Reply To: KC Passenger Train Information

[Patrick Hiatte]

Tom –

According to ‘Moving Mail and Express by Rail’ by Edward M. DeRouin, express cars were exchanged between MP trains and those of other railroads at Kansas City in 1963 as follows:
MP Train 11, 69-foot baggage car, to MKT Train 1
MP Train 15, 42-foot express refrigerator, to ATSF Train 3
MP Train 17, 42-foot express refrigerator, to ATSF Train 7
MP Train 18, 50-foot passenger express box, from ATSF Train 4
MP Train 18, 60-foot baggage, from CRIP Train 40
MP Train 18, 40-foot express refrigerator, from UP Train 18
MP Train 19, 50-foot passenger express box, to ATSF Train 7
MP Train 19, 42-foot express refrigerator, to UP Train 17
MP Train 19, 42-foot express refrigerator, to CRIP Train 39
MP Train 19, 42-foot express refrigerator, to UP Train 9
MP Train 19, 42-foot express refrigerator, to ATST Train 123
MP Train 19, 42-foot express refrigerator, to ATSF Train 11
The book’s available, used, on Amazon.

With regard to mail, ‘Mail by Rail’, available for download at
https://archive.org/details/mailbyrailstoryo00long
has info on RPO routes vintage of its publication date in 1951. I don’t recall many routes that changed railroads at Kansas City, but the book is certainly worth a look.

You didn’t mention sleeping car swaps at Kansas City, but ‘Night Trains’ by Peter T. Maiken has a listing of Pullman routes and connections from the late 1940s, if I remember correctly. It, too, is available on Amazon.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your ambitious project.

Pat Hiatte
New Bloomfield, MO