Chronology of Construction:
The original KCS

• 1888 : Joplin to Neosho, Missouri (Kansas City, Ft. Smith and Southern)
  Index, Arkansas {MP 478} to Texarkana, Texas (Texarkana & Northern Railway)
• 1889 : Neosho, Missouri to Sulphur Springs, Arkansas (Kansas City, Ft. Smith and Southern)
  Ashdown, Arkansas to Index, Arkansas (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
• 1890 : Grandview to Hume, Missouri (Kansas City, Nevada & Ft. Smith)
• 1891 : Air Line Junction to Belt Junction, Kansas City (Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway)
  Wilton to Ashdown, Arkansas (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
• 1892 : Kansas City to Independence "Air Line" (Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway)
  Hume, Missouri to Pittsburg, Kansas (Kansas City, Nevada & Ft. Smith)
• 1893 : Pittsburg, Kansas to Joplin, Missouri (Kansas City, Ft. Smith and Southern)
  Sulphur Springs to Siloam Springs, Arkansas (Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway)
• 1894 : Horatio, Arkansas to Winthrop, Arkansas (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
• 1895 : Siloam Springs, Arkansas, to Poteau, Oklahoma (Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway)
  Texarkana, Texas to Shreveport, Louisiana (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
  Beaumont to Port Arthur, Texas (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
• 1896 : Poteau, Oklahoma to Mena, Arkansas (Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway)
  Winthrop to Wilton, Arkansas (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
  Shreveport to Hornbeck, Louisiana (Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway)
  DeQuincy to West Lake, Louisiana, Branch (Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway)
• 1897 : Mena to Horatio, Arkansas (Texarkana & Ft. Smith Railway)
  Hornbeck, Louisiana to Beaumont, Texas (Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway)
• 1898 : Spiro, Oklahoma to Fort Smith, Arkansas ("Fort Smith Branch") (Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway)
  West Lake to Lake Charles, Louisiana (Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway)
• Through service between Kansas City, Missouri, and Port Arthur, Texas, began after the last spike was driven about 12 miles north of Beaumont, Texas, on September 11, 1897.

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