br>It was an interesting time to be a railfan along the lines of the railroads that made up a growing Union Pacific system.