Railroad: Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
Location: Black Walnut, Missouri
Date: May 8, 1980
Credit: John Bjorklund, Center for Railroad Photography & Art, Bjorklund-70-03-05
Just before sunset on a May evening in 1980, a Missouri-Kansas-Texas freight train rolls through rural Black Walnut, Missouri.
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad was acquired by the much larger Union Pacific Railroad in 1988. While many of its routes remain in service today, the main line across Missouri was redundant and had been severely damaged by a Missouri River flood in 1986. Trains were re-routed, and the right-of-way was abandoned. The railroad, affectionately referred to as the “Katy,” was once an important regional system that spanned much of its three namesake states along with Oklahoma. At its peak, the railroad operated more than 3,700 miles of track.
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Trail: Katy Trail
Trail length: 240 miles
Date: July 24, 2021
Credit: Barry Gaston, courtesy of the photographer
Two bikers set off from the Black Walnut Trailhead of the Katy Trail in the early evening of July 24, 2021. Stretching across the width of Missouri, the trail preserves the beloved Katy name and continues to connect people across the state as a reborn corridor.
Two years after abandonment, Union Pacific donated most of the corridor to the state of Missouri, which converted the railbanked property into the Katy Trail State Park. The Katy Trail is currently the longest, uninterrupted rail-trail in the country at almost 240 miles.
