This video gives us a look at the Kansas City Southern, a Class I railroad that was founded by Arthur E. Stillwell to connect Kansas City with the Gulf of Mexico.  Construction was begun in 1890 under the railroad’s original name, The Kanas City, Nevada, and Port Smith RR.  By 1893 the railroad had reached Joplin, MO, but the steep grades that would have been encountered in the Boston Mountains forced the line to relocate and by-pass Fort Smith, AR.  Because of this, the railroad was re-named the Kansas City, Pittsburgh, & Gulf RR.  By building hundreds of miles of new line and by acquiring existing railroads Mr. Stillwell reached Port Arthur, TX, in 1897.

The RR experienced hard financial times in 1899 and fell into receivership.  It emerged from bankruptcy in 1900 as the Kansas City Southern RR.  Sadly, the board of directors forced Mr. Stillwell out of the company.

No on screen maps are used but Mr. Plets includes a map insert with the DVD.  I would prefer that the maps be on screen but at least we do have a map to refer to.

A great variety of locomotives can be seen in this video which was shot between 2004 and 2013.  I didn’t check them off as I watched the video but the back of the DVD case lists the following locomotive types as being shown: SW1500, GP38-2, GP40-3, GP40-2LW, GG20B, SD40, SD40-2, SD40-3, SD45-3, SD50, SD60, SD70MAC, SD70Ace, AC44CW, and ES 44CW.  There is also a good mix of trains: unit grain trains, unit coal trains, stack trains, and mixed manifest freights are shown.

Prior to watching this video my only exposure to the Kansas City Southern was the occasional appearance of their locomotives as foreign power in videos on other railroads.  I found this video to be very entertaining and informative.  The KCS is a Class I railroad and it was good to learn about its current operations and its history.