Kansas City Southern locomotives were full of surprises in both the steam and diesel fleets.
Steam locomotives saw a gradual evolution, from 2-8-0 to articulated 0-6-6-0s (an oddball in the industry for road service) and 2-8-8-0s and eventually the much-vaunted 2-10-4s of 1937. The 0-6-6-0s were the largest group of the type built and operated between Pittsburg, Kan., and Westville., Okla., where grades reached 1.75%. The 2-10-4s sported 42-inch wheels on the lead truck (compared with 33-inch industry standard), 70-inch drivers, and two sand domes. For wartime traffic, KCS acquired secondhand 2-10-2s. Passenger power peaked with the Schenectady-built 4-6-2s of 1912 and 1919. Also of note, KCS rostered two three-truck Lima Shay locomotives for use on steep industrial trackage around the Missouri River valley.
Kansas City Southern locomotives added diesels with Electro-Motive passenger E units in 1939 for the Southern Belle, and began dieselizing freight trains after World War II with EMD F units and Geeps. Dieselization was completed in 1953. Other than a few oddballs including Fairbanks-Morse Erie-builts and a few Alco and Baldwin switchers, KCS was primarily an EMD customer. Of note, KCS used its 2,000 hp Erie-built units in freight service.
Early Kansas City Southern diesel units were painted in an intricate, multi-color paint scheme. The road later settled on the well-known red, yellow, and black for passenger power and black-and-white for freight units. In the 1960s, it transitioned to an all-red scheme under the administration of William N. Deramus III and in the 1980s to all-white. In the 1990s, some color returned with gray-and-yellow becoming the primary colors before readoption of the old “Southern Belle” passenger scheme in the early 2000s.
