A Railroad Honcho in the Waning Days of Steam Travel Helped Revive the Romance in Pacific’s Rail Heritage 

By Pauline Masson – 

James “Jim” Schwinkendorf, retired BNSF vice president who made Pacific home to be near an old steam engine he managed, revived the storied romance of Pacific’s railroad past.

Passenger trains no longer stop in Pacific, but the city’s debt to its railroad boom years received a huge contribution from one man.

James Schwikendorf died February 21, 2025. He lived in Pacific for his final years, a little over two decades. During his 40-plus year railroad career he worked for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, the Milwaukee Road and the Burlington, Northern, San Francisco (BNSF) Railway, known locally as the Frisco

At the BNSF, he served as vice president in charge of contracts. And as a special assignment in the railroad’s policy of keeping the history of steam railroads alive, he was named Train Director for Excursions with the Frisco Steam Engine Frisco 1522. 

One memorable excursion that he put together and accompanied was a multi-million dollar steam train junket for Bill and Melinda Gates (of Microsoft fame) and a few of their friends. Pulled by the 1522, the train crisscrossed several western states and several different sets of rail lines.

When the BNSF retired the 1522 – which coincidentally had once pulled passenger trains to Pacific – Mr. Schwikendorf and a group of steam train devotees acquired the old engine. They found a place to park it at the St. Louis Railroad Museum and planned occasional excursions.

Well aware of the history of his beloved engine, Mr. Schwikendorf made a trip to  Pacific, the former home stop of the 1522. He and his wife Diane Goode bought a house and moved here.

Almost immediately, he persuaded the BNSF to give Pacific its last railroad caboose and deliver it to the First Street Crossing. He arranged for the caboose to be lifted from the BNSF main line— wheels and all — and set on a 40-foot section of track in the former city maintenance lot that is today’s Pacific Station Plaza. It arrived in time for a momentous day.

Mayor Jill Pigg and civic booster James McHugh launched the Pacific Partnership, a civic organization with the mission of using the city’s railroad heritage to boost the economy of Old Town Pacific.They asked the retired railroad executive to join the Partnership. He joined and eventually served as president for several years. 

Sheila Steelman, Mr. McHugh and Mr. Schwinkendorf, along with an empaneled committee of 15, planned the first Railroad Day celebration.

For Mr. Schwinkendorf the day was a milestone for another reason. The cost of insurance meant that 1522 owners could no longer afford to stage steam train excursions. Mr. Schwinkendorf wanted to bring the 1522 on one final run to  Pacific’s Railroad Day celebration.

The idea was a colossal success. People poured out of their homes to wait for the arrival of one final smoke belching steam train.

The old engine had been spiffed up to rival a new Christmas toy Lionel train. It was painted a shiny new-car black. The silver digits 1522, set against the sienna red Frisco emblem that was also outlined in shiny silver, offset glistening black engine face. Her solitary headlamp shone golden amber. Her chrome water tanks and bell glistened from recent polishing. On the outer edge of the engine, two small American flags snapped handsomely. 

During a stay that lasted at least half an hour, a crowd estimated by Police Chief Ron Reed at 5,000, was allowed to mill about the steam train and its two or three passenger cars. One man was heard to remark that he hadn’t seen that many people in downtown Pacific since the day World War II ended.

Mr. Schwinkendorf – well-known at both the BNSF and UP – encouraged both railroads to include Pacific in their public relations runs. During his years here, a series if famous engines parked on the First Street siding for a few hours, or stopped on the main line for rail enthusiasts to visit. 

In 2010 the Union Pacific Railroad’s large steam locomotive, UP 3985, its tender, water car, and nine passenger cars stopped in briefly near the First Street crossing

For the 13th Annual Railroad Day celebration in 2015 the UP moved its heritage Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (Katy) diesel locomotive from a shop in California so that it would be here in Pacific for our event.

Like the Roger Miller song, he seemed to know every engineer on every train. When the UP sent its big steam locomotive 844 on an eight-state trip across the central U.S. in 2016, he persuaded them to stop briefly in Pacific. He donned his railroad cap and met with his longtime acquaintance engineer Ed Dickens (and his wife Nancy). He was in his element when the engine kept injecting water into the boiler sending clouds of steam on the visiting crowd.

He loved any conversation about railroads and welcomed any question about railroads past and present

When artist Ray Harvey was hired to paint a mural on a center wall of the East Pacific Plaza, titled “The Day the Train Came to Pacific,” w he turned to Mr. Schwinkendorf to make sure his mural was authentic. 

“One thing you’ve got to do to make it authentic,” Mr. Schwinkendorf said, “you’ve got to put a great big cowcatcher on the front of the locomotive because they all had one.”

I called him once to ask if the Union Pacific and Frisco railroads got water for the five water tanks that could be seen in an old photograph near the brick depot they shared from the Meramec River. I had read old news clippings that said the railroad linemen joined the Pacific volunteer fire district and provided the water to fight the fires. He didn’t think so.

“When a railroad built a depot in any city the first thing they did was to dig a deep well,” he said. In the days of steam trains, when as many as 40 trains a day passed through pacific, a constant supply of water was a necessity.

He called me a week or so later. After our conversation, he researched some old Frisco records and it turned out that my guess was right. The UP and BNSF operated a pumping station on the Meramec River, several blocks east of First Street, where they pumped the water to keep fill the water tanks filled.

When the Union Pacific asked him to act a local contact as they buiilt an electronic Centralized Traffic Control signaling system (CTC), where a man sitting at a control station in Omaha could touch a button and control the crossing guards at First Street in Pacific. He’d be glad to assist but, We want one here.” 

Positioned on a wall at the Pacific Station Plaza train enthusiasts can see the movement of each train as it heads for or away from Pacific.

He was a constant spokesman for railroad safety. In the days when parades in Pacific crossed the tracks, Mr. Schwinkendorf positioned himself at the First Street crossing, and with his walkie-talkie monitored the movements of trains on both sets of tracks.

When a group of protestors launched a campaign to encourage cities to outlaw train whistles at  night that were keeping people from sleep, he stood before Pacific aldermen and said, “You don’t want to do this, Train whistle are a safety device. They save lives by warning people to get off the tracks.” Pacific opted to allow the night train whistles to continue.

He loved model trains almost as much as he loved the big engines. He built one of the most elaborate model train displays I had ever seen with authentic engines and cars in his basement.

He never asked for any special consideration for his railroad connections. He was more like a child with a new toy in announcing each addition to the city’a rail heritage or planned visit by a famous train. His joy at railroading was infectious.

No disrespect to the score or more Pacific Partnership members who turned Pacific’s steam train history into a feel good marketing adventure, but no one added more fun to railroad esoterica than Mr. Schwinkendorf