Belton, MO - Turntable - Kansas City, Clinton And Springfield (KCCS) - Osceola Subdivision

Belton, MO Turntable - 1914 Sanborn maps

 

Is there any information available about when the Belton turntable was removed?

 

A 1922 KCCS Valuation ledger still shows the turntable in place. It is described as a "Prairie Type" turntable with a concrete foundation. A "Prairie Type" is Frisco speak for a "gallows" style turntable. The pit is still quite visible.

 

The turntable on the map is connected to the tracks of the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield (KCCS), which during this time period was effectively owned by the Frisco but, for legal and political reasons, was nominally independently operated.

Notes from KCC&S employee timetables indicate the presence of a turntable at Belton in 1910, 1918, and 1921. No turntable or other engine facilities are indicated at Belton in the 1923 ETT, suggesting that the Belton turntable was removed between 1921 and 1923.

It's interesting to speculate why a turntable was needed. KCC&S timetables show a few trains apparently originating at Belton to run to Olathe, but most of these appear to be Frisco trains that originated on the highline, presumably at Clinton, and switched to the KCC&S at Belton in order to reach the Frisco's ex-KCFS&M mainline at Olathe.

If these trains ran through without changing equipment, they would not have needed to turn anything. I wonder if the Belton turntable was used to turn KCC&S helper locomotives working out of Olathe. The steepest grade on the KCC&S was just north, geographically west, of Belton. Opposing southbound, geographically eastbound, trains as they climbed up from the Blue River valley could have required a helper.

The line's diminutive 4-4-0s must have found it very challenging to get freights up this steep 2.5% to 3% grade. Double heading freights from Olathe to Belton, with the helper turning at Belton to run back "light" or attached to a westbound train, could have been a solution.

Doubling the hill, breaking the train into two sections, and hauling each up the hill separately, would have been another solution, but would have been much slower and would have required at least one spur track for reassembling the train at the top of the hill.

Belton siding could have been used for this purpose, but topographical maps indicate that it was a mile or more beyond the crest of the grade, and it does not appear that the KCC&S was overly blessed with yard tracks in Belton.

1918 and later KCC&S ETTs indicate the existence of "Blue Spur", a single-ended, south-connected 13-car spur 1.1 miles north/west of Belton, close to the crest of the grade. This spur is not indicated on previous ETTs. I do not know of any shipper at this location, although it is possible.

The name suggests to me that its existence was connected with the Blue River and the grade that the railroad surmounted climbing up from its valley. If used as a doubling spur, it would have allowed underpowered freights to double the grade more efficiently and without tying up trackage in Belton.

I note that this coincides with the wartime administration of the railroad by the USRA, which seems to have assigned the KCC&S to be directly operated by the Frisco. Perhaps new management decided this was a way to economize on locomotive miles, especially if declining freight tonnage meant that trains no longer regularly required assistance on the hill.

This is mostly speculation, of course, unless someone can come up with more documentation. If helpers were used from Olathe to Belton, at least occasionally, at some time before 1921-1923, it would explain the need for a turntable. If doubling the Blue River-Belton grade instead of using helpers became the standard practice circa 1918, it would explain why the turntable was no longer needed.

The Frisco formally merged the KCC&S in 1924 or 1925, and severed the Olathe-Belton connection in 1928. In the early 1930s, before most of the remaining KCC&S trackage was abandoned in 1934, KCC&S trains out of Clinton operated over the Frisco highline from Belton to Grandview, turning at the latter location.

The removal of the KCC&S's Belton turntable between 1921 and 1923 suggests that either operations had changed in a way that made it unnecessary, or the management of the road was anticipating the operational changes to come.

Thanks to Jeff Cooney, "Frisco 4301", for some of the information referenced here.

 

After the Frisco severed the line between Stanley and Belton, as Brad states the northern terminal of the KCCS became Grandview.

An arrangement was made with the Haywire to service the KCCS power.

One other thing, Brad, I believe that you have a copy of a 1904 KCCS ETT. My copy is filed away, but as I recall, a Kansas City - Belton passenger train operated during this period. That would also be a reason for maintaining a turntable at Belton.

 

That's great information.

Neither the 1895 nor the 1912 County Plat Maps show the turntable on them. Several people told me there was one, but I had not been able to come up with any documentation for it in the limited resources I do have.

I have walked that area a few times and did not see much in the way of indications of where it was located. Assuming I'm in the right place, which I may not be. I need to get up there and look more closely.

Thanks for the information!

 

Attached is a bit from Virtual Earth. The approximate location of the turntable is marked with the red circle. When on the ground you will see a shallow circular depression, which is filled with trees and brush.

 

I will take a much closer look in that area. Thanks again.

I'm trying to pick up as much as I can about the operations of the KCCS/KCO&S and the Frisco in Belton.

 

Karl wrote:

I wondered about that too, and certainly any train originating or terminating at Belton would justify a turntable.

When I looked at Mike Good's page on the KCC&S, I found the following description of passenger operations in the early 1900s, which I presume is derived from Official Guides, local newspapers, or some other reliable sources.

http://tacnet.missouri.org/history/railroads/leakyroof.html

The first boldfaced passage convinced me that the passenger train operating from Belton to Olathe and back on the 1904 ETT was a Frisco run-through. However, on closer reading of the above, I note the Blair Line local that terminated in Belton from 1906-1908 would probably have needed to use engine turning facilities. See the second boldfaced passage.

No doubt the turntable had multiple uses at this junction point. My speculation about helper service is just that, speculation. It seems like a logical explanation for the placing of a turning facility near the top of a steep grade, but it seems that, as you suggest, Belton did at least occasionally serve as a terminating and turning point for scheduled trains.

In response to the query about Olathe track locations.

At one time, I found a scanned, online copy of a late-19th-century atlas of Johnson County. I think it was through the website of the Olathe library or the Johnson county historical society. Unfortunately I can't find it now and I don't have immediate access to the images I saved, but I'll see if I can find them.

They didn't provide a lot of detail about track layouts, but they provided some general location information.

 

While in the KC area during my Christmas, I grabbed a couple of shots of the KCCS turntable location. Not much left but a shallow depression and a concrete foundation. A bit of KCCS track is still down, albeit covered with grass looking railroad South.