The sight of passenger trains has long been gone from the Abilene area for nearly 60 years. Though few fragments continue to put the past in the present. The most evident being former passenger depots. However, if you look closely, occasionally you can find other remnants off to the side of the road that make you wonder "How did THAT end up HERE?". Such was the case for this rare relic; Missouri Pacific Railroad coach car No. 6184. For 60 years it sat off to the northside of I-20 in Tye, Texas. Its new home, now just 8 miles west in Merkel. When Railroad Historian and Wichita Valley Chapter National Delegate, Corrender Taylor, caught wind of a project taking place in Merkel back in 2023 he offered to help where his expertise could.
He began with providing a historical background finding that car No. 6184 was built by the Pullman Company in July of 1927 for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. It was a part of lot No. 6080 which was ordered to construct Missouri Pacific cars No. 6179 - 6188. No. 6184 was a 76 seat coach car with rust colored upholstery featuring two bathrooms (one on either end) at a length of 79 feet and weighing in at 156,700lbs. Traditional style AC was provided to the car when an ice box was added underneath in 1935. The car was later rebuilt in January of 1951 to be "Streamlined" which added skirts, a new roof and horizontal-type thermo-pane windows. During this rebuild the number of seats was reduced to 60 seats to better accommodate a couple of new luggage lockers and two new bathrooms (two now on either end for a total of four). It now weighed 163,500lbs at a length of 79 feet. At this time it was given the new "Eagle" paint scheme and renumbered to 1172. The car was later retired in March of 1965 and by the late 60's it had already been purchased by a private buyer and moved to Tye where it sat for the next 60 years. It was used as a living quarters and later an office until the present day.
On September 29, 2023 prep work began on 6184 to begin transportation to Merkel, Texas. The car was cut in half to accommodate both the budget of the investor and the available equipment. That equipment included two flat bed trailers and a couple of small pipe booms provided by Smith Pipe of Abilene (S.P.A.). To a full crowd of on watchers, supervisors and crew members worked for the next couple of hours to monitor the loading of each half. After each load was secured, they began their trek to Merkel. There they off loaded across the street from Union Pacific's mainline with a 10ft gap between the two halves.
Upon visiting the car and viewing the interior, one will find a beautiful blue interior, original vinyl tiling and holes indicating where the base of the seats once sat. The bathrooms feature some original hardware and features. The electrical closet shows a minimal electrical diagram and labels with the text "6184" included. The exterior features painted over, but still readable, stenciling in the vestibule on either end alongside original "Watch Your Step" warning plaques. Although the car is painted in, but extremely faded, Missouri Pacific Eagle colors, and the font and lettering are still in its original design alongside new number decals. A neat feature that has revealed itself due to the car now being in two halves, is the clerestory roof profile is now visible.
Corrender contacted the Missouri Pacific Historical Society (MPHS), asking about receiving paint codes in order to correctly assist in helping repaint the car back into eagle colors. Ed Hawkins became the main contact for this portion of the project. He stated the significant importance and urgency of retrieving the data and tracings of the lettering and stenciling off of the side of the passenger car for the MPHS due to the rare instance that the only remaining car of this model happens to have retained the original style lettering and stenciling. It is important to note that accompanying that information, a majority of Missouri Pacific passenger equipment was repainted in Jenk's blue around 1964 and 6184 somehow managed to avoid being a part of that period. Corrender quickly got to work tracing each letter and stenciling on the car along with measuring the sizes of each and the spacings between. At the same time, Ed went to work in St. Louis retrieving paint codes from Sherwin Williams after they discovered that the couple of paint code lists they had were no longer available. He was able to provide original Missouri Pacific eagle scheme paint swatches for Sherwin Williams to color match. After some tweaking, Ed approved the paint mixes that Sherwin Williams made and proceeded to provide those new paint codes and a set of swatches to Corrender to assist ion the repainting. Corrender will scan the tracings he made and then digitally retrace and puzzle together the letters on a digital file to provide to the MPHS.
Over the next few months, 6184 will get prepped for primer and proceed to get a fresh coat of paint for the first time since 1951. Once completed, the car will undergo interior restoration to furnish a 1950's diner. The entrance will be at the center between the two halves where a small connecting structure will be constructed.
Great stuff!