Chuck, thank you for your inquiry to Kansas City Southern Historical Society, Inc. via our web site. You are welcome 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 in wreck-train service before becoming a test car in 1981. 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 good 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 taken 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 of 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 bunch of 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 lavatory 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 quite 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 have 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 and 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

Bob Courtney posted this request for information on the Yahoo KCS Discussion Group (sorry, don't have the address) and got these replies.

The photo in question was taken in Heavener just northeast of the engine house looking to the southwest. Tut Bartzen

Number 71 is an F7, 95 is an F3. The black unit behind 95 is one of the GP7's still painted in the black scheme. Numberboards on the front start with a 4 and the last digit visible on the cab side appears to be an 8. This would make it the 4158. It's original number would have been the 158. Question to ask..... When was it renumbered to 4158 from 158 and when was it painted white? The 4162 still has it's high nose front, so that definitely makes this a pre-1983 picture as it was rebuilt with a chopped nose after the wreck in Pittsburg, TX in '84. It is also post 1954 as it no longer has the GP7 louver on the hood and the panels under the cab since it was rebuilt from a GP7 into GP9m after its first wreck in 1954 by EMD. Casey

Chuck's comment: As stated, all information was a guess. I chose Pittsburg because I knew there was a shop there and the locomotives looked like they needed shopping more than servicing, but the roof vents on the shop building are unusual for the KCS. The 95 is a upgraded F3, according to the book, Kansas City Southern In The Deramus Era, by Louis A. Marre and Gregory J. Sommers. It was delivered in 1948 as F3 58A. In 1957 the 58 A-B-B-A set was broken up and 58A was renumbered 58, later renumbered to 95 before the KCS settled on four digit numbers for the F-units. Note 36 reads:

L&A 58A rebuilt to F7 specifications 12/31/53; renumbered to 95 at Pittsburg 5/68; renumbered to 4052 at Pittsburg 4/3/78.

As for the dark GP7, I assumed it to be an MP unit (but it lacks the MP chevrons), so KCS 4161 would be my guess. I looked at a closeup of the slide but could not accurately make out the number so I made no comment in the original post. Another determining factor to help pinpoint the date is the repaint, renumbering, or retirement date of 71. UPDATE: I received an email from Paul Strang with the following; I don’t recognize the photo and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the power split up that way. This shot might be by Steve Laser. He went there at lot right after he got out of the Navy and I ended up processing most of his stuff. This photo is at Heavener. The Wye track on which 71 was shot (in another slide) is the track in the foreground. The Fort Smith Dodger rated 95, a switcher, or a GP7/9. The AW (Arkansas Western branch to Waldron, AR) required two F-units as the max speed was 10 mph and there had to be enough power to climb the small grades w/o being able to get a run at them. The South Local had two GP30's and the North Local had two GP7/9 at this time. Mena had a GP for a switcher. It would often come to Heavener on weekends for service. That probably explains one of those units.