On Wednesday, June 13th, 25 children aged 7 to 11 visited CentraMod to learn about modeling and running trains. They visited on the second day of a three day Train Camp experience that was offered through the Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum.
As the children arrived at the CentraMod club house, there were divided into small groups named after historical named passenger trains. These group names were the The Scout, The Texas Chief, The Super Chief, The Texas Special, The Daylight, The Southern Belle, and The Texas Eagle. They were also given a timetable to control their movements between various activites during their stay at CentraMod.
Each of the logos below was the drumhead for the corresponding named train. The sign was a sign posted on the rear of passenger trains. It consisted of a fully-enclosed box with lights inside that would illuminate a tinted panel showing the logo of the railroad or specific train. Since the box and the sign were usually circular in shape, they resembled small drums. This is how they came to be known as drumheads.
THE SCOUT
The Scout was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was initially assigned train Nos. 1 (westbound) & 10 (eastbound), and its route ran from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. The Scout made its last run on June 7, 1948.
THE TEXAS CHIEF
The original Texas Chief was inaugurated as a coach and Pullman train in 1939 and ran until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1, 1971. The Texas Chief’s route ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Galveston, Texas with a section cutting off near Denton, Texas, and heading to Dallas, Texas.
THE SUPER CHIEF
The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Inaugurated in 1935, it was a first class sleeping car only train. It was often referred to as “The Train of the Stars” because of the many celebrities who traveled on the streamliner between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. The train continued in service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1, 1971.
Kato USA has produced cars and diesel locomotives which can be used to model the Super Chief in N Scale.
THE TEXAS SPECIAL
The Missouri – Kansas -Texas “Katy” Texas Special made its first run in 1915. In 1947, it was upgraded to a diesel-electric powered streamliner train. It was jointly operated with the Frisco until 1964 and served St. Louis, Dallas, Ft. Worth, and San Antonio.
THE DAYLIGHT
The Daylight was a passenger train originally run by the Southern Pacific between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Many have said it was the most beautiful passenger train in the world with a stunning red, orange, and black color scheme. The Coast Daylight had its inaugural run on March 1, 1937. The train continued to run until 1971 when Amtrak took over passenger service.
THE SOUTHERN BELLE
The Southern Belle was a named passenger train service offered by Kansas City Southern Railway from the 1940s through the 1960s. It ran between Kansas City, Missouri and New Orleans, Louisiana. The last run of the Southern Belle was on November 2, 1969.
THE TEXAS EAGLE
The Missouri Pacific Railroad and Texas and Pacific Railway train of the same name was inaugurated August 15, 1948. It is now operated by Amtrak and serves the central and western United States.