Here's a site for ya: http://www.online-isp.com/~rcraig/KCS.HTML I'm not sure how current the roster is, but it does include posters of Gateway Eastern and TFM, the Mexican railroad KCS owns. As you can see, the roster's not 100% EMD anymore (not like it was in the 1970s and 1980s).
Interesting. They have more stuff than I realised. Maybe it is a bit neglected among railfans and model railroaders. That AC44 in the heading photograph looks very good, crying out to be modelled
When did KCS stop using the pretty red, yellow, and black paint job, like the E-8's were? They had the whole train cars and all painted to match. In my opinion they were a lot better looking than the present drab gray style.
They stopped using the paint scheme about the time William N. Deramus came over from the Katy. He favored a solid red paint job (with a black top), which started showing up on the GP30s and F-units. Later, when the first SD40s came, solid white was introduced. For the record, the GP7s and GP9s arrived on KCS property painted black with a small white band near the top, much as the EMD and Alco switchers were painted. The F-units first arrived in the red/yellow/black scheme, and later evolved to red & yellow. The white was the first paint job universally applied to all KCS motive power, and after the last Alcos, Baldwins & Fairbanks-Morse oddballs left until the arrival of the AC4400Ws, the KCS was an EMD-only roster. SD40s, SD50Ss , SD50s and some SD60s were the backbone of the road fleet, with GP38-2s and GP40s handling secondary trains and GP30s and GP7/9s running the Dodgers. F-units (what few there were) were used on the Texas line, in powered/slug sets. Sometimes the F-unit slugs would get GP40 mothers for road service in Texas. It was in the late 1980s when the gray scheme was first seen, and it slowly spread throughout the fleet. [ 02. February 2003, 00:09: Message edited by: friscobob ]
I acquired an N scale Atlas GP30 off ebay, to repaint in Santa Fe blue and yellow. It is in KCS white, and it is a shame to have to repaint it
Alan, if the last two numbers of your unit are 17, and you want to part with the shell, I'd be interested. If you prefer trade, what elso do you need? I have GP7/ndb and GP35/bd and ndb shells available also GP30 HH, all undec. plus others. Bill
The GP30s were retired in the mid-to-late 1980s (can't remember exactly when). Quite a few went to regional South Kansas & Oklahoma. UNtil they were retired, they were used on locals and dodgers.
