Passenger service, which at the end consisted of only two twice-daily motor cars, called 'doodlebugs' (each of which left Kansas City and Saint Louis, respectively, and met in Eldon), ceased on April 11, 1959. Moreover, the line itself was costly to maintain, with a number of tunnels and high bridges required to cross Missouri's rugged terrain in and around the Ozark Mountains region. The Rock Island was a late-comer to the Saint Louis-Kansas City corridor, which had already been previously connected by four other railroads, so the Rock struggled to find its piece of the pie in a saturated market. The line was known as the Rock Island's Saint Louis Subdivision.ĭespite connecting two of the nation's largest railroad-centric cities, the Rock Island's line failed to meet expected revenue, and ultimately was downgraded into secondary status. Trackage rights were utilized over the M-K-T to allow the Rock Island access into Kansas City from Windsor the Rock Island finally completed their own line into Kansas City (via Pleasant Hill, Lee's Summit and Raytown) in 1905. They purchased the StLKC&C ourtight in 1902, and continued extending the line into Eldon (which would eventually become the subdivision's base of operations, complete with a roundhouse and large yard), Versailles, and Windsor (and a connection with the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad there) in 1904. Meanwhile, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was interested in extending their empire westward from Saint Louis to Kansas City, and watched the development of the StLKC&C with a keen interest. By 1901, the StLKC&C had further completed their line through Gerald and Owensville to Bland. The intent was to build a line into Colorado via Kansas City.

This line started out as the Saint Louis, Kansas City and Colorado Railroad, who built the first vestige of the line between Saint Louis and Union in 1887.

MO | CRI&P, MCRR, StL&E, StL&SW, StLKC&C, UP

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