 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
.svg) Katy system as of 1918; many of the outlying lines left the system in the 1923 reorganization | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Dallas,Texas |
| Reporting mark | MKT |
| Locale | Kansas,Missouri,Oklahoma, andTexas |
| Dates of operation | 1870–1988 |
| Successor | Missouri Pacific Railroad Union Pacific Railroad |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
TheMissouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (reporting markMKT) (1870–1988) was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Its predecessor was established in 1865 under the nameUnion Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, and came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with theMissouri Pacific Railroad and together they were part of the UP.
In the 1890s, the MKT was commonly referred to as "the K-T", because for a time it was the Kansas–Texas division of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and "KT" was its abbreviation intimetables as well as its stock exchange symbol. This soon evolved into the nickname "the Katy".[1]
The Katy was the first railroad to enterTexas from the north. Eventually, the Katy's core system linkedParsons,Emporia,Fort Scott,Junction City,Olathe, andKansas City, Kansas;Kansas City,Joplin,Columbia,McKittrick,Jefferson City, andSt. Louis,Missouri;Tulsa, Wagoner;[2] andOklahoma City, Oklahoma;Dallas,Fort Worth,Waco,Temple,Austin,San Antonio,Houston, andGalveston, Texas. An additional mainline betweenFort Worth andSalina, Kansas, was added in the 1980s after the collapse of theChicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad; this line was operated as theOklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKKT). Former Rock Island trackage rights acquired by the Katy also gave it access toLincoln andOmaha, Nebraska andCouncil Bluffs, Iowa.
At the end of 1970, MKT operated 2,623 miles (4,221 km) of road and 3,765 miles (6,059 km) of track.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway was incorporated in May 1870 inJunction City, Kansas. The company received government land grants to build a supply railroad connecting the frontier military posts ofFort Riley,Fort Gibson, andFort Scott; and eventuallyFort Worth, as well as establishing connections with other railroads that servedFort Leavenworth,Fort Wallace andFort Smith — but its broader ambitions were to connect Chicago and New Orleans.[3] Upon its incorporation, the MK&T acquired the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (est. 1865) and its 182 miles (293 km) of track in Kansas.[4]
At the time of its incorporation, consolidations were also made with the Labette & Sedalia Railway Co. and the Neosho Valley & Holden Railway Co.; MK&T also acquired theTebo and Neosho Railroad, the St. Louis & Santa Fe Railroad Co., and the Hannibal & Central Missouri Railroad Co. Combined with the UP Southern Branch, these small, newly built railroads formed the foundation on which the Katy built.In the late 1890s, a subsidiary once called the Missouri-Kansas-Eastern railroad was established to run from existing MKT rails approaching Kansas City into St Louis via the Missouri River basin.
Congress had passed acts promising land grants to the first railroad to reach the Kansas border via theNeosho Valley. The Katy portion of the former UP Southern Branch, which had begun building from Fort Riley just north of Junction City, Kansas, was in a heated competition for the prize. On June 6, 1870, Katy workers laid the first rails across the Kansas border, winning the race. Congress' promised land grants were never made, as the courts overturned the grants because the land was inIndian Territory and was the property of the Indian tribes.
The Katy continued its push southward, laying track through the territory and reaching Texas in 1872, acquiring other small railroads while extending its reach to Dallas in 1886, Waco in 1888, Houston in April 1893, and to San Antonio in 1901.
When the Katy railroad reached Houston, its joint ownership of theGalveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad gave it immediate access to the Port ofGalveston and its ocean-going shipping on theGulf of Mexico.
A Katy train was robbed by theDalton Gang on July 14, 1892, atAdair, Oklahoma, in what was then Indian Territory.[5] The gang got away after a gun battle.[5]
In 1896, as a publicity stunt set up byWilliam Crush, the Katy crashed two locomotives head-on, pulling loaded trains, at a site that came to be known thereafter asCrush, Texas. The collision occurred before more than 40,000 spectators, three of whom died (and several were injured) by debris from the exploding boilers.Ragtime composer and pianistScott Joplin, who was performing in the area at the time, commemorated the event in his piano piece, "The Great Crush Collision March" (which he dedicated to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway).[6]
| Year | Traffic |
|---|---|
| 1925 | 3317 |
| 1933 | 1827 |
| 1944 | 7256 |
| 1960 | 3980 |
| 1970 | 4999 |
The Katy acquired theBeaver, Meade and Englewood Railroad in 1931.[8] This trackage, like the length between Altus and Forgan, was abandoned in January 1973.[9][10][11]
From 1915 until January 4, 1959, the Katy, in a joint venture with theSt. Louis – San Francisco Railway (popularly known as theFrisco), operated theTexas Special from St. Louis to Dallas, Ft. Worth, and San Antonio. It sported rail cars with names includingSam Houston,Stephen F. Austin,David Crockett, andJames Bowie after prominent men of the state.
The city of Parsons was at the crossroads of the mainlines toSt. Louis,Kansas City, and south to Oklahoma, so it was chosen as the first heavy repair shop site. In 1905 the shops were expanded with a new machine shop 860 by 153 feet in size, blacksmith shop, and storehouse. The primary freight car repair shops were located inSedalia, Missouri. After extending the mainline into Texas, shops were established at the new center of the system inDenison, Texas, however, these were downgraded when a new shop site was built atWaco, Texas. The Waco Shops were established in 1910 in a section called Bellmead and renamed as the Warden Shops during World War II. Upon transitioning to diesel power, the Warden Shops were closed and diesel maintenance work was concentrated mainly at Parsons.
On August 12, 1988, theMissouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac) and its owner,Union Pacific Corporation, purchased the Katy with approval from theInterstate Commerce Commission. The merging and restructuring of railroads during the 1980s had cost the Katy much overhead traffic, and it had been seeking a merger partner.[citation needed] On December 1, 1989, the Katy was merged into the MoPac, which is now part of theUnion Pacific Railroad system.
In the "rails to trails" program, much of the Missouri track line has been adapted for use as theKaty Trail State Park, including a spur toColumbia, aMissouri State Park, which runs along the Missouri River for the major portion of its route. In downtown Dallas, a 3.5-mi-long section called theKaty Trail is being converted into a multiuse trail linkingSouthern Methodist University to theAmerican Airlines Center.
In 1997, the segment linkingKaty, Texas, to downtown Houston was abandoned, and stripped of rails soon after. The section between Katy and Interstate 610 was purchased by theTexas Department of Transportation in 1998 for the expansion ofKaty Freeway. The line that went into Houston was purchased by the city's Parks and Recreation Department. In 2009, it was adapted and paved as the Heights Bike Trail.
InTulsa, Oklahoma, the 8.1 miles (13.0 km) Katy trail follows an old corridor of the railroad between the northwest edge ofdowntown Tulsa and its suburb ofSand Springs.[12]
As part of a new heritage program, in July 2005, Union Pacific unveiled a newEMD SD70ACe locomotive,Union Pacific 1988, painted in traditional MKT colors.
The Katy operated these named passenger trains:(On its main line routes, trains originated in St. Louis or in Kansas City, linking in Parsons, KS, split inDenison, TX, with sections going via either through Dallas or Fort Worth, linking again in Waco, then heading south to either San Antonio or Houston.)[13]
.jpg)
Presidents of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad:
 |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
