Pittsburg Scenes - Transportation
   
Kansas City Southern Railroad
Railway Shops: 804 E. Twenty-Third Street
Passenger Depot: Seventh & Michigan
Freight Depot: Sixth & Locust
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KCP&G Railroad Pass
- item 1898
KCP&G Railroad Engine #25
- photo date unknown
KCS Railway Shops
- postmarked 1904
KCS Railway Shops
- no postmark (1907-1915)
KCS Railway Shops
- postmarked 1908
 
 
New Image
       
KCS Yards
- postmarked 1918
KCS Railway Shops
- postmarked 1912
KCS Railway Shops
- postmarked 1914
KCS Passenger Station
NE Corner 7th & Michigan
- negative about 1915
KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"
 
 

The Kansas City Southern Railway Co.

"The K. C. S. "Port Aurthur Route" gives direct service to the coast and intermediate points. The Main Shops and Division Point of the K. C. S. are located in Pittsburg. Pittsburg's leading manufactures and shippers testify as to the proper rate adjustments and excellent service given by this company. M. O. Cornelisen, Superintendent, has been located with the Pittsburg office since 1910. Mr. G. F. Hess, Superintendent of Machinery, since 1911. Mr. F. M. King, Agent has been with the road since June 1894, and as Agent at Pittsburg since 1901. These gentlemen, realizing the mutal interests of the K. C. S. and Pittsburg as a whole, have put a spirit of personality in their business and at all times have studied and met the individual problems of the shippers. The K. C. S. pay roll for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, was $896,568.69, over 1,500 men being employed. The importance of this item and its relation to general business prosperity is easily seen. Of all receipts collected by the entire road, in every branch of service, whether at Kansas City, Pittsburg or other points eight cents out of every dollar were spent in Pittsburg. The benefit and importance of having Shops and Division Point located at Pittsburg is fully illustrated by the fact that for every dollar which was collected in this city during the past year the company has paid out $6.31." Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed, 1915

 
 
         

KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"

KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"
KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"
KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"
KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"
 
 
         
KCS Railway Shops
- photo 1915
"Prosperous Pittsburg, Pictorially Portrayed"
KCS Railway Shops
- postmarked 1916
KCS Railway Shops
- photo date unknown
 
 
         
KCS Passenger Station
- photo abt 1920
KCS Railroad Engine #553
Built in 1913
- photo 1929
KCS Railroad Engine #1008
Built in 1900
- photo 1929
KCS Railroad Division Offices
NE Corner 7th & Michigan
- photo 1951
Pittsburg Diamond Jubilee Souviner Program
KCS Railroad Freight Depot
SE Corner 6th & Locust
- photo 1951
Pittsburg Diamond Jubilee Souviner Program
 
 
         
KCS Railroad Passenger Depot
NE Corner 7th & Michigan
- photo 1951
KCS Railroad Yard
804 East 23rd
- photo 1951
Pittsburg Diamond Jubilee Souviner Program
KCS Railroad Passenger Depot
NE Corner 7th & Michigan
- photo 1951
Pittsburg Diamond Jubilee Souviner Program
KCS Railway Route Map
- photo 1951
Pittsburg Diamond Jubilee Souviner Program
KCS Railroad Division Offices
Aerial View
- photo abt 1960
 
 

Long Partnership With Kansas City Southern Profitable to Pittsburg

"When the Kansas City Southern Railway was building down from Kansas City in the early nineties, Arthur Stilwell, who conceived the line as a short route for the exportation of Midwestern products, platted his course in a straight line between Kansas City and Joplin, then on to the Gulf of Mexico.
Pittsburg had three railroads at that time and the city's leaders, seeing a fourth about to miss their environs, went into action. Franklin Playter, credited with the founding of Pittsburg, went to Kansas City and induced Stilwell to change his plans by proposing in effect, a partnership between his city and the railroad.
'Build your line through Pittsburg,' Playter told Stilwell, 'and we will help provide the additional right-of-way required.' Then the astute Playter made another proposal. 'Make Pittsburg a division point on your system and build your shops here,' he suggested, 'and we will help you out on these too!'
The partnership was made and for fifty-eight years it has proved a good one for both Pittsburg and the Kansas City Southern. For the city it has meant many millions of dollars spent by the railway here for employment, purchases and taxes. To the railway it has brought a share of the freight and passenger business of the area.
Pittsburg was incorporated into the name of the railroad -- the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf -- when the line built into the city in 1893, and for many years after the road's reorganization into the Kansas City Southern in 1900, the shops here were referred to as the P & G shops.
From a small start in 1893, the shops and yards of the Kansas City Southern in Pittsburg have grown until today they cover some three hundred acres. The shops alone occupy approximately one hundred acres and include a diesel repair and servicing facilities completed in 1949 at a cost of more than $350,000.
Pittsburg has been called a nerve center of the Kansas City Southern, for not only is it the headquarters of the system's 433-mile Northern division, but the entire mechanical and store departments are directed from the shops here at Sixteenth and Michigan. L. W. Van Nattan, superintendent machinery, is in charge of the construction and repair of all rolling stock in the various shops and roundhouses over the system, with W. B. Johnson, assistant superintendent machinery, directing the work of the car department. E. P. O'Connor is mechanical engineer for the system, while the Pittsburg shop operations are under the supervision of A. K. Connell, shop superintendent, C. W. Weaver, general car foreman, and A. R. Green, master painter.
C. J. Kubler, general storekeeper, provides all materials and supplies, except rail, ties and fuel, from his Pittsburg headquarters directly and through storekeepers at various cities on the system.
The Kansas City Southern passenger station is at Seventh and Michigan, within a few blocks of downtown Pittsburg. Here too, is the office building housing the transportation department and maintenance of way department forces, together with the offices of C. K. Woodward, signal supervisor for the northern division, and B. J. Felts, special agent between Kansas City and Watts, Okla.
C. M. Martin is superintendent of the northern division -- the territory between Kansas City and DeQueen, Ark. G. M. Switzer is trainmaster for the first two districts -- Kansas City to Watts. The trainmaster for the third and fourth districts of the northern division is headquartered at Heavener, Okla. H. S. McHenry is assistant trainmaster at Pittsburg and L. M. Hough is chief dispatcher for the line between Kansas City and Heavener.
The maintenance of way department of the northen division is headed by D. A. Kuebler, division engineer, with T. T. Temple as assistant engineer. G. T. Anderson is roadmaster of the first district -- Kansas City to Pittsburg; W. O. Spinks is roadmaster of the second district. Roadmasters for the third and fourth districts are headquartered at Heavener. N. R. Simmons is assistant roadmaster at Pittsburg.
The K. C. S. freight office and warehouse are conveniently located at Sixth and Locust streets. J. M. Carpenter is agent, with supervision over both the freight and passenger stations.
Legal representatives of the railway at Pittsburg are P. E. Nulton and R. L. Letton, attorney. The medical staff of the K. C. S. Employee's Hospital association at Pittsburg consists of Dr. Harry L. Church, division surgeon; Drs. J. D. Pettet, J. K. Bierlein and C. M. Montee, local physicians; Drs. H. L. Stelle and Earl Miller, oculists, and Drs. H. M. Grandle and J. C. Mays, dentists.
The Kansas City Southern has three regularly scheduled freight trains north and three south daily which, together with an average of three extra freights each way daily, provide Pittsburg with its best carload and less-carload service. Passenger service, paced by the line's Southern Belle streamliners, also is provided by three trains each way daily. And the railway's Thrifttrip fare plan makes its fine passenger service doubly attractive. Under the plan, it is possible to travel in air-conditioned chair cars, with access to the tavern, lounge and dining sections, for 1 3/4c per mile -- less than the cost of gas alone for driving.
The Kansas City Southern continues as one of Pittsburg's most important industries. The railway now employs more than nine hundred Pittsburg people and spends about 3 1/4 million dollars here annually."Pittsburg Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Program, 1951

 
 
         
KCS Passenger & Freight Depots
7th & Michigan
- map 1897
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Railway Shops
804 E. 23rd
- map 1902
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Depot
7th & Michigan
- map 1902
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Railway Yards
804 E. 23rd
- map 1905
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Depots
7th & Michigan
- map 1905
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
 
 
         
KCS Railway Yards
804 E. 23rd
- map 1913
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Freight Depot
6th & Locust
- map 1913
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Depot & Offices
7th & Michigan
- map 1923
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Railway Yards
804 E. 23rd
- map 1923
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
KCS Freight Depot
6th & Locust
- map 1923
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
 
 
         
KCS Railway Yards
804 E. 23rd
- map 1923
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
       
 
 
         
KCS Railroad Engine #1023
Schlanger Park
- photo 2006
KCS Railroad Engine #1023
Schlanger Park
- photo 2006
KCS Railroad Engine #1023
Schlanger Park
- *photo 2006
KCS Railroad Engine #1023
Schlanger Park
- photo 2006
 
 

*“Locomotive 488 was built July 1906, in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1925, it underwent major changes in Pittsburg, KS and changed to locomotive 1023. Track was laid and locomotive was installed in Schlanger Park on September 17, 1955, after the city had purchased the locomotive from the Kansas City Southern Lines for $1.00. The steam locomotive was the main mode of travel in the days of the old frontier"


 

On Wednesday February 21, 2012, the train in Schlanger Park began its last trip to Carona, KS in Cherokee County, KS. Due to the train needing extensive repairs and restoration the Pittsburg City Commission voted in January 2012 to donate it to the Heart of the Heartlands group who plan on restoring the engine and displaying it at their organizations museum. It is sad to see the train leave Pittsburg as it has been on the spot in Schlanger Park since 1955, but the city said they just didn't have the money for its upkeep or restoration. Luckily it will be taken good care of in the future by an organization thats main purpose is the restoration of and education of the train history of Southeast Kansas. Please visit the Heart of the Heartlands website and see what wonderful things they are trying to do including train excursions in the summer.

 

 

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