Eli was actually a race horse from Missouri back in the 1880s. When the owl 🦉 came around, being a wise old bird he may have borrowed the name of a proven winner.
Back in January 2015, there was a short discussion about Old Eli, the CB&Q’s owl. He was used in various advertisements, there was the Eli Limited between Chicago and Kansas City, an Old
Eli dining car on the Kansas City Flyer (renamed from the Eli Limited?) and there was the Fast Owl Express between Chicago and St Louis. The 1901 advert for the Eli Express for
stated it had been running for 16 years so presumably it started about 1885. Does anyone have an earlier reference to Eli or a date when the Kansas City Flyer received that name?
In a biography of Charles Elliott Perkins (who was President of the CB&Q 1876-1901), it stated that the family home when he was growing up was named “The Owl’s Nest”. Coincidence?
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
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