By Pauline Masson –
The Missouri Pacific (MoPac) commuter train, the Pacific Local, ran between Pacific and Union Station in downtown St.Louis for 100 years. At its height seven coaches carried 1,000 riders on its daily run. By 1961 the family car, Route 66 and the new Interstate 44 had reduced the number of rail commuters to 250, not enough to cover the cost to operate the train.
It is uncertain when the daily commuter train, known locally as the ‘Plug’ began but in it’s petition to the Missouri Public Service Commission MoPac said it had been in operation for 100 years in 1961.
The Pacific Railroad arrived in Pacific in 1853 after a savvy railroad engineer transformed a pleasant farm hamlet on a sliver of land between the Meramec River and row of high hills, into an bursting-at-the-seams boomtown – later captured in a hundred western movies – where people and freight jostled for space on 16 trains a day between Pacific and St. Louis. The railroad offered good paying jobs, to engineers, firemen, conductors, carpenters, mechanics, firemen, line men, bridge builders and telegraphers.
Many of the jobs ended in 1922 when, as punishment to the striking shopmen, MoPac (then the Union Pacific), closed the Pacific car shop forcing workers to commute to shops in DeSoto or St. Louis. Or, they could move to one of those cities, which some did.
For the next 40 years, commuter service, with an ever declining number of riders, would be the last favor the railroad bestowed on a town that had been built as a response to and named for the Pacific Railroad. The railroad was later the Missouri Pacific and eventually the Union Pacific, which it is now.
Although the daily commute served 19 communities, the train was the Pacific Local, known colloquially as the Plug. Residents were accustomed the sound of the train sitting on the MoPac sidetrack with its diesel engine idling on cold winter nights. The conductor, and engineer were Pacific residents as were brakeman Forest O’Brien, and fireman McKenzie.
The Plug left Pacific Train Station at 6:15 am, and with stops in Eureka, Jedburg, Valley Park, Barretts, Kirkwood, Woodlawn, Oakland, Glendale, Algonquhn, Webster Groves, Webster Park, Tuxedo Park, Lake Junction, Edgebrook, Maplewood and Tower Grove, arrived at Union Station at 7:57 a.m.
In May 1961, MoPac said it could no longer continue to lose money on the daily commuter service between Pacific and St. Louis and filed a petition with the Missouri Public Service Commission to either double the fair for cities in the St. Louis suburbs or eliminate the commuter service. Pacific riders one-way fair of $1.10 would not be affected.
Newspapers, business leaders and riders in the threatened cities filed petitions with Public Service Commission objecting to the cancellation.
Jerry Miller, James McHugh, and A.A. Steinbeck, Pacific Transcript publisher attended the Commission meeting to speak up for commuters.
“The elimination of this service should not even be remotely, considered until all avenues for the continuance have been very, very thoroughly investigated by the Commission, MoPac, and we the public,” the petitioners said.
MoPac said patronage had declined over a period of years. Revenue in 1960 was $32,769.57, less than half the operating costs of $68,792. The service averaged 205 passengers each way per day.
MoPac offered an alternative of sorts, asking that it be allowed to operate the centuries, old suburban computer service at an almost double fair hike for 60 days and then report to the Commission the passenger use and financial result.
The Public Service Commission gave MoPac the go ahead for the fair increases but ordered that fares from Pacific be increased from a dollar $1.10 to $1.30.
The Commission also dictated that the Plug leave Pacific at 6:05 AM instead of 6:15 am to enable computers to be at work by 8 am.
Granted the two month trial MoPac published bold ads promising to operate suburban, commuter, train service on a new and improved schedule beginning Monday, August 7.
It wasn’t enough. On November 30, the public service commission authorized MoPac to discontinue the rustic Pacific Plug or Eagle as the engine was known. The final run was set for December 15, 1961.
The Final Run
On December 15 towns along the route turned the final run into a requiem for a beloved ritual, complete with music and mourners. One rider played taps on a borrowed trumpet, while a group of frequent riders known as the Rattlers donned their car with black bunting.
Pacific residents especially turned out for the solemn occasion. Regular conductor Adolf Yanksey was not a board. He was in the Missouri Pacific hospital for treatment of throat cancer. But Mrs. Yanksey rode the train out after spending the weekend in St. Louis with friends. Mr. Yanksey had been the conductor on the Plug for five years and a railroad man since 1917.
Clarence F. Mueller, a 38-year MoPac employee, took over the duties of conductor and joined the revelry of the final run. He was photographed hands up, responding to a stickup by a riding toddler
Henry Heinecke, 86, who first rode on the plug in 1890 when he was 15 was on the train. His daughter, Mrs. John Jay Walker of Pacific, his son, Elmer, and his grandson Bill were with him. At Kirkwood his granddaughter and great granddaughter boarded the train.
Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Straumann, Mrs. Fred Miller, and Mrs. William Kasick and her two children Billy were aboard. Her husband had driven them into St. Louis to board the train and then met them at Pacific.
Engineer Walter Brennan, brought his family along for the last ride. Brakeman Forest O’Brien, and the fireman McKenzie Junior. Then there were Pete Spillman, and . A. L. Teddington, who had been the night watchmen on the train for many years and his wife.
George “Boots” Weber president of the Eureka Chamber of Commerce bought the last ticket sold on the Plug. He boarded the train at Eureka with his four young sons. He was taking them to Pacific to a movie.
When Conductor Mueller retired the following year after finishing his 39-year career with MoPac as a conductor on the night run from St. Louis to Kansas City, he was interviewed by the Pacific Transcript. He recalled the life of a conductor as one of good manners, good service and exciting experiences.
“I always found that courtesy took care of any situation best,” he said, “old ladies who couldn’t find their tickets, children who got on the wrong train – but we always got them to their destinations.”
The Pacific Partnership has sought to keep the city rail heritage alive with the development of Pacific Station Plaza and its train watching pavilion, a welcoming venue for railroad enthusiasts. (See Sidebar)
My mom rode that train from Valley Park downtown to her job at Southwestern Bell until she quit to get married in 1955, and moved to St. Louis where she could take the bus.
I enjoyed your article on the “Plug.” The train service is shown in MP Timetables but has no official train name.
A bit of remaining train history still exists at the Museum of Transportation. The Museum has one of the MP commuter cars on display. It had center doors for easy entry/exit. Just basic transportation.