The Sunshine Special was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway,, on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between St. Louis, Little Rock, and destinations in Texas, such as El Paso, San Antonio, Laredo and Houston. An auxiliary section of the train originated in Memphis, Tennessee and linked with the train in Little Rock, Arkansas. The train ran from St. Louis to either Longview or Marshall in East Texas. There cars for Dallas, Ft. Worth and El Paso were cut out and forwarded over M.P. subsidiary Texas and Pacific. Cars for Houston were cut out at Palestine, Texas. Until being shifted into a secondary role by the Texas Eagle diesel powered streamliner in August 1948, the Sunshine Special served as the flagship of the Missouri Pacific Railroad's passenger train service. Prior to the advent of the Texas Eagle, the San Antonio/Laredo section of the train continued over the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México as the Águila Azteca or Aztec Eagle to Mexico City, Mexico. Between July 7, 1946, and April 25, 1948, the Missouri Pacific and the Pennsylvania Railroad operated the Sunshine Special jointly between New York City and Texas. Low traffic west of St. Louis prompted the Missouri Pacific to withdraw from the joint operation in favor of exchanging sleeper cars. The PRR renamed its train the Texas Eagle on August 15, then finally the Penn Texas on December 12. The last vestige of the Sunshine Special, an unnamed train did not disappear from Missouri Pacific timetables until 1962. The Texas Eagle achieved greater patronage volume and survived until 1971 when the MP gave up its passenger service to Amtrak.
Baylor University's ''Immortal Ten''
The Sunshine Special was thrust into the national spotlight on January 22, 1927, when it struck a bus carrying members of the Baylor Universitybasketball team in Round Rock, Texas. According to reports, the bus driver, 19-year-old Joe Potter, failed to see the train approaching the crossing at nearly sixty miles per hour from the bus' right. When Potter did see the train, he felt he had no choice but to attempt to beat itacross the tracks. Attempting to put more distance between the bus and the train, Potter veered to his left, moving the bus farther ahead of the train. The results were disastrous, with ten Baylor students killed. The tragedy gave rise to Baylor's longstanding tradition of remembering "The Immortal Ten."
