Unfortunately, in the case of Missouri Pacific, the publication of public timetables was sporadic at best during the last years of passenger service. As the number of trains declined, the issuance of public timetables became even more erratic. Through 1960, at least two system public timetables were issued each year. When Downing B. Jenks assumed the presidency of Missouri Pacific in early 1961, the public timetable budget was one of the early casualties, and both the full color cover and the large booklet style of timetable disappeared after the December 11, 1960 issue, replaced by a timetable with a much more austere appearance.
Timetables issued under the Jenks administration began with a September 24, 1961 timetable with a brown and white two-tone cover. A condensed version in black and white with the same cover date, was also issued. Occasional St. Louis-Kansas City route timetables were also issued, although these were smaller size folders.
One might reasonably assume that the last public timetable issued by Missouri Pacific was the cardstock table issued on February 1, 1970. That assumption might be incorrect. There are actually two different timetables carrying issue dates of February 1, 1970, one containing the Texas Eagle schedule on the reverse and one with a blank reverse.
The two timetables are on a slightly different composition and color of cardstock, but even so, one speculation has been that the blank version is simply a printer's error. However, on closer examination, that seems unlikely.
The two timetables are identical on the face, except for the three dashes that denote no scheduled time for train 17 at Herman, Gasconade, and Chamois. In the earlier version (containing the Texas Eagle schedule on reverse) the dashes are present, but on the later (blank) version, the dashes are absent. If the later timetable had simply been a printer error which failed to get the reverse printing, every detail on the face of the timetable would still be identical.
Why the Missouri Pacific would reissue the timetable without bothering to revise the issue date or include the truncated Texas Eagle schedule on the reverse is unknown. However, because of this very minor oversight by the printer of the later timetable, we conclude that the true last timetable issued by Missouri Pacific was the version with the blank reverse. It is most likely that this timetable actually appeared in early 1971, perhaps to replenish supplies for the St. Louis and Kansas City trains. The blank schedules were not seen in Little Rock or Texarkana, and schedules handed out at the few remaining manned stations south of St. Louis ranged from unaltered to having the schedule south of Texarkana crudely marked out, and at least one version had the revised St. Louis - Texarkana schedule photocopied and stapled to the card. From the available evidence, it appears that all of these alterations to the Texarkana schedule were done by individual station agents and thus do not constitute an actual revised issue.
Thanks to Carl Loucks for highlighting the differences in MoPac's final timetables.
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