One Response to VO1000m 210

  1. Mark Davidson says:
    March 28, 2025 at 3:20 AM

    Location is Kansas City, Missouri.

    The photographs were taken in 19th Street Yard. The first photograph was taken at the south end of the yard. In the distance is the trilevel West 12th Street viaduct. It connects the West Bottoms commercial district with the city’s downtown central business core on the bluff. The upper level continues West 12th Street just south of the Quality Hill neighborhood and Garment District.

    The middle deck connects partway up the bluff with Beardsley Road. Beardsley Road connects the River Quay [pronounced Key] riverfront commercial, farmers market and residential neighborhood with the Westside North neighborhood and Crossroads District arts and commercial area to the south.

    The lowest level connects lower 12th Street with Bluff Road. This road ramps up to the north to the intersection of Beardsley Road and the Forrester Road overpass. Foster Road runs west over multiple tracks and becomes West 9th Street in the northern part of the West Bottoms. The photograph was taken from Frisco’s former coach yard adjacent to Allen Terrace. This is south of the diesel shop at 19th Street Yard.

    The locomotive is among nine Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) units repowered by General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division (EMD). EMD installed their 12-cylinder 567C engines and replaced the forward hood compartment with twin stacked EMD SW1200 hoods. The first three units were converted in 1957, SLSF 205, 210 and 215. These units did not have multiple unit (MU) equipment installed when repowered.

    The six others repowered in 1959, SLSF 200-204 and 206, did include the installation of MU equipment. When repowered they were also equipped with elevated MU cross over steps and handrails for passage between units.

    View is looking north northwest.

    The second photograph shows the locomotive just north of the 19th Street Yard diesel shop. On the left is the bulk sand storage silo or tank. Visible on the far side of the tank is the elevator leg used to lift sand up and into the storage tank. From the sand delivery track hopper cars would unload their contents into a below grade pit between the rails to have it screw augured to the elevator leg. The sand delivery track was located north of the diesel shop, west of the north shop track.

    On the right, spotted on the sand track is a Pullman Standard PS-1 40-foot boxcar in the SLSF 18500 series. In the lower foreground there are over a dozen overturned 55-gallon oil drums and the north end of service tracks 1 and 2. Note the tree covered bluff hillside and Kansas City Southern (KCS) Railway black 34’ 2-bay open hopper cars behind and above the locomotive.

    View looking east southeast.

    The third photograph shows the locomotive on the sand delivery track north of and between the diesel shop and the bulk sand storage tank. Rising in the distance above the nose of the locomotive is the sand delivery tank tower between service tracks 1 and 2. Sand was pneumatically pumped from the bottom of the bulk storage tank to the top of the sand delivery tower for storage. It can then be delivered by gravity through hoses into the sand boxes of locomotives spotted adjacent to the tower.

    Notable in this image above the locomotive’s cab are the electric power poles above a cluster of transformers. At the front right side of the locomotive are open outer and inner sand box doors. These lead to the right front locomotive sandbox.

    View is looking west.

    The fourth photograph shows the locomotive north of the 19th Street Yard diesel shop. The north diesel shop track door is open. The company service flatcar has two rails and tie down cables on its deck.

    We can presume that the flat car has either delivered or is about to pick up locomotive trucks. Outlying shops that maintained locomotives, especially locally assigned switch engines, would ship trucks to the Springfield Diesel Shop for rebuilding and traction motor replacement. After the work was completed, Springfield would return the trucks to be reinstalled by the outlying shops.

    In this case the flatcar is most likely either SLSF 101769 or 103201. These company service flatcars were assigned to the Mechanical Department at the Springfield Diesel Shop. The railway’s diesel shops had overhead traveling cranes or access to mobile cranes capable of lifting and moving entire truck assemblies.

    Also of interest in this image is the locomotive’s open front radiator shutter slats. A thermostat automatically opens the shutters to facilitate greater cooling air flow. A large flan behind the shutter slats draws cooling air in and forces it up over the horizontal upper radiator cores at the front of the engine compartment.

    The hopper cars to the left on the elevated track are on the Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Railway. Their track on the hillside shelf is known as the Bluff Line. The track connects with their terminal trackage to the north at Broadway Tower and the Gooseneck approach to the Hannibal Bridge over the Missouri River. To the south the line connects to their main line tracks near the KCT north and south coach yards and locomotive roundhouse west of the Kansas City Union Station (KCUS) depot.

    View looking south.

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark

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