#750

#750. Missouri Pacific. American Car and Foundry built this lightweight parlor- observation car largely of riveted aluminum, with some low-allow, high-tensile steel. It seats 26 first class passenger in individual reclining and rotating parlor seats, six in the observation lounge at is streamlined end (equipped with a radio, clock and speedometer), and five in an enclosed stateroom with a private toilet. It is 84'6" long, 10' wide, and 13'6" high above the rail. Its empty weight is 101,760 pounds, about 9,500 pounds lighter than a car entirely built of low-allow, high tensile steel, and about 40% less than a car of conventional heavy steel construction. The styling, including colors and the sculpted eagle at the rear, was by Raymond Loewy, the famous industrial designer. It ran in "The Eagle," later renamed the "Missouri River Eagle," a pair of daytime streamliners between St. Louis and Omaha via Kansas City. It was often used by President Truman. The two trains went through his home town of Independence, MO at midday in both directions at both ends, and the MP was the logical route to St. Louis and via connections to Washington, D.C. The Truman family used the staterooms on these cars so often that they were known as the "Truman Rooms." Donated by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1962. . This historical marker was erected in 2013 by Museum of Transportation. It is Near Kirkwood in St. Louis County Missouri