Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Railway - Tower 2 - Old Union Depot - West Bottoms - Kansas City, MO

John, check out Fallen Flags web site for the Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Railway.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/kct/kct.html

There are pictures of most all of the KCT towers.

There are 2 photographs of KCT Tower 2.

The old Tower 2 photograph shows the frame construction original tower. It sat on the north side of the KCT's east-west tracks that ran along West 11th Street. Off these tracks, the KCT served warehouse spurs on each side of their mains.

The tower at this location faced southeast. Note the one story bricked walled additions on either end of the tower. At least the east, right, section housed an air compressor to power pneumatic turnout stitch machine motors in at area interlocking. On the south wall are several vents near the roof soffit, and extending from the roof is a vertical mast is a whistle used for signaling crews.

In the distance to the north is a 7 store warehouse building at 1104 Union Avenue. At the time of the photograph is was occupied by Cooks Warehouse Company. The building is located on the northeast quadrant of Santa Fe Street and Union Avenue.

View is looking north.

The new Tower 2 photograph shows the brick construction replacement for the old frame interlocking tower. The old tower was located to the north, across the KCT east-west tracks that ran down West 11th Street. Both towers were/are located east of Santa Fe Street.

In the distance across the north-south Frisco track embedded in the center of Santa Fe Street is the Cooks Warehouse Company building. Note the two boxcar ends, including a Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) wagon top car, spotted along the east wall of the warehouse. They are spotted for cross loading with deck plates. It was served by the Frisco from the north.

The car on the south wall was spotted off the KCT tracks that paralleled this side. Extending beyond the right edge of the tower is a crossing signal cross-are projection out over Santa Fe Street. North of the tower near the anti vehicle bollards and southeast of the tower near the pot signal are a talkback speakers for communicating with the tower operator or dispatcher.

The partial basement of the tower housed an air compressor to power the turnout pneumatic switch machines in the area interlocking. In this early morning view, the tower's east wall is in sunlight. The south wall with the doors and staircase are in shadow.

Photograph is looking northwest.

Edit 1/19/2024: Added narratives describing the Fallen Flags web site photographs of old and new KCT Tower 2.
MKD