The Town That Loved KATY: Parsons, Kansas and the M-K-T Railroad

For well over 100 years, there was a close and usually mutually beneficial relationship between the City of Parsons, Kansas, and what became the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company (M-K-T or -the Katy-). Parsons, located on rolling prairie land near the southeast corner of Kansas, depended largely on the Katy for its basic employment, those jobs which brought money into the community.

In fact, during the first half of that period it was almost a textbook example of a railroad town. Covering the years 1865 to 2012, the authors relate the fascinating story of how Parsons was the site of the Katy's main locomotive repair shop until its merger with the Union Pacific in 1988. Railroad historian I.E.

Quastler has previously authored a number of Midwest railroad history topics, including Rock Island Line In Focus. Co-author James Reisdorff has authored or co-authored books such as The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives. South Platte Press, softcover, 168 pages, 115 B&W photographs and illustrations.