Cabooses of the Missouri Pacific Lines
by G. J. Michels, Jr.

Now you can order this book for either your own library or as a gift at the MPHS Store.

This impressive book contains over 400 pages encompassing 47 chapters focusing on the cabooses of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.   Also included are T&P and C&EI cabooses and all the subsidiaries which made up the Missouri Pacific Railroad.   With everything from car diagrams to a complete caboose roster (including renumberings and dispositions), the Missouri Pacific modeler and/or historian will spend countless hours pouring over the contents of this book.   Over 400 black and white and color photos are used to illustrate the history of the caboose on the Missouri Pacific.   Some of the most interesting topics to modelers and historians include: paint and lettering schemes, the original Missouri Pacific cabooses, the Iron Mountain MP cabooses, homebuilts, ACF standard wood cabooses, Drover cabooses, Magor steel cabooses, wartime cabooses, cupola bay-window cabooses, and ex-Southern Pacific wooden.   Of special interest to modelers are four sections dedicated to modeling these cabooses, Hallmark, Overland and Alco along with Pecos River Brass models as they relate to the cabooses of the Missouri Pacific. – Review from NMRA Bulletin, September 1997

This book belongs in the library of ever MoPac fan and follower.   It's a classic and we likely will never see a reprint of this incredibly extensive volume again.

See the Index.

From Railroad History, Bulletin 178

The Missouri Pacific, now subsumed into the Union Pacific, was once independent, substantial corporate system extending from El Paso to New Orleans, from St. Louis (and Chicago) to Brownsville. It has inspired particularly strong affection among its fans and students. This encyclopedic study of MoPac cabooses by G. J. Michels, Jr., continues a tradition of scholarship as nearly complete as any dedicated scholar can make it. Since the caboose has been rendered largely obsolete in modern freight railroading, Cabooses of the Missouri Pacific Lines is probably the final consideration of that subject for this group of railroads.

The MoPac included the Texas & Pacific, the Muscogee Lines of Kansas and Oklahoma, the Gulf Coast Lines of Texas & Louisiana, and finally the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. The last road was acquired when the MoPac finally reached Chicago before being absorbed into the UP. MoPac also owned several short and terminal lines. From its origins in the Iron Mountain Railroad to its later history, none of this heritage is omitted from this book.

Supported by a ninety-five-page roster compiled from meticulous examination of existing company records and sometimes microscopic analysis of historic photographs, Cabooses of the Missouri Pacific Lines narrates all that is known of the history and operating practices of these nonrevenue freight cars. There are more that four hundred photos and almost sixty photo reproductions of company drawings.

Given the once large livestock traffic originating in the various roads' service areas, the combined caboose-coach variation known as the drover's caboose is well covered. Less well recognized, but equally interesting among exotic designs, were a series of revenue cabooses, built with baggage-car doors to handle less-than-carload freight during the equipment shortages of World War II. Another oddity was the "muley" caboose of the T&P. These side-door cars with minimal end platforms were a peculiarly long-lived species on the Texas road.

Readers also learn of the persistence of the side-door caboose on the MoPac itself, the hierarchy of service in which rolling stock was moved from main line to local to branch and short-line assignment as it aged, and the extensive rebuilding programs that sometimes embraced all surviving units of certain series of cars. Michels does not neglect the origins of the fleet, showing how the few that were purchased from outside suppliers often became models for subsequent production from the firm's own shops. Framing details, fenestration, the varieties found in running gear and auxiliary equipment, and dimensional variations are all thoroughly examined.

Of particular interest, after history's ironic fashion, is the story of the innovation of radio communication on the MoPac and how that revolution first altered caboose design, then banished the vehicles altogether. The first radio sets were so large that windows were blanked to provide space for the instruments. From that bulky heritage the devices shrank to portable telemetry attachments for rear couplers.

A final chapter reviews HO scale models of various MoPac cabooses, making plain the identity of at least one intended set of readers. Other readers will include specialists on the MoPac lines, and those deeply interested in cabooses. The work's only real shortcoming is the lack of an index, which is partly mitigated by the thoroughness of its table of contents. A handsome reproduction of John Winfield's oil painting of a pair of cabooses at the Sedalia shops graces the dust jacket and endpapers of the volume. – Neill Herring, Jesup, Georgia

from Model Railroader, August 1997

Cabooses of the Missouri Pacific Lines, by G. J. Michels Jr., is a 400-page tome detailing the caboose fleet of the MoPac. Between the 8.5 x 11.5 hard covers are over 400 photos, 32 in color.

The book is divided into seven parts: Numbers, Paint, and Heralds; Missouri Pacific & Iron Mountain; Gulf Coast Lines and Other Subsidiaries; Texas & Pacific Ry.; Chicago & Eastern Illinois RR; Caboose Miscellany; Modeling Notes; and Rosters and Dispositions. Throughout the text, the narrative is supplemented by tables of information. There are also a bibliography and an appendix.

Each section contains a dimensional diagram (occasionally a more finished drawing) of each class of caboose and a history of their construction, use, and demise. Most of the diagrams are quite detailed and well dimensioned, so modelers should be able to construct good models using these and the very thor ough photo coverage.

Modelers will also appreciate Part VII, which reviews all of the Missouri Pacific Lines cabooses that have been imported in brass by each manufacturer. The closest prototype for each model is identified as well as any inaccuracies. A photo of each model is included.

This kind of comprehensive work is an example of what historical societies can produce. Because of its narrow focus, it won't be on the best-seller lists, but for railfans and modelers who want accurate and thorough information it will be a must-have. – George Sebastion-Coleman

from Harold K. Volrath

"Many thanks for the Caboose Book... The Missouri Pacific has been remembered right."

"You are indeed to be commended on a massive and the LAST WORD on MoP cabooses. A fine work and I shall spend hours reading it."

from Frank M. Ellington, Railroad Car Press

"Thanks much, and I trust your book will excite many enthusiastic comments from our total railroadin' brotherhood!"