Does anyone know when the Union Pacific (originally Missouri Pacific) line heading through south Kansas City was realigned? I'm speaking of the area south of Red Bridge Road and just north of the Martin City area. There is now a walking trail along the old ROW, where several culverts and a couple of concrete bases for signs and/or signals can be seen. I'm thinking the realignment - which appears to have been done to take out some curves and locate the track away from a river - was done in the early 1950s but it might have been earlier. I've lived in the KC area for over 25 years and just recently realized this trail existed.
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Old Kansas City area ROW
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I've never been to KC, but you mention that it looks like track was relocated away from a river. Just a guess, but in early 1953, there were massive floods in the KC area which caused incredible damage to a number of railroads. TRAINS MAGAZINE did a lengthy illustrated feature on the flooding later that same year.
This area is adjacent to the Blue River in south Kansas City, north of the intersection of Blue Ridge Road and Holmes (if you want to take a look at it on Google Earth). I don't think the Blue River flooded in that area in the 1950s but there is evidence along the old ROW of past heavy water runoff. The river is considerably lower than the old ROW though.