One Response to GP35 704

  1. Mark Davidson says:
    May 1, 2025 at 1:32 AM

    Location is Kansas City, Missouri.

    The train had crossed the Kansas – Missouri state line west of Genesee Street, just north of West 31st Street. The train has just passed 29th Street Interlocking, mile post 2.0 (MP 2.0), as it approaches Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Crossing, MP 1.6. On the KCT the crossing was known as their Tower 4 or Frisco Crossing. The highway overpass bridge is Interstate Highway 35 (I-35) at highway MP 0.3.

    The yellow 4-story building rising above the interstate is the former Thompson-Hayward Chemical Company. They manufactured soaps and disinfectants. After World War II it was occupied by Paper Supply Company until the early 1990s. It was later occupied by Friday’s Only Furniture Outlet. The building was flanked by the Fairgrounds Branch in Liberty Street to the west and from West 30th Street The Alley track lead on the east side. A spur served the west side of the building served the loading docks and tank car unloading.

    On June 20, 2017, the building had a significant fire during roof repair from storm damage resulting in the collapse of the roof, floors and several wall sections. Due to the hazards presented, shortly afterward the remaining structure was torn down. The building was located at 2915 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64108.

    Just 14 years earlier, on 10/12/2003, a four-alarm fire had destroyed 80% of 13-acre Schutte Lumber Company across the Frisco’s Fairgrounds Branch from the Paper Supply Company warehouse. That arson fire destroyed buildings, sheds, two semi-trucks and thousands of board feet of lumber stocks. Fortunately, Schutte, founded in 1880, was able to recover, rebuild and remains in operation today.

    They were a significant railroad customer as evidenced by the 9 tracks that served the lumber yard, its sheds and the woodwork milling operation. The tracks included one reached by switchback, two diamond crossings and several below grade turnouts located within the track gauge between switch points. The layout of several tracks required reverse movements via the Liberty Street run around track adjacent to the property.

    The company was originally located on the southeast corner of 16th and McGee Streets, south of the downtown central business core. In 1902, as the city expanded south the lumberyard moved to the northeast corner of 25th Street and Grand Avenue. Further growth in business prompted the move to the current site at 3001 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri in 1923.

    The building in the upper right corner was originally the historical Imperial Brewery built in 1901. The building was located at 2846 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri. Imperial was known for its two primary brews, a lager marketed under the Mayflower brand and a pale beer Imperial Seal.

    In the fall of 1905 Imperial was in bankruptcy. Kansas City Breweries Company (KCBCo) purchased the brewery. They fell into hard times in 1919 during prohibition. This resulted in the property being sold to Seaboard Milling Company on 3/23/1919. Seaboard Corporation is a commodity trading, milling, marine, pork processing, power, sugar, turkey and poultry company with international headquarters in Merriam, Kansas a Kansas City suburb.

    Seaboard’s milling operations operated under the Rodney Milling Company brand. They in turn converted the former brewery complex into a flour mill. In 1928 the core six-story building was expanded with two-story additions on either side. The mill was locally known as the Boulevard Flour Mill. Frisco served Rodney with two tracks at this location.

    They continued the expansion of the flour mill with the addition of four groups of 110’ tall concrete grain storage elevator silos. The primary silos were added in 1928 (6), 1930 (8), 1931 (12) and 1936 (16) resulting in grain storage capacity of 1,350,000 bushels. The silos were on the north side of the property close to the adjacent hillside rock bluff. This boosted milling capacity to 3,000 barrels or 588,000 pounds per 24 hours.

    The mill shut down in 1985. The concrete silos were torn down in 2004 in hopes of redeveloping and converting the remaining brick brewery / mill to other purposes. Repurposing efforts continued with the removal of processing equipment and the installation of a 27’ tall spiral staircase to access the two upper stories. The real estate developer successfully listed the building on the National Register of Historic Places on 2/11/2011.

    Unfortunately, a fire damaged the property on 12/27/2012 shortly after the NRHP listing. The fire, ongoing vandalism and limited access to the property ultimately combined to impede redevelopment marketing efforts. The unsuccessful sales efforts, ongoing deterioration issues and taxes resulted in the only surviving Kansas City Pre-Prohibition brewery building being demolished in November 2023.

    Worthy of note is the extended height signal mast on the right-hand signal. With the convex curve the signal heads were raised to a hyper elevated position making them more visible above cars set aside on the tracks leading to Rodney Milling. The other signals were not elevated as normal traffic patterns typically did not block the view of the signals further to the left.

    The gray building to the left of the train is Perez Food Products. Started in 1939, the multigenerational family owned company made tortillas and taco shells. The business was started on the west side near the current factory. In 1958 the founders moved onto Southwest Boulevard to what is now Margarita’s Restaurant. They opened this third larger plant across the street in 1978. Ready to retire and with no interest from children to continue the business, they shut down on 12/31/2024. It is located at 2826 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64108.

    In the four-unit locomotive consist are Frisco unidentified numbers General Electric (GE) B30-7, GE U25B and a Union Pacific (UP) General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division (EMD) SD40. In the train in tow behind the first covered hopper is a Frisco unidentified number GM EMD SW1500 switch engine locomotive. The photographer is standing on the West 27th Street overpass adjacent to the KCT roundhouse.

    View is looking south southeast.

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark

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