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The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad is a former Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas. It was established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch and served an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and is now part of Union Pacific Railroad. In its earliest days the MKT was commonly referred to as "the K-T", which was its stock exchange symbol; this common designation soon evolved into "the Katy". The Katy was the first railroad to enter Texas from the north through Denison, Texas. Eventually the Katy's core system would grow to link Parsons, Fort Scott, Junction City, Olathe, and Kansas City, Kansas; Kansas City, Joplin, Jefferson City, and St. Louis, Missouri; Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Galveston, Texas. An additional mainline between Fort Worth and Salina, Kansas, was added in the 1980s after the collapse of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad; this line was operated as the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKKT). At the end of 1970, MKT operated 2623 miles of road and 3765 miles of track. ==History== When it incorporated in May 1870, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad immediately acquired the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (est. 1865) and its of track in Kansas. (''Union Pacific Railway'' was, for a period of several years in the late 19th century, the official name of the unrelated ''Union Pacific Railroad'', which later acquired MKT as part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.) At the time of 1870 incorporation, consolidations were also made with the Labette & Sedalia Railway Co. and the Neosho Valley & Holden Railway Co.; MKT also acquired the Tebo & Nosho Railroad Co., the St. Louis & Santa Fe Railroad Co., and the Hannibal & Central Missouri Railroad Co. Combined with the UP Southern Branch, these small, newly built railroads formed the foundation on which the Katy would build. Congress had passed acts promising land grants to the first railroad to reach the Kansas border via the Neosho Valley. The Katy portion of the former UP Southern Branch, which had begun building from Fort Riley just north of Junction City, Kansas, was in a heated competition for the prize. On June 6, 1870, Katy workers laid the first rails across the Kansas border, winning the race. Congress' promised land grants were never made, as the courts overturned the grants because the land was in Indian Territory and was the property of the Indian tribes. The Katy continued its push southward, laying track through the territory and reaching Texas in 1872, acquiring other small railroads while extending its reach to Dallas in 1886, Waco in 1888, Houston in April 1893 and to San Antonio in 1901. When the Katy railroad reached Houston, its joint ownership of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad gave it immediate access to the Port of Galveston and its ocean-going shipping on the Gulf of Mexico. In 1896, as a publicity stunt set up by William Crush, the Katy crashed two locomotives head-on, pulling loaded trains, at a site that came to be known thereafter as Crush, Texas. The collision occurred before more than 40,000 spectators, three of whom died (and several were injured) by debris from the exploding boilers. The ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin, who was performing in the area at the time, commemorated the event in his song "The Great Crush Collision March" (which he dedicated to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway).〔Scott Joplin, "The Great Crush Collision March" sheet music (Temple, TX: John R. Fuller, 1896). See Bill Edwards, (Rags and Pieces by Scott Joplin. )〕 In 1911, the MKT purchased railroad lines held by the industrialist Joseph A. Kemp of Wichita Falls, Texas. These included the Wichita Falls Railway, an 18-mile line between Wichita Falls and Henrietta in Clay County; the Wichita Falls and Northwest Railway Company of Texas; and the Wichita Falls and Wellington, which provided service into Wellington in Collingsworth County. Kemp's brother-in-law, Frank Kell, was a partner in some of these lines, including the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad, which remained a Kemp-Kell property until it was abandoned in 1954.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Brian Hart, "Joseph Alexander Kemp" )〕 In 1923, the Katy acquired another Kemp/Kell property, the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, which extended from Wichita Falls to Forgan in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The route to Forgan was abandoned in 1973, and Altus, Oklahoma, became the northern terminus of the railroad. The remaining 77-mile link between Wichita Falls and Altus was absorbed in 1991 by the Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Donovan L. Hofsommer, "The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway" )〕 The Katy acquired the Beaver, Mead and Englewood Railroad in 1931.〔“Faith in Oklahoma Reaps Rich Rewards,” The Daily Oklahoman, March 7, 1931〕 From 1915 until January 4, 1959, the Katy, in a joint venture with the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway (popularly known as the ''Frisco''), operated the Texas Special from St. Louis to Dallas, Ft. Worth, and San Antonio. It sported rail cars with names including ''Sam Houston'', ''Stephen F. Austin'', ''David Crockett'', and ''James Bowie'' after prominent men of the state. On August 12, 1988 the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac) and its owner, Union Pacific, purchased the Katy with approval from the Interstate Commerce Commission. The merging and restructuring of railroads during the 1980s had cost the Katy much overhead traffic, and it had been seeking a merger partner. On December 1, 1989 the Katy was merged into the MoPac, which is now part of the Union Pacific system. In the "rails to trails" program, much of the Missouri track line has been adapted for use as the Katy Trail State Park, including a spur to Columbia, a Missouri State Park which runs along the Missouri River for part of its route. In downtown Dallas, a long section called the Katy Trail is being converted into a multi-use trail linking White Rock Lake to the American Airlines Center. In 1997 the segment linking Katy, Texas to downtown Houston was abandoned, and stripped of rails soon after. The section between Katy and Interstate 610 was purchased by the Texas Department of Transportation in 1998 for the expansion of Katy Freeway. The line that went into Houston was purchased by the city's Parks and Recreation Department. In 2009 it was adapted and paved as the Heights Bike Trail. As part of a new heritage program, in July 2005 Union Pacific unveiled a new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1988, painted in traditional MKT colors. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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