Missouri Pacific Railroad
1958
The Missouri Pacific Railroad depot at Arma, Kansas (1958). This depot was part of the Joplin Division, Cornell Sub Division at milepost 349.00.
On July 4, 1851, ground was broken at St. Louis on the Pacific Railroad, the predecessor of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The first section of track was completed in 1852; in 1865, it was the first railroad in Kansas City, after construction was interrupted by the American Civil War. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railway by new investors after a railroad debt crisis. Because of corporate ties extending back to the Pacific Railroad, Missouri Pacific advertised itself as being "The First Railroad West of the Mississippi".
By 1955, the St. Louis-based Missouri Pacific had eliminated steam except in Southern Illinois. Streamlined diesel-electrics began pulling their best passenger trains in 1940, and the “Mop” bought diesels in earnest after World War II. In 1953,