Re: [CBQ] CB&Q MA-11 RPO - 60ft RPO by Walthers/Trainline

["William Hirt via groups.io" <whirt=fastmail.com@groups.io>]

I was doing some research on a similar request the other day after 
getting an email asking about Q mail trains into Kansas City.
In John Strauss' book Burlington Passenger Trains Volume 2, he had 
several pictures of the Kansas City Zephyr after the original Budd RPO 
cars were moved to the new Denver Zephyr in 1956. He says in the photo 
captions that the 60' RPO car in the Simulated Stainless Steel Scheme 
was out of the pool. From the several pictures of the train in his book, 
it is hard to tell if it was always the same car. However the outside 
appearance of the RPO in the photos varied over a 2-3 year period 
suggests it was not always the same car. The KCZ RPO route ran from 
Galesburg to Kansas City.
For the Blackhawk, Strauss has some consists from mid 1960s.

The westbound Blackhawk & Mainstreeter Section arriving St. Paul on July 
18, 1963 had CB&Q 2326 as the RPO in the Simulated Stainless Steel scheme.
The eastbound Blackhawk leaving St. Paul on May 29, 1965 had CB&Q 1932 
as the RPO in the Simulated Stainless Steel scheme.
The westbound Blackhawk arriving St. Paul November 3, 1965 had CB&Q 2329 
as the RPO car.
His next Blackhawk consist was not until 1969 after RPO service was 
discontinued.
Bill Hirt

On 8/20/2026 7:02 AM, Tom Mack via groups.io wrote:
> I recently acquired a Walthers/Trainline 60ft RPO which was custom 
> painted as CB&Q MA-11 2345. The Trainline/Walthers 60' RPO was 
> reviewed almost 20 years ago by Ray Bedard who pointed out it is very 
> close to the CB&Q 2327-2346 MA-11 RPO's (one major difference is that 
> the MA-11's had a ribbed roof, the Walthers car has a plain roof). 
> While not spot on, this car does seem to be a good plastic stand-in 
> for the MA-11, so I am thinking about keeping it.
> I went to Bill Glick's Passenger Roster book and MA-11 2345 became 
> CB&Q MOW car 250049 2-17-1967. Probably in line with the mail service 
> cut by the USPS. That falls into my era (1965 to merger), so the car 
> did run in my era.
> Now the big question - were the MA-11's assigned to particular trains, 
> or were they basically free runners that might be found on any CB&Q 
> train that might carry an RPO? I model the C&I, so I am assuming if 
> these cars were free runners they might have ended up on the Black 
> Hawk / Mainstreeter / Western Star. But if they primarily served 
> another route, I'll probably post this one to go to a better home.

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