[Attachment(s) from William Barber included below]
Louis,
The photo of S3 No. 2955 is taken in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City which is just west of downtown KC in a low lands area adjacent to the confluence of the Kansas River and the Missouri River. This area, which was prone to flooding, was an industrial area and the location of the stockyards as well as the original Union Station. There was a yard located there which is now reduced in size. The bridge behind the 2955 is the 12th street viaduct to the south. Attached is a satellite photo of the area, today. The photo of 2955 was taken just to the east of the the intersection of Union Ave. and Santa Fe St.
The KCT roundhouse was and is located south of this point and south east of Union Station. along Southwest Blvd. Today, the roundhouse has been remodeled as a rather unique office building, I believe part of Westside Business Park, complete with it's turntable, half a dozen tracks radiating from it and a KCS car on the table. At one time, they had a B unit painted in KCS colors on the table, but I think it is now a baggage car. Attached is a satellite view of the area showing today with the station at the upper right and the roundhouse toward the lower right. In the hey days of passenger service, the roundhouse was part of a coach yard and shop complex that served the depot. It even included a balloon track around the roundhouse to turn entire trains. Attached is a photo copied from Jeffery Spivak's excellent book titled Kansas City Union Station, that shows the station and yard complex. This was all KCT property at that time.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO
 Sun Mar 8, 2015 6:29 pm (PDT) . Posted by:March 8, 2015
Pete and Hol - Having reviewed both your Emails, the No. 1506 image might
well have been taken in Kansas City. I've attached an image taken in 1931 of
Class S-3 No. 2955 adjacent to what I believe is the Kansas City Terminal
roundhouse. As I recall, the roundhouse was located in the "Flats" area
between the Missouri River and the downtown on high ground. Further, as I
understand, the KC Terminal was where Q and other railroads' passenger steam
locomotives were serviced between runs. If you note the roundhouse smoke
jacks, they look to be the same in both images. I agree with Hol that such a
"fancy" switcher would've been assigned to Kansas City and not St. Joseph.
However, at that time, St. Joseph was a Division Point and the roundhouse
there had a back shop. I would speculate that No. 1525 was "beautified" at the
St. Joseph roundhouse and then transferred to Kansas City to switch the
Q's share of the Union Station. What the large building is in the background
of the No. 1506 image I still have no idea. But, Pete's mention of Quaker
Oaks in St. Joseph brought back some memories of cab rides as a child on one
of the Q's Baldwin diesel switchers that switched the mill interchange.
Dad was train master in St. Joseph in the early 1950s. I can also remember a
cab ride on a steam switcher there where I got to toss lumps of coal into
the firebox while the fireman remarked, somewhat to my dad's ire, how it was
"hot as HELL in there." The things you remember some 60 years later.....
Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
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Attachment(s) from William Barber | View attachments on the web
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Posted by: William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com>
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