KY Tower, MP C3.2, Rosedale Yard, Kansas City, KS - 29th Street Tower, MP C2.0, Kansas City, MO

Frisco’s Rosedale or KY, short for Katy Yard, Tower stood at MP C-3.2.

It governed the movement of MKT trains from the south end of their Glen Park Yard as they entered the Frisco double track mainline at that location.

By the time I had begun to notice things, the Frisco interlocking tower was a thing of the past. It was not until I began perusing the Northern Division Bridge and Building (B&B) records that I discovered KY Tower in Rosedale, KS.



Its location was off the beaten path, and exploring the 19th Street Yard was always more interesting, so I never attempted to locate its exact location. Using Google Earth, I believe that I have located the foundation of the interlocker. The dimensions in the satellite photographs match the dimensions of the structure.



The foundation is located in the dotted-blue rectangle. The location is very close to MP C-3.2, and the location between the MKT mainline and the Frisco mainline seems to be a reasonable spot to place an interlocker.



The interlocker was closed when the Frisco replaced the Automatic Block Signals (ABS) system with Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) which was about 1954-1955. A local CTC machine was placed in the yard office building at Rosedale. It controlled traffic between Crossover B and 29th Street interlocking. The first-trick operator was John Hatch, and he indulged my brother and me on many occasions.

I did produce an imagineered drawing of the structure based on the B&B record. I hoped to find a photograph or two, and then build a HO scale model.



Do any of you KC guys have photographs or plats that depict KY tower?

 

Chris,

Very nice find, but this looks like the area around 29th Street Tower interlocking.

KEB

 

After a closer view in Photo Shop, I see MP C2.0 right in front of the tower, so it is 29th Street interlocking.

The track just in front of the tower leading off the right edge is the north end lead to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Glen Park Yard. The two tracks coming into view from the photographer's left rear are the two main tracks of the Frisco toward Rosedale Yard.

The tracks veering to the left in the distance, head to 19th Street Yard. The tracks veering to the right in the distance, head to Kansas City Union Station (KCUS) depot.

The photographer is looking northeast.

 

Karl,

Thanks for these postings!

Your little KCT diagram appears to be from a booklet or rule book of some sort.

What kind of book or was it from?

Thanks,

Tom

 

Tom,

The map was taken from the Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Railway Book of Operating Rules, May 15, 1953.

 

Thanks.

Tom

 

Here is a page from a 1940 Employee Time Table (ETT) that shows the 29th St Tower and KY Tower.

http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=3760&d=1148930515

Edit 5/3/2024: Prior link no longer works. Please see the link below.

https://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/northern-division-ett-31e-october-6-1940.1063/

Added current link to referenced timetable.
MKD

 

Thank you very much for the information on the location of KY Tower.

The tower photograph posted is indeed 29th Street. However, I have a photograph of KY Tower in my collection. I am more than willing to share it with everyone, but I am not very good at posting to this web site.

The photographs are also by Howard Killam and one is unknown. They are my photographs 298-26, 375-30, 384-17. If someone will tell my how to post them to this website, I am willing to do so.

I also have a floor plan for Rosedale interlocking tower which has to be KY Tower.

I am in the process of building the tower in HO Scale, the article will appear in The Meteor in about a year.

Richard E. Napper

 

There are a few observations that can be made from the photograph of KY Tower by Howard Killam.

If you read the B&B entry for KY Tower you will find that it was built with 17 22" wide windows, and two 2'-6" by 6'-8" doors with windows in them. All Frisco towers had the two doors directly above the lower door. The first floor is 11' high, and the top floor is 9' high with a 1 1/2' concrete foundation base. The roof is singles on a 1/3 pitch.

Now the only way the tower could have that many windows is to have two windows on the North end beside the door, three windows on the South end, and both sides had five windows on the top floor. My guess is the other two windows are on the West side on the bottom floor, because the picture shows no windows on the North side bottom, or the East side bottom beside the tracks.

Yes, I know there are only three windows left on the east side in the photograph, but there had to have been five when the tower was built. I also do not think the location is where it was previously posted to be because there are no tracks on the west side of the tower.

I am not aware of any movement in the Frisco tracks, they have always been close to the small hill on the west side of the bottoms at Rosedale. I therefore think the tower sat more to the west at MP 3.2 with all tracks to the east of the tower.

I have also provided the scale drawings I am using to build the tower in HO scale.

 

I have resized the photographs of KY Tower and I will try again to post them.

Richard

 

Guys,

I have ridden through there on trains, but I have no conception of the geography of the area.

What direction are we looking in these photographs?

South?

Also, is there a track diagram showing how many tracks and how the Frisco and Katy tracks came together?

Thanks,

Tom

 

Howard did not indicate a direction, but my guess is you are looking south.

That looks like the KATY elevator in the background.

Richard

 

I believe that the photographer is looking railroad north.

The pole line is on the right, and one can just make out Southwest Boulevard to the right. I still believe that my Google Earth location is pretty close.

During the renovations to Rosedale and with the addition of CTC, the MKT built several "Long Tracks" into Glen Park which were not extant at the time of the photograph.

 

I was thinking south from looking at the diagram.

Showing stairs on north end of the building.

Tom

 

Karl is correct, the view is looking railroad North.

By the compass, this would be in a Northeasterly direction. The two main tracks are on the left and the track to the right heads toward Glen Park Yard. It appears from the train order signal and the delivery device near the tower that MKT trains picked up orders at this location.

The track off the main that leads toward the bottom of the photograph appears to be little used and therefore is probably an industry track. It must be the jelly refinery mentioned in another thread on this subject.

The large building in the background on the left is the Katy elevator. It is located Northeast of where KY Tower would have stood.

 

Rosedale Tower and environs.

The 2 degree 30 minute curve to the left in Richard's photograph is shown on the attached track chart. The pole line is also shown on the track chart and it is located on the railroad east side.

The track chart is dated 1928.

 

The Katy Elevator is on the Southeast of Glen Park Yard, not the Northeast.

The tower is on the North end of Glen Park Yard and Rosedale which is where the KS-MO State line is located, so you have to be looking generally South.

Richard