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12/23/2024
 
 
 
 
 
Owner: Kansas City Southern
Model:EMD SD40-2Built As:KCS 686 (SD40-2)
Serial Number:786137-2Order No:786137
Frame Number:786137-2Built:6/1978
Other locos with this serial:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
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KCS 056
Title:  KCS 056
Description:  KCS 056 on the BN at Cicero, Illinois on an unknown day in July 1981, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. This car arrived in the company of five KCS SD40-2*s and the BN business car Yellowstone River. I sent an inquiry to the KCS Historical Society and received the following:

Chuck, thank you for your inquiry to Kansas City Southern Historical Society, Inc. via our web site. You are welcom` to use any of the information below. There is a bit of misinformation based on invalid assumptions about this car. It was indeed an ex-troop sleeper. It later was used n wreck-train service before becoming a test car in 198=. The following paragraph is composed of excerpts from messages posted anonymously to the KCSnotes e-mail group by someone who had worked aboard the car during that period:

I spent a gkod portion of my life riding this car in the early 1980s. I was very much involved when the KCS 056 and 057 were in test car service starting very late March of 1981. In fact it made its inaugural run on Train 91, a Welsh Power Plant coal train, starting that night at Pittsburg the day President Regan was shot. The car was originally tawen out of wreck train service in early 1981, and converted to living quarters by Comet Industries in KC when the KCS started testing its automatic Fuel Saver device right at the end of March, 1981. A dynamometer coupler was later added. The car was later wired and piped to go mid-engine consist. The car did many miles on the KCS ob course as well as Cicero, IL to Seattle 6 round trips. Anyone who has (I think it is) the Oct 1981 issue of Trains there is a picture of it coming out of the Cascade Tunnel. There also was a buich oc coal trains on the BN in NE. It also did a round trip from KC to Pueblo, CO on D&RGW trains on MOP track. The 056 and 057 did have the same caboose trucks at first, but it was very bouncy rough ride. The 056 had two huge water tanks hanging from the ceiling inside from the center door area going back to the B end. The water was for the showers and lavatories in the B end as well as the kitchenette in the A end as well as piped to the 057 when we used it for extra beds. That 057 was all beds other than the shower and lavatoru area. I don't think the 057 had a center door either then. We only used the 057 a couple /3 times. It wasn't long they put regular freight trucks under the 056 that made it ride like it had no suspension. After removing some of the springs, it wasn't too bad unless on jointed rail still quhte common then or when the car got over 60 MPH when the A end truck started truck hunting. Just for the record when the fellow who posted the picture wrote, 'This was listed as a dynamometer car but some KCS observers kave noted that the<'Spot 1' on these cars indicates that it is a rail defect spotting car.' To the best of my knowledge the car was never used a rail defect car. The 'Spot 1' designation was a joke I am 99% sure. The fellow at the time that oversaw the work and modifications of the car nickname was 'Spot' due to his very shiney bald spot. It appears that KCS 057 didn’t remain on the roster as long as KCS 056, but the latter lasted long enough to be painted into the KCS gray livery and to be renumbered to KCS 10. Eventually, it was retired an} sold to the Progress Rail Services’ railcar scrapping yard at Waskom, Texas. Progress apparently bought it for its trucks, then sold the body to a private party who moved it to another location in Waskom, where it was last known to be sitting on the ground. Neither its current location nor even its existence are known to me. You will find some other photos of this car at:

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Lowell G. McManus, Eagle Pass, Texas

Photo Date:  7/1/1981  Upload Date: 5/26/2012 2:42:04 PM
Location:  Cicero, IL
Author:  Chuck Zeiler
Categories:  Roster,Yard
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  2021   Comments: 6
KCS 056
Title:  KCS 056
Description:  KCS 056 at BN's Clyde, Illinois facilities on an unknown day in July 1981, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. This car was part of a KCS fuel saving test train that ran on the BN for a while. A photo of this equipment at the Cascade Tunnel at Scenic, Washington on July 10, 1981 appears on page 19 of the October 1981 issue of Trains Magazine.
Photo Date:  7/1/1981  Upload Date: 5/26/2012 3:26:11 PM
Location:  Clyde (subdivision), IL
Author:  Chuck Zeiler
Categories:  Yard
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  598   Comments: 0
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description: 
Photo Date:  7/7/1981  Upload Date: 8/5/2012 2:49:13 AM
Location:  Interbay, WA
Author:  S.L. Dixon
Categories:  Roster,Yard
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  389   Comments: 0
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description:  KCS 686
Photo Date:  10/10/1981  Upload Date: 1/1/2019 9:39:15 PM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  J Fischer
Categories:  Roster
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  311   Comments: 1
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description: 
Photo Date:  9/14/1987  Upload Date: 4/2/2019 9:52:15 PM
Location:  Kansas City, MO
Author:  John Hawkins
Categories:  Roster
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  411   Comments: 1
KCS 686KCS 686, exact date un
Title:  KCS 686KCS 686, exact date un
Description:  known
Photo Date:  12/1/2003  Upload Date: 10/30/2006 10:06:32 AM
Location:  Krum, TX
Author:  Tim Vermande
Categories: 
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  754   Comments: 0
FURX 8129
Title:  FURX 8129
Description: 
Photo Date:  8/6/2004  Upload Date: 1/6/2008 12:01:54 AM
Location:  Marshall, MN
Author:  Sam Botts
Categories: 
Locomotives:  FURX 8129(SD40-2) KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  533   Comments: 1
FURX 8129
Title:  FURX 8129
Description: 
Photo Date:  8/6/2004  Upload Date: 1/6/2008 12:06:12 AM
Location:  Ruthton, MN
Author:  Sam Botts
Categories: 
Locomotives:  FURX 8129(SD40-2) KCS 686(SD40-2) BNSF 6923(SD40-2) CN 5287(SD40-2W)
Views:  727   Comments: 1
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description: 
Photo Date:  9/25/2005  Upload Date: 9/26/2005 10:07:07 PM
Location:  Springfield, MO
Author:  Joe Hughes
Categories: 
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  409   Comments: 0
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description: 
Photo Date:  6/5/2006  Upload Date: 6/10/2006 1:26:43 PM
Location:  East Saint Louis, IL
Author:  Brian Frierdich
Categories: 
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  305   Comments: 0
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description: 
Photo Date:  9/21/2006  Upload Date: 9/23/2006 2:10:15 PM
Location:  Wylie, TX
Author:  Mike Bates
Categories:  Night
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  332   Comments: 1
KCS 686 headed into Ada
Title:  KCS 686 headed into Ada
Description: 
Photo Date:  1/1/2007  Upload Date: 7/30/2007 7:50:57 PM
Location:  Latta, OK
Author:  Jerry Coffey
Categories: 
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  820   Comments: 0
KCS 686
Title:  KCS 686
Description:  This made coming out in the crappy weather worth it, my first shot of a KCS SD40-2. Jeez, took about 3 years for it to happen too....
Photo Date:  6/22/2007  Upload Date: 6/22/2007 5:57:01 PM
Location:  Minneapolis, MN
Author:  Alec Holmes
Categories: 
Locomotives:  KCS 686(SD40-2)
Views:  394   Comments: 1
FURX 8129
Title:  FURX 8129
Description: 
Photo Date:  7/12/2007  Upload Date: 12/9/2010 4:34:03 AM
Location:  Marshall, MN
Author:  Sam Botts
Categories: 
Locomotives:  FURX 8129(SD40-2) KCS 686(SD40-2) BNSF 6923(SD40-2) CN 5287(SD40-2W)
Views:  488   Comments: 0


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