The story about Mopac Women’s Club selling by the pound is interesting and new information. I had heard that the china went to the Boy Scouts. Back in the day, I had written a number of letters to J.W. Cornett, supt of dining cars, asking to buy china, silver, Eagle tablecloths, etc. Most other railroads were willing to sell their surplus stuff, often at what now seems like bargain prices. Not MoP, unfortunately — the answer was always NO!

Some years later, I became better acquainted with Wylie Cavin, who had at one time been an eating house inspector, then dining car inspector, possibly a dining car steward briefly, and then wound up as the operator of the restaurant in the Little Rock station until it closed in November 1968. The restaurant never had any MoP china or silver when I ate there in the mid-60s, but Mr. Cavin managed to amass a huge collection of mainly MP silver with a few pieces of china, including some pieces of the original Eagle china with the gold band rather than the mustard colored pin stripe around the border. He also had a healthy stack, perhaps a dozen or more, of both the steam and diesel service plates, which at one time had been on sale in the news stand at Little Rock for $3.00 each.

Eventually Mr. Cavin began selling some of this stock, and I was able to purchase a few items (being in college at the time, it was necessary to divide my limited cash between trains and girls.) When picking out items to purchase, I looked through stacks of silver platters, perhaps 40 or 50, and dozens of the older “pagoda” pattern hollow ware. With the latter items, most were marked Missouri Pacific, but a few pieces were marked “Mo Pac and Iron Mountain”, and some were marked I&GN. I always assumed that this pattern might have been the style in use when the Sunshine Special started. Hindsight being 20/20, I now realize that if I had borrowed money to purchase his entire collection, I might now be retired after making my fortune on ebay.

Like Charlie’s experience, in several other cases where I have come upon large amounts of MP silver at flea markets or antique shops, it could usually be traced back to the sale at St. Louis, or to some charity auction in St. Louis which took place about the same time. Ultimately, I suppose a lot of the stuff wound up on the collector market, but it definitely took convoluted routes to get there.

Bill Pollard