The Missouri-Kansas-Texas, never a rich railroad, could make a little do a lot, making you think
(perhaps correctly) that its trains were as good and maybe better than those of any other
railroad. Its masterpiece, the streamlined red-and-silver Texas Special, was stunningly attractive
when introduced in May 1948. People boarded Katy trains just to eat a great meal. A generation
of Texas schoolchildren rode its special trains to Austin and San Antonio.

Then the cracks began to show. The Texas Special couldn't meet its schedule, and heavyweight
cars were added that marred its streamlined appearance. Drought sapped revenues, causing
track and equipment repairs to be deferred. A downward spiral began that would last for years.
In 1965, the MKT quit the passenger business.

This is the remarkable and untold story of Katy's passenger trains after World War II. Visit the
kitchens of its dining cars, meet the people who ran the railroad, ride its many special trains,
revisit the tragedies that occurred and follow the slow and then rapid decline of a once-
impressive fleet of trains. It's all here, told by a veteran journalist with access to a wealth of
detail never before published. Plus, passenger locomotive and car rosters and scores of train
consists from the golden era.

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• History

• Publication Date: August 23, 2025
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 385 Pages
• File Size: 376 KB