Distinctively KATY

[pjb]

The C&IM had built (1923), and operated the last
mainline 4-4-0s . However, they had minimal
passenger service.

The Katy , along with the D&H in the east, upgraded and maintained large numbers of passenger service 'Americans".
Until dieselization, and the post Second World War general collapse of passenger service,
there were many spiffy old ladies working
branch line locals all over the KATY.

They were not the only 4-4-0s still
in service, but in presenting the public
image of a major railroad were unique
in the numbers of runs they held down;
and as a consequence the numbers
of people they symbolized a railroad
too.

Some might bemoan that, and the
KATY sure used early diesels on their
publicity stuff, but those dolled up
4-4-0s will outlive some E units in the
mindseye of KATY people.
.
Good-Luck, PJB
;)

[BoxcabE50]

Interesting! I had been under the false impression that these locos had pretty much faded away everywhere, during the years between WWI, and the Great Depression.

:D

Boxcab E50

[MKT600]

Nope as a matter of record the only surving Katy steam engine is a 4-4-0 and sits in the dept of transportation museum in St.Louis,Mo