City of St. Louis (passenger train)

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The City of St. Louis is the name of a Union Pacific passenger train that operated from St. Louis, Missouri to Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was inaugurated on June 2, 1946 and continued in service until June 19, 1968, when through cars between St. Louis and Kansas City were discontinued. The Union Pacific operation was then renamed the City of Kansas City and remained in service until U. S. passenger trains were handed over to Amtrak on May 1, 1971. The connecting train between St. Louis and Kansas City retained the name City of St. Louis until its discontinuance in April 1969.

Between St. Louis and Kansas City, the train was operated by the Wabash Railroad, and later the Norfolk & Western, which absorbed the Wabash in 1964. At Cheyenne through cars were transferred to other City fleet trains for several west coast points such as Los Angeles, Oakland, and Seattle.

The practice of naming City trains started with the City of Salina, which began operating in 1934, the Union Pacific Railroad operated a fleet of passenger trains named for the end-point cities they served, including the City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco and City of Denver, among others.

[edit] References

• Kratville, William W. and Ranks, Harold E., The Union Pacific Streamliners. Kratville Publications, 1974.
• Stout, Greg, Route of the Eagles: Missouri Pacific in the Streamlined Era. Kansas City, White River Productions, 1995.
• Thomas, Lawrence, "Going to California on the Overland Route," TRRA Historical Society magazine, Spring/Summer 1996.