TIMELINE - MoPac and Predecessors
| 03-03-1851 | St. Louis & Iron Mountain RR approved by Missouri |
| 06-04-1851 | Groundbreaking for Pacific Railroad of Missouri (direct predecessor to the Missouri Pacific). |
| 12-09-1852 | First passenger train on Pacific Railroad |
| 01-20-1868 | Central Branch Union Pacific RR completed to Waterville, KS |
| 07-18-1869 | Pacific RR gauge changed from 5'6" to 4'9" |
| 03-03-1871 | Congressional act authorizes Texas & Pacific Ry to build from Marshall, TX through El Paso to San Diego, CA. |
| 08-30-1873 | International & Great Northern formed |
| 1873 | Panic of 1873 - railroad debt crisis |
| 10-21-1876 | Missouri Pacific Railway is incorporated by investors who purchased the Pacific Railroad at foreclosure |
| 1879 | Jay Gould acquires controlling interest in Missouri Pacific. |
| 09-16-1879 | Sedalia, Warsaw & Southern Rwy formed (3' gauge) |
| 1881 | St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern (StLIM&S) aquired by Missouri Pacific Railway |
| 10-22-1886 | Houston & Great Northern RR formed |
| 12-2-1892 | Jay Gould dies. Control of Missouri Pacific passes to his son, Edwin Gould. |
| May 1905 | Colorado Southern, New Orleans & Pacific RR incorporated in Louisiana |
| 04-02-1907 | New Iberia and Northern RR incorporated |
| 04-19-1909 | Crystal City & Uvalde RR incorporated |
| April 1910 | CSNO&P RR name changed to New Orleans, Texas & Mexico Railway |
| 04-17-1912 | San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf chartered |
| August 1915 | MP and StLIM&S declare bankruptcy and enter receivership. Edwin Gould loses control of the railroad. |
| 12-15-1915 | First run of the "Sunshine Special" |
| 02-28-1916 | New Orleans, Texas & Mexico Railway incorporated as successor to NOT&M RR; begins operation as Gulf Coast Lines |
| 03-01-1917 | St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern and Missouri Pacific Railway reorganize and merge, forming the Missouri Pacific Railroad |
| 08-10-1922 | International-Great Northern organized after reorganization of I&GN |
| 02-01-1924 | New Orleans, Texas & Mexico gains control of Houston & Brazos Valley |
| 06-21-1924 | New Orleans, Texas & Mexico purchases International-Great Northern on behalf of MP |
| 12-08-1924 | MP gains control of New Orleans, Texas & Mexico and its subsidiaries |
| 12-1-1925 | NOT&M gains control of San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf and Asphalt Belt |
| 02-02-1926 | NOT&M gains control of Sugarland, Asherton & Gulf, and Rio Grande City |
| Nov 1926 | MP gains control of New Orleans & Lower Coast |
| 12-31-1926 | NOTM gains control of San Antonio Southern |
| 01-01-1927 | T&P gains control of Abilene & Southern |
| 01-22-1927 | Double tracking of St. Louis to Jefferson City opened |
| 08-01-1927 | Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer sold to C&EI. |
| 01-01-1928 | MP gains control of T&P (Texas & Pacific). |
| 04-20-1929 | Mississippi River & Bonne Terre leased by Missouri-Illinois |
| 04-20-1929 | MP gains control of Missouri-Illinois |
| Dec 1931 | MP gains control of Doniphan, Kensett & Searcy |
| 06-20-1932 | T&P gains control of Fort Worth Belt |
| 1933 | MP declares bankruptcy and is placed in trusteeship. |
| 1939 | Diesel-electric locomotives are introduced on the Missouri Pacific. |
| March 1940 | First run of "The Eagle" streamliner |
| 03-11-1941 | First run of Delta Eagle; "The Eagle" renamed Missouri River Eagle |
| 06-21-1942 | First run of Colorado Eagle |
| 11-07-1942 | 77 trains in one day on single track between Dupo and Thebes, Illinois |
| May 1946 | P.J. Neff becomes president of Missouri Pacific following death of L.W. Baldwin |
| 08-15-1948 | First run of the "Texas Eagle" |
| 09-25-1948 | Last run of electric interurban on HNS (Houston North Shore) |
| 10-31-1948 | First run of the "Valley Eagle" |
| 1955 | Missouri Pacific retires its last steam locomotive. |
| 1956 | A 23-year trusteeship, the longest in U.S. rail history, ends as MP is reorganized. |
| March 1956 | GCL (Gulf Coast Lines - NOTM, BSL&W, O&NW, NI&N, ISM&E, SLB&M, IGN, SAS, SAUG, AB, SB&RGV, SL, H&BV, HNS) are absorbed into MP. |
| 01-16-1961 | Downing B. Jenks becomes president of MP |
| 09-25-1964 | T&P gains control of Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf and Midland Valley Railways. The KO&G-MV partner, OC-A-A (Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railway), is sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe |
| 05-12-1967 | MP gains control of Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad |
| 08-01-1968 | MP & C&NW gain joint control of Alton & Southern |
| 06-06-1969 | MP sells the Evansville line (eastern side) of C&EI to Louisville & Nashville, and the Chicago to Woodland junction passes into joint MP-L&N ownership. |
| 04-01-1970 | Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf absorbed into T&P [MP] |
| 09-21-1970 | Last run of MP passenger train in Texas; discontinuance of Texas Eagle between Texarkana and Laredo |
| 04-30-1971 | Last run of MP passenger trains; St. Louis-Texarkana discontinued and St. Louis-Kansas City taken over by Amtrak |
| 1976 | The parent corporation, Mississippi River Corp., is renamed the Missouri Pacific Corp. |
| 10-15-1976 | The Chicago & Eastern Illinois and Texas & Pacific subsidiaries are absorbed into MP. |
| 01-01-1978 | TP-MP Terminal RR of New Orleans is absorbed into MP |
| 11-01-1978 | Abilene & Southern, Texas-New Mexico, New Orleans & Lower Coast, Ft.Worth Belt, Missouri-Illinois, St.Joseph Belt & Union Terminal absorbed into MP |
| 1980 | The Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads file merger applications with the Interstate Commerce Commission. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific ceases operations. In the following years, many of its lines are sold to other railroads, including MP, SSW and MKT. |
| 12-22-1982 | The UP-MP-WP merger is approved by ICC. UP gains control of MP & WP after being granted control of Missouri Pacific on December 22, 1982. The merger application was filed on September 15, 1980, and the application was approved by the ICC on October 20, 1982. The approval was contested in court and was cleared by the courts on December 22, 1982.As conditions of the merger, SP gains trackage rights from Kansas City to St. Louis via MP. |
| 03-27-1987 | Southeast Kansas created by MP line sale. |
| 04-09-1987 | Great Southwest absorbed into MP. |
| 05-18-1987 | Jefferson Southwestern absorbed into MP. |
| 11-19-1987 | Golden Cat created by MP line sale. |
| 12-31-1987 | Weatherford, Mineral Wells & Northwestern absorbed into MP. |
| 08-12-1988 | UP gains control of Missouri-Kansas-Texas - 'Katy' |
| 12-1-1989 | MKT leased/merged with MP. |
| 12-1-1989 | Galveston, Houston & Henderson merged into MP. |
| 01-01-1997 | corporate consolidation of Missouri Pacific Railroad into Union Pacific Railroad, with UPRR remaining as the surviving corporation. |
