The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (reporting markMKT) was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of 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 in timetables as well as its stock exchange symbol. This soon evolved into the nickname "the Katy".[1]
At the end of 1970, MKT operated 2,623 miles (4,221 km) of road and 3,765 miles (6,059 km) of track.
History
Formation and construction
An 1881 advertisement for the lineShare of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, issued 1904
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway was incorporated in May 1870 in Junction City, Kansas. The company received government land grants to build a supply railroad connecting the frontier military posts of Fort Riley, Fort Gibson, and Fort Scott; and eventually Fort Worth, as well as establishing connections with other railroads that served Fort Leavenworth, Fort Wallace and Fort 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]
Congress had passed acts promising land grants to the first railroad to reach the Kansas border via the Neosho 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 in Indian 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.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad bridge over Red River (postcard, c. 1911)Sectional Map of Texas Traversed by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, 1904
A Katy train was robbed by the Dalton Gang on July 14, 1892, at Adair, 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 by William Crush, the Katy crashed two locomotives head-on, pulling loaded trains, at a site that came to be known thereafter as Crush, 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 pianist Scott 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]
Revenue freight traffic, in millions of net ton-miles[7]
The city of Parsons was at the crossroads of the mainlines to St. 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 in Sedalia, Missouri. After extending the mainline into Texas, shops were established at the new center of the system in Denison, Texas, however, these were downgraded when a new shop site was built at Waco, 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.
In 1997, the segment linking Katy, Texas, to downtown Houston was abandoned, and stripped of rails soon after. The section between Katy and Interstate 610 was purchased by the Texas Department of Transportation in 1998 for the expansion of Katy 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.
As part of a new heritage program, in July 2005, Union Pacific unveiled a new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1988, painted in traditional MKT colors.
The Katy Limitedcirca 1910The Katy Flyer in 1911
Passenger trains
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 in Denison, 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]
^Union Pacific Railway was, for a period of several years in the late 19th century, the official name of the unrelated Union Pacific Railroad, which later acquired MKT as part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
^"KATY Trail (Tulsa)". Rails to Trails Conservancy (US). Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
^ abc"Missouri-Kansas-Texas Lines, Condensed Time-Tables, Tables 1, 2, 3, 4". Official Guide of the Railways. 86 (7). National Railway Publication Company. December 1953.
^"Missouri-Kansas-Texas Lines, Condensed Time-Tables, Tables 2, 4". Official Guide of the Railways. 78 (12). National Railway Publication Company. May 1946.
^"Missouri-Kansas-Texas Lines, Condensed Time-Tables, Table 12". Official Guide of the Railways. 78 (12). National Railway Publication Company. May 1946.
^"Personnel". Time. October 20, 1930. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
^"Whitman takes over as Katy president". Railway Age. 169 (1): 12. July 13, 1970.
"The Opening of the Great Southwest: A Brief History of the Origin and Development of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Better Known as The Katy" - Published: May 1970 by the M-K-T R.R. Co.
Goen, Steve Allen (2006). Miss Katy in the Lone Star State.
Masterson, V. V. (1952). The Katy Railroad and the Last Frontier.
Starr, Timothy (2024). The Back Shop Illustrated, Volume 3: Southeast and Western Regions. Privately printed.
Railroads in italics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
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