Continued years of poor management and bad economics brought further despair to the MKT system.
In 1970, Reginald Whitman became the president of the MKT and began an intense plan to
bring the system back to
health. His plan of action, however, included more abandonments of unprofitable lines.
In September of 1975, the branch to Moberly (former Hannibal mainline)
was pruned back by twenty-three miles to Fayette. And then in March of 1978, the
remaining ten miles from Fayette back to the mainline at New Franklin were abandoned.
And in January of 1978,
the eight-mile Columbia branch was abandoned. Though Miss Katy left town,
the city of Columbia retained rail service via a Norfolk Western branch (now Columbia
Terminal RR).
By 1979, all freight traffic on the St. Louis line was handled being by just two daily
trains, westbound #101 from St. Louis to Dallas via Parsons, and its eastbound counterpart,
#102 from Dallas to St. Louis. Each of these trains handled any local switching duties
that needed to be performed en-route.
Not only did President Whitman's plans bring physical rehabilitation, but
also new business.
In the late 1970's, the Kansas City Power & Light Co. built
a massive coal-fired power plant near LaDue, just south of Clinton. The site chosen for
the plant was on a four-mile branchline that had once served the coal fields north of
Montrose. The branch was completely rebuilt and relaid with heavier rail to withstand the
weekly unit trains. MKT also received government aid from the State of Missouri to rehabilitate
the
portion of line from Ft. Scott
to Ladue to handle the new and much heavier traffic. Originally, the unit trains of
coal from Oklahoma strip mines were delivered to the Katy by the Frisco (later Burlington
Northern) at Ft.
Scott. Later, KCPL began receiving shipments from the Powder River mines in Wyoming, though
the coal trains continued to be handed over to the MKT by BN at Ft. Scott.
Also in the late 1970's, construction of Truman Lake south of Clinton
required a five-mile line relocation north of LaDue that included a 1-mile long causeway
and 1/4 mile steel trestle over the new reservoir.
Much of the orignial right-of-way was abandoned and
eventually flooded. Of further note, Frisco's High Line from Springfield to Kansas City,
which MKT interchanged
with at Clinton, was abandoned in 1978 as a result of the lake construction
(Frisco saw no need to
spend millions of dollars on a line relocation for a light-density branchline).
Upon Frisco's exit from Clinton, MKT immediatley began operation of it's trackage in order
to serve grain elevators located on both ends of the now stub-ended line.
By the early 80's, trackage rehabilitation allowed for train speeds of 40-45 m.p.h. on
many parts of the line from Ft. Scott to Sedalia, while lower speeds were required from
Sedalia to St. Louis. The MKT also began hauling increased amounts of Trailer-on-Flatcar
traffic to and from St. Louis and Texas.
Unfortunatley, the early 1980's also saw Katy closing most of its reamining on-line stations
and the abolishment of their agent-jobs, including those located in Nevada, Clinton, and Sedalia.
A "New" Line To St. Louis
It had been apparent for many years that the mainline between
New Franklin and Machens
was poorly constructed, having been built for most of it's length in the flood
plain of the Missouri River. In its rush to reach St. Louis decades earlier, the MKT
cut several corners to cut down on both time and money. This resulted
in a flooded mainline every time the river spilled its banks.
The Katy had dished out millions of dollars over the years to keep the line operating
and above water. As a matter of fact, the St. Louis line was one of the last strongholds
for Katy steam, as frequent flooding of the route prohibited the use of diesel-electric
locomotives. Eventually, steam fell and MKT management simply began detouring on every
possible route across Missouri during flood season- including the Frisco via Springfield,
and the Missouri Pacific via Jefferson City.
As early as 1981, the MKT had begun eyeing the parallel Missouri Pacific (soon to become
Union Pacific) line to the south as
an alternate route to St. Louis.
As mentioned earlier, the MKT often used this route, which it crossed in
Sedalia, for detours during floods.
In addition, the well-maicured MoPac mainline simply provided
a much faster, more direct trip
into St. Louis.
Katy finally surrendered to Mother Nature after
severe flooding in October of 1986 washed out several miles
of mainline. On October 4, 1986,
trains 101 and 102 had become, without their crews knowing it, the very last trains to
journey across Katy's own trans-state route.
The only viable
option in reaching St. Louis was, of course, detouring trains over Union Pacific's parallel
ex-MP Sedalia Subdivision from Sedalia to St. Louis.
After weeks of negotiations,
a permanent trackage-rights agreement between
the two companies was finalized, and MKT joined Amtrak and Cotton Belt in
exercising trackage rights over this already packed-to-capacity mainline.
Ironically, this was
originally the same route that gave MKT access to St. Louis until
it completed it's own line in the late 1800's! Interesting how history seems
to run in full circles!
While MKT ceased operation on its "river" line in 1986, the line was not officially
abandoned until 1987.
In 1988, the Katy "railbanked" the route and donated the entire length of the right-of-way
from Sedalia to Machens to the State of Missouri,
which has since turned the route into the Katy Trail State Park, the nations longest
rails-to-trains conversion project.
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