page_title: Missouri Pacific Railroad
section_title: Equipment colors and painting
hierarchical_section_title: Missouri Pacific Railroad / Equipment colors and painting
caption_attribution_description: Union Pacific Railroad 1982, EMD SD70ACe [1]
context_page_description: The Missouri Pacific Railroad, commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, Texas and Pacific Railway, Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway, Midland Valley Railroad, San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad, Gulf Coast Lines, International-Great Northern Railroad, Kansas, Nebraska & Dakota Railroad, New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway, Missouri-Illinois Railroad, as well as the small Central Branch Railway, and joint ventures such as the Alton and Southern Railroad.
  In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P and its subsidiaries, C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.
  Union Pacific Corporation, the parent company of the Union Pacific Railroad, agreed to buy the Missouri Pacific Railroad on January 8, 1980. Lawsuits filed by competing railroads delayed approval of the merger until September 13, 1982.
context_section_description: In the early days of steam, the MP generally used gold lettering on its steam locomotives. This was further broken down by using two different lettering styles: block for the numbers and roman for the lettering (including subsidiary markings and classifications). Once Lewis W. Baldwin became president of the Missouri Pacific in April 1923, the color of the lettering changed to aluminum.
  The Missouri Pacific was known for its "Eagle" color scheme designed by Raymond Loewy. It consisted of dark cerulean, icterine yellow, and isabelline gray. These colors were mostly applied to passenger locomotives, passenger cars, merchandise boxcars and first-generation freight locomotives starting on October 22, 1939, and ending on April 27, 1961.
  When the Texas & Pacific was acquired by the Missouri Pacific, the railroad discontinued its swamp holly orange and black for the Eagle colors (except icterine yellow) in its new order of GP18s 1145–1149 in May 1960; this follows the traditional practice of railroads using the parent company's colors.
  Downing B. Jenks became president of the Missouri Pacific in 1961. To save money, Jenks introduced a new paint scheme for the railroad's locomotives. Starting April 28, 1961, all locomotives were to be painted in dark eagle blue with white accent marks but without the use of isabelline grey or icterine yellow. The name Jenks blue (also known as dark eagle blue) comes from Jenks' decision to change the livery of Missouri Pacific locomotives. EMD GP18 #400 made its debut in January 1962 with the simplified Jenks blue scheme. Starting in September 1974, when EMD GP38-2 #2111 was introduced, decals with the company's logo applied to locomotives used more reflective white surfaces for safety and visibility.
  With the Union Pacific merger taking effect on December 22, 1982, the Missouri Pacific sought to keep its simple Jenks blue scheme. However, a study in late 1983 indicated the expense of all three railroads' paint schemes was too costly. Union Pacific then allowed the Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads to create a new scheme that would represent all three railroads. Following the Missouri Pacific practice, the first paint scheme design consisted of an armor yellow carbody and a red frame sill with a black underframe, trucks and fuel tank. For added simplicity, this locomotive was to have the railroad's initials, logos and numbers applied. However, the scheme was discarded; instead a standard Union Pacific scheme with 20" lettering and 7/8" black edging, along with a 24" UP shield on the nose and a 10 1/2" UP shield on the air equipment doors, was used. Among the new features of this scheme were harbor mist gray trucks and anti-glare panels.
  Once the test scheme was completed in January 1984, the lettering was deemed unsatisfactory due to the word Missouri being too large to fit on smaller four-axle carbodies. The Union Pacific scheme was to be used starting May 14, 1984, but instead of the Union Pacific "Jinx" typeface, a renovated version from the Missouri Pacific lettering was used. Using the typeface seen on Missouri Pacific reporting marks and locomotive numbers, block lettering (dubbed "North Little Rock lettering") was used, as it fit the large and small carbodies. The scheme was discontinued on January 1, 1986 after the consolidation of the Missouri Pacific & Union Pacific operating departments.
caption: Modern Union Pacific EMD SD70ACe locomotive, painted in MoPac livery
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