The Kansas City Southern Railway Company was an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern and Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. KCS had the shortest north-south rail route between Kansas City, Missouri, and several key ports along the Gulf of Mexico.
The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad 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.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad, commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P, and its subsidiaries C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.
Kansas City Southern de México, S.A. de C.V. was a Mexican railroad and operating subsidiary of Kansas City Southern (KCS). The company was founded in 1996 as Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana, a joint venture between KCS and Transportación Maritima Mexicana after the companies won a concession from the Mexican government to operate the 5,335-kilometer (3,315 mi) Northeast Railroad connecting Monterrey and Mexico City with a US port of entry at Laredo, Texas and seaports at Lázaro Cárdenas and Veracruz. In 2005, KCS bought out its partner's shares in the railroad, giving it full control.
The Kansas Pacific Railway (KP) was a historic railroad company that operated in the western United States in the late 19th century. It was a federally chartered railroad, backed with government land grants. At a time when the first transcontinental railroad was being constructed by the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, it tried and failed to join the transcontinental ranks. It was originally the "Union Pacific, Eastern Division", although it was completely independent. The Pennsylvania Railroad, working with Missouri financiers, designed it as a feeder line to the transcontinental system. The owners lobbied heavily in Washington for money to build a railroad from Kansas City to Colorado, and then to California. It failed to get funding to go west of Colorado. It operated many of the first long-distance lines in the state of Kansas in the 1870s, extending the national railway network westward across that state and into Colorado. Its main line furnished a principal transportation route that opened up settlement of the central Great Plains, and its link from Kansas City to Denver provided the last link in the coast-to-coast railway network in 1870. The railroad was consolidated with the Union Pacific in 1880, and its mainline continues to be an integral part of the Union Pacific network today.
The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans. Branch lines served Vidalia, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas.
The Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway was the Texas subsidiary of the Kansas City Southern Railway, operating railroad lines in the states of Arkansas and Texas, with headquarters at Texarkana, Texas.
The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad, was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 and was controlled until 1942 when the Alton was released to the courts. On May 31, 1947, the Alton Railroad was merged into the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Jacob Bunn had been one of the founding reorganizers of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company during the 1860s.
The St. Joseph and Grand Island Railroad (SJ&GI) had its start as the St Joseph and Denver City Railroad which, after several changes of destination, was completed as the St Joseph and Western (SJ&W) between St Joseph, Missouri and Hastings, Nebraska in 1872.
The Kyle Railroad is a regional railroad line that runs from North Central Kansas into Eastern Colorado. It is based in Phillipsburg, Kansas and runs on a 556 miles (895 km) track, mostly the former Rock Island Railroad Chicago to Denver main line. The Kyle was owned by RailAmerica from 2002 to 2012. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. bought RailAmerica in late 2012. As of 2023, KYLE holds 556 total miles, has a maximum capacity of 286,000 gross pounds per railcar. KYLE also has two interchanges: BNSF(Courtland, Kansas and Concordia, Kansas); Union Pacific.
The Crawford County Railroad ran from Girard to Walnut in Crawford County, Kansas, United States. It was established on February 6, 1884, from the failed Nebraska, Topeka, Iola and Memphis Railroad. The Crawford County Railroad lasted for nine days before being acquired by the Kansas Southern Railroad.
The Kansas City, Clinton and Springfield Railway, also known as the Leaky Roof Railway, is a now abandoned rail line that ran from Olathe, Kansas, near Kansas City, through Clinton, Missouri, and on to Ash Grove, Missouri, where it tied in with the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railway, later the Frisco Railroad. A short branch line served Pleasant Hill, Missouri. It was founded in 1884, as a subsidiary of the KCFS&G; on February 12, 1885, the railroad was incorporated in Missouri. The line was later bought by the Frisco in 1928. After consolidation with the Frisco, the route was deemed redundant to the parallel and better constructed Frisco "Highline". Seeking to cut costs, the Frisco chose to abandon the line in 1934. Because it ran parallel to the Frisco's Highline, the two railroads intersected at many places. Thus, the Frisco chose to consolidate the two lines into one by keeping the track of whichever railroad had the favorable route between these numerous crossings. The less favorable sections were then removed. Service continued over these portions of the line with a daily except Sunday local until the mid-1970s, when dam construction and bridge fires ended through service on the route between Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri. Operating for a while as a North and South branch line, services were cut and the line was, section by section, successively abandoned. Although the rails are now gone, traces can be found along Route 7 and Route 13, however along most sections, little remains to be seen.
The California Southern Railroad was a subsidiary railroad of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in Southern California. It was organized July 10, 1880, and chartered on October 23, 1880, to build a rail connection between what has become the city of Barstow and San Diego, California.
The Texas Mexican Railway International Bridge is an international railway bridge across the Rio Grande and U.S.-Mexico border between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, the only rail link between these cities. Owned and operated by CPKC, the single-track bridge is the busiest rail border crossing in North America. It is also known as the Laredo International Railway Bridge and Puente Negro.
The Hunnewell gunfight was an Old West gunfight occurring in Hunnewell, Kansas occurring on August 21, 1884. The gunfight involved no known gunmen.
The Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad, often abbreviated TStL&W and commonly known as the Clover Leaf, was a railroad company that operated in northwestern Ohio, north central Indiana, and south central Illinois during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The MidSouth Rail Corporation is a railroad line operated by Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) as a result of the January 1, 1994, acquisition; KCS began operating over MidSouth's line on January 11, 1994. The line ran from Shreveport, Louisiana, going east across Louisiana, and across the state of Mississippi, running through the cities of Vicksburg, Jackson, Meridian, and Artesia, Mississippi, then across the Alabama state line to Tuscaloosa, and finally into Birmingham. Midsouth had two other branches, with one to Counce, Tennessee, and a disconnected line from Gulfport to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Total mileage was 1,212 miles (1,951 km) worth of mostly former Illinois Central Gulf's east-west Shreveport - Meridian main line.
The Alabama Great Southern Railroad is a railroad in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It is an operating subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS), running southwest from Chattanooga to New Orleans through Birmingham and Meridian. The AGS also owns about a 30% interest in the Kansas City Southern-controlled Meridian-Shreveport Meridian Speedway.
The Vicksburg Southern Railroad is a Shortline railroad in and near Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States, owned by Watco. It connects with the Kansas City Southern Railway's Meridian Speedway in Vicksburg, and stretches north to Redwood and south to Cedars. The line was once part of a main line between Memphis and New Orleans, completed by the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway, a predecessor of the Illinois Central Railroad, in about 1884. The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad sold the remaining portions near Vicksburg, along with the present Meridian Speedway, to the MidSouth Rail Corporation in 1986, and in 1993 the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) gained control of MidSouth, subsequently absorbing it. The newly created Vicksburg Southern leased the lines from KCS in January 2006.
The Fargo and Southern Depot is a historic railroad station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was built in 1884 by the Fargo and Southern Railway.
