MoPac Power Sublettering & Codes

Sublettering

Units owned/operated by Missouri Pacific subsidiary companies, after it was determined that all engines should wear the same uniform paint scheme and logos, were identified with sublettering beside the MoPac loco on the cab. By the 1970's, the only units being sublettered were T&P and C&EI's (C&EI units were the last to loose their own logo - a C&EI buzzsaw logo).

JD "Tuch" Santucci, a former MP engineer, recounts spotting various T&P sublettered units well into the mid 70's until 1976 when both T&P and C&EI were fully merged into the MoPac.

The C&EI and TP sublettering continued to a degree after the advent of the modern screaming eagles scheme. GP15-1's 1570-1574 were delivered new in 1976 with C&EI lettering instead of "mopac".

For a time, GP7 #84 (2) was an oddball having a screaming eagle on the Fireman's side with C&EI lettering (instead of "mopac") and a C&EI buzzsaw on the Engineer's side. ÊIt was in the original Jenks blue paint at the time with the narrow chevrons on the ends and small road number on the top of the car body. (This unit was assigned to 26th Street Yard in Chicago Heights). This unit lost both logos when it was renumbered MP 1776 and repainted into bicentennial colors receiving MoPac buzzsaws in the process.

There was at least one Geep, MP 1840, that wore the Screaming Eagle with T&P sublettering instead of the traditional Mopac.

What appeared to happen was that after full absorption of these two lines into the MoPac, any unit with a C&EI buzzsaw was simply given the buzzsaw eagle over the older emblem when the unit went in for its next quarterly inspection. The T&P units either got their sublettering painted over or scraped off. I recall seeing a few with the lettering blanked out with a shot of blue paint. In a few years the paint stated to peel or fade and the TP was starting to show through again.

Some of the buzzsaw eagles were rather hastily applied and the surface not properly prepared. This meant the new decal did not stay fully stuck. When hostling at Yard Center on hot afternoon in 1979, I was aboard former C&EI GP9 #1827 that had a slightly peeled back decal. I simply hung out the cab window, reached over and gave it a good tug. To my shock, I yanked almost all of the new decal right off exposing the old C&EI buzzsaw again. Had I thought about it, I would have figured out a way to save that new decal and attached it to a piece of plastic sheeting or something and have it today. Instead, I figured I needed to rid myself of "the evidence" as it were and simply crunched it up into a little ball and threw it into the garbage. That unit ran around like that for several months and then seemed to disappear as I do not recall seeing it again. (Tuch)

Locomotive Code Numbers (Cooper Rating)

The small two digit number codes on the locomotive cab sides below the screaming eagle or buzzsaws were maintenance codes. Whenever the mechanical forces worked on a locomotive, they had to include this number on the card used for keeping track of materials, labor and costs. The accounting department reconciled costs with these codes. They also had codes for servicing foreign line units, L&N units used in captive service in the Chicago Terminal and also for Amtrak power. (Tuch)

These numbers also indicated the Cooper rating for axle loads and bridge capacity.  Old lines not up to main line status would have a lower Cooper rating thus the engines used on that line had to have a low enough "class" to be allowed on that line. (Robert /'Unitcoaltrains')

There was also that one Plymouth unit that was forever leased out, the 2401. It had code 20

It's not certain if the #4666-4669 (which were actually the test beds for the B30 series units) had the same codes as the B23's or if they were issued separate codes.

Repair Code Numbers

There is also a list of codes used for repair, inspections and the like that were used on the cards filled out by the mechanical forces. In addition to the unit number and maintenance code, they would fill in codes for different aspects of service, repair and inspection, listed below.

01-Inspection-Federal

12-Electrical Shop (No Little Rock)

02-Unidentified Cost-labor

13-Power Assembly Shop (NLR)

03-Unidentified Cost-Material

14-Air Brake Shop-Loco. (NLR)

05-Accident Repairs 16-Sheetmetal Shop (NLR)

06-Fire Damage Repairs

17-Engine Overhaul Shop (NLR)

07-Net Results from Rent, Joint

18-Air Compressor Shop (NLR) Facility and arrangements

19-Ft Worth Pool Diesel Material with other RR's

52-Leased Units to MoPac 08-Service Maintenance

88-L&N Units Repaired-Yard Center 09-Sales Surplus Diesel Material

93-Amtrak 10-Net Accrual, Traction Motors,

97- Lubricants-Locomotive Main Generators, Alternators

99-Diesel Radio Equipment

Train Codes

The B30's tended to work between Chicago and Kansas City, frequenting trains CKZ, CSK, SC and KC. When the St Louis Shops were still opened, the U23's, B23's and U30's were assigned there for maintenance. This power tended to also work in this corridor, although never cast in concrete. Back when there were still CSP and PSC trains, they tended to have U30's quite often.

The GP50's were staples on some of the Chicago-Dallas or Fort Worth intermodal trains CFZ, CDZ, TAZ (later called AI and later AIZ when it was extended to Mexico), although the SD40 fleet also appeared here regularly too. The 50's might also be fairly common on the LCB and LCT trains between NLR and Yard Center. More often than not, the B30's showed up on CHZ and HCZ later resymboled RSP (meant trailers on flatcars or something to that effect in Spanish). (Tuch)