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Valley Eagle

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Valley Eagle
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleSouthwestern United States
First service1948
Last service1962
Former operator(s)Missouri Pacific Railroad
Route
TerminiHouston, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
second section to Corpus Christi, Texas
Distance travelled371 miles (597 km) (Houston-Brownsville)
Average journey timeSouthbound: 8 hrs 55 min
Northbound: 8 hrs 25 min (1960)
Service frequencyDaily (1948–1962)
Train number(s)Southbound: 321
Northbound: 322 (1960)
On-board services
Seating arrangementsReclining seat coach
Technical
Rolling stockStreamlined passenger cars
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)

The Valley Eagle was a named streamliner passenger train of the Missouri Pacific Railroad that began in 1948. It ran from Houston, Texas's Union Station to Brownsville, Texas at the Mexico–United States border and a second section to Corpus Christi. It first carried the numbers #11 south and #12 northbound and in later years carried the number of #321 south and #322 heading north.[1]

It made coordinated connections in Houston with trains from St. Louis (Texas Eagle #21/22), from Memphis (#201/202) and from New Orleans (Houstonian #309/310). The Valley Eagle had its final run in 1962.[2]

Night train counterpart

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The Missouri Pacific Railroad also operated the Pioneer, a night train counterpart that outlasted the Valley Eagle.[3] After the Pioneer lost its sleeping car and its name, it continued to 1965 or 1966 as an unnamed night train on the route.[4]

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Notes

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  1. ^ December 1960 Missouri Timetable, Table T
  2. ^ December 1960 Missouri Timetable, Table U
  3. ^ "Missouri Pacific Railroad, 'Equipment' and Table 6". Official Guide of the Railways. 96 (1). National Railway Publication Company. June 1963.
  4. ^ "Missouri Pacific Railroad, 'Equipment' and Table 6". Official Guide of the Railways. 98 (2). National Railway Publication Company. July 1965.