Kansas City Southern Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

Published: October 25, 2026

The Kansas City Southern’s steam was a grade railroad. Twelve 0-6-6-0s of 1912, the largest group of that wheel arrangement and the last of it built in any quantity, worked Pittsburg, Kansas, to Westville, Oklahoma. Lima’s ten 2-10-4s of 1937 replaced them on the head end.

Kansas City Southern 2-8-8-0 "Big Mallie" #757 (G-2), manufactured by Alco's Brooks Works in 1924. Like most roads, the KCS found these satisfactory in drag service stating the G-2's could pull 2,700 tons "...over a ruling grade of 1.5% southbound and 1.35% northbound."

On this page: At a glance · Freight power · Passenger power · Switchers and Shays · Louisiana & Arkansas · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Kansas City Southern. Company history
This table	Steam locomotives built since 1900, on the Kansas City Southern, the Louisiana Railway & Navigation, the Louisiana & Arkansas, and the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company of Texas
Kansas City Southern	200. The quantity column
Louisiana Railway & Navigation	22
Louisiana & Arkansas	58
Texas company	13. Later the Louisiana, Arkansas & Texas
Quantity column	293
Engines listed twice	10. Pacifics 800 and 806, Consolidations 559 and 560, 0-8-0 1007, and five former Louisiana Railway & Navigation Ten-Wheelers
Unique locomotives	283

Freight power

In 1912 Schenectady delivered twelve 0-6-6-0s, numbers 700–711. They had 56-inch drivers and burned oil, on grades up to 1.75 percent. All but two were retired in 1937, when the 2-10-4s arrived. The other two lasted until 1947.

Schenectady followed with seven 2-8-8-0s in 1918, numbers 750–756, with 57-inch drivers. Brooks built ten more in 1924, numbers 757–766, nearly identical except for piston valves on the low-pressure cylinders. For a while in the 1920s, No. 753 carried a booster on the rear truck of a Vanderbilt tender. Between 1941 and 1943 the railroad rebuilt all seventeen to single expansion. The last of them were retired from 1947 through 1953.

Lima’s ten 2-10-4s of 1937, numbers 900–909, were the modern freight engine. Five burned oil, 900–904, and five burned coal, 905–909. They stood an inch short of 16 feet, on 70-inch drivers, and weighed 509,000 pounds, with 93,300 pounds of tractive effort. That was 14,000 pounds more than the 2-8-8-0s, and about three-fourths of the tractive effort those articulateds could exert. The 70-inch drivers and a grate of 107 square feet let them hold a sustained speed on the grades. They were retired in 1952 and 1953. Numbers 900 and 901 had already been used, on two Shays. Those were different locomotives, and both pairs are in the table.

The numerous freight engine was the Consolidation. Class E-3, numbers 475–532, is carried as 48 locomotives, Baldwin and Baldwin’s Pittsburgh plant, 1906–1908, with 55-inch drivers. They weighed 220,380 pounds, and some later received Vanderbilt tenders. Class E-4, numbers 550–564, Richmond 1913, fifteen engines, had wide fireboxes over the rear drivers, 57-inch drivers, 24×30-inch cylinders, and a weight of 254,000 pounds. Twelve of them were rebuilt with cast frames and 63-inch disk drivers. The cylinders went to 26×30 inches, and the boiler pressure went from 175 pounds to 200. Tractive effort on the rebuilds was 54,948 pounds, about 2,000 pounds more than before. Numbers 559 and 560 went to the Louisiana & Arkansas in 1940.

Six 2-10-2s came from the Wabash in 1942, Brooks engines of 1917, class L, numbers 200–205. Four United States Railroad Administration light 2-10-2s came from the Ann Arbor the same year, Baldwin engines of 1919, class L-1, numbers 220–223. Both groups were slow. Changes in the side rods and the counterbalancing later permitted speeds up to 40 miles an hour. They were gone by 1953.

Passenger power

The class D-7 Ten-Wheelers, numbers 600–606, Baldwin 1903, generally stayed on passenger trains south of Shreveport. They had 67-inch drivers and 26,389 pounds of tractive effort, and they were retired between 1939 and 1948.

The only modern passenger class on the Kansas City Southern was eleven Pacifics. Eight came from Schenectady in 1912, numbers 800–807, and three in 1919, numbers 808–810. They had 75-inch drivers and weighed 258,000 pounds, 19,000 pounds less than a United States Railroad Administration light Pacific. High-mounted headlights and a blank smokebox door, with the number on a plate, gave them a look of their own, and some were given disk drivers. A few carried an air horn that cawed, for assignment to the Flying Crow. Numbers 800 and 806 went to the Louisiana & Arkansas in 1939. The last of the class were retired from 1951 through 1954.

Switchers and Shays

The newest 0-6-0s were four Schenectady engines of 1913, numbers 70–73, and many of the older Baldwin six-wheel switchers, numbers 81–100, lasted until dieselization. Most of the late switchers were 0-8-0s rebuilt from Consolidations. Classes E-1 and E-3 both had 55-inch drivers. The K engines, 1000–1012, thirteen of them from the company shops in 1924–1929, weighed 189,850 pounds. The K-1 engines, 1020–1031, twelve of them from the shops in 1925–1927, weighed 240,000 pounds, with a tractive effort of 47,124 pounds. Many of the four E-2 Consolidations were converted as well. The Consolidations stay in this count. The switchers are counted as the engines they became. The last of the 0-8-0s lasted until 1955.

Class E-1, numbers 460–474, fifteen Baldwin Consolidations of 1900 and 1903, had been built for the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern and was sold in 1917. Those fifteen stay in the total.

In Kansas City the railroad switched spurs pitched as steep as 10 percent, by some accounts. Two Shays did that work. No. 900, Lima 1913, had 18×20-inch cylinders and 48-inch wheels, the largest cylinders used on a Shay. No. 901, Lima 1914, was the largest standard-model Shay in Lima’s catalog, with 17×18-inch cylinders and 46-inch wheels. They were retired in 1928 and 1929.

Louisiana & Arkansas

The Louisiana Railway & Navigation is 22 locomotives in this table, including seven Russian Decapods, six from Baldwin and one from Alco, all of 1918. Six Ten-Wheelers, numbers 92–97, went to the Louisiana & Arkansas as 392–394, 395, 396, and 297. Four of them are listed again as class D-22, and 297 is listed again on its own row. Number 395 has no second row. Four former Louisiana Railway & Navigation Ten-Wheelers were rebuilt for passenger service.

The Louisiana & Arkansas list is 58 in the quantity column. Class M-21, numbers 551–556, Baldwin 1923–1927, had 57-inch drivers, weighed 256,000 pounds, and carried trailing-truck boosters. The later ones had feedwater heaters. Class M-22, numbers 561–565, Lima 1936, weighed 301,000 pounds, on 63-inch drivers, with 23×32-inch cylinders and 240 pounds of boiler pressure. Tractive effort with the booster was 71,300 pounds. Without it, the figure was about 60,000 pounds, in the range of a United States Railroad Administration heavy Mikado. Three former Florida East Coast 0-8-0s, numbers 251–253, worked occasionally on the Kansas City Southern.

The Texas company, the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company of Texas and later the Louisiana, Arkansas & Texas, is 13 locomotives, most of them former Missouri-Kansas-Texas engines, plus five former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Ten-Wheelers. The Louisiana & Arkansas bought that company on July 1, 1939.

Roster

The quantity column is the figure in the Qty cell, printed as given. A span of road numbers can be longer than that figure. Empty cells in the source grid are an em dash. Pittsburgh in the builder column is Baldwin’s Pittsburgh plant. KCS in the builder column is the company shops. BR&P is the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh. FEC is the Florida East Coast. MKT is the Missouri-Kansas-Texas. PS&N is the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern.

Kansas City Southern

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-6-0	F-2	81–100	20	Baldwin, Pittsburgh	1901–1908	1932–1950	—
0-6-0	F-3	70–73	4	Schenectady	1913	1948, 1949	—
0-8-0	K	1000–1012	13	KCS	1924–1929	1948–1954	—
0-8-0	K-1	1020–1031	12	KCS	1925–1927	1950–1955	Converted to 0-8-0s
2-8-0	E-1	460–474	15	Baldwin	1900, 1903	Sold 1917	Built for PS&N
2-8-0	E-2	450–453	4	Baldwin	1903	1939–1954	Many converted to 0-8-0
2-8-0	E-3	475–532	48	Pittsburgh, Baldwin	1906–1908	1951–1953	559, 560 to L&A in 1940
2-8-0	E-4	550–564	15	Richmond	1913	1951–1953	—
2-10-2	L	200–205	6	Brooks	1917	1951, 1952	Ex-Wabash
2-10-2	L-1	220–223	4	Baldwin	1919	1952, 1953	Ex-Ann Arbor
2-10-4	J	900–909	10	Lima	1937	1952, 1953	900–904 oil. 905–909 coal
0-6-6-0	G	700–711	12	Schenectady	1912	1937, 1947	—
2-8-8-0	G-1	750–756	7	Schenectady	1918	1939–1951	—
2-8-8-0	G-2	757–766	10	Brooks	1924	1947–1953	Rebuilt simple, 1941–1943. 753 had a booster
4-6-0	D-7	600–606	7	Baldwin	1903	1939–1948	—
4-6-2	H	800–807	8	Schenectady	1912	1951–1954	800, 806 to L&A in 1939
4-6-2	H-1	808–810	3	Schenectady	1919	1951–1953	—
Shay	S	900, 901	2	Lima	1913, 1914	1928, 1929	—

Louisiana Railway & Navigation

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-8-0	—	79, 80	2	Baldwin	1906	—	—
2-6-0	—	82	1	Baldwin	1909	—	—
2-8-0	—	90, 91	2	Baldwin	1912	—	—
2-8-0	—	98, 99	2	Baldwin	1919	—	—
2-10-0	—	100–105	6	Baldwin	1918	—	Russian Decapod
2-10-0	—	106	1	Alco	1918	—	Russian Decapod
4-4-0	—	54	1	Baldwin	1900	—	—
4-6-0	—	92–97	6	Baldwin	1913, 1915	—	To L&A 392–394, 395, 396, 297
4-6-0	D-20	170	1	Baldwin	1903	—	—

Louisiana & Arkansas

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-8-0	K-21	251–253	3	Alco	1924	—	Ex-Florida East Coast
0-8-0	K-22	1007	1	Baldwin	1903	—	Ex-KCS
2-8-0	—	425	1	Baldwin	1901	—	Ex-Colorado Midland
2-8-0	E-24	490, 491, 494, 526	4	Alco	1906	—	Ex-KCS
2-8-0	E-25	559, 560	2	Alco	1913	—	Ex-KCS
2-8-2	M-20	544	1	Alco	1928	—	Ex-Denkman Lumber Co.
2-8-2	M-21	551–556	6	Baldwin	1923–1927	—	—
2-8-2	M-22	561–565	5	Lima	1936	—	—
4-4-0	—	301, 302	2	Baldwin	1911, 1912	—	—
4-6-0	—	202–207	6	Baldwin	1906	—	—
4-6-0	—	297	1	Baldwin	1915	—	Ex-LR&N 97
4-6-0	D-20	172–177	6	Baldwin	1903	—	—
4-6-0	D-22	392–394, 396	4	Baldwin	1913	—	Ex-LR&N 92–94, 96
4-6-0	D-25	500–511	12	Baldwin	1913–1920	—	—
4-6-0	E-24	526	1	Baldwin	1908	—	—
4-6-2	—	309	1	Alco	1913	—	Ex-Florida East Coast
4-6-2	H-20	800, 806	2	Alco	1912	—	Ex-KCS

Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company of Texas

Later the Louisiana, Arkansas & Texas.

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
2-6-0	—	455	1	Baldwin	1901	—	Ex-MKT
2-8-0	—	241–243	3	Alco	1903	—	Ex-MKT
4-6-0	—	671–675	5	Alco	1901	—	Ex-BR&P
4-6-0	—	231, 233	2	Alco	1905	—	Ex-MKT
4-6-0	—	239, 240	2	Alco	1907	—	Ex-MKT

Sources

Drury, George H. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives. Revised edition. The built-since-1900 grid for the Kansas City Southern, the Louisiana & Arkansas, the Louisiana Railway & Navigation, and the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company of Texas. Class, road numbers, quantity, builder, date, and retirement are that grid. Specifications in the essay are from the same chapter.
Railroad magazine steam rosters: April 1939, page 121; June 1952, page 100; and April 1957, page 74.