Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Kansas City, Shreveport and Gulf Terminal Company

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 75

The Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Terminal Company

Location and General Description of Property

The property of The Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Terminal Company, hereinafter referred to as the Gulf Terminal, is located in the city of Shreveport, La. The property consists of about 4 acres of land upon which are located 1.173 miles of track, a brick passenger station, and other buildings and facilities which usually go with such a station.

Corporate History

The Gulf Terminal was organized by the execution of its articles on July 27, 1897, and on the same date was incorporated under the laws of the state of Louisiana for a term of 99 years.

The purposes of the corporation, as stipulated in its articles, were to construct, acquire, operate, and maintain a union station and railroad terminal yards and tracks in the city of Shreveport for the use of the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company, its successors and assigns, and such other railroad companies as might be permitted to use the same, and to operate and conduct a café or restaurant in connection with said station.

There are no companies underlying this corporation and it has not been subject to reorganizations, either corporate or financial.

Among the incorporators of this company were A. E. Stilwell, J. McD. Trimble, Charles A. Braley, W. S. Taylor, and H. M. Howe, all of whom were at the time identified with and interested in the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Company, and the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company. Control of the Gulf Terminal is vested in The Kansas City Southern Railway Company by virtue of the ownership by the latter of all the outstanding stocks and bonds.

The principal office is in Shreveport, La., but the accounting records are kept in the office of the auditor and assistant secretary in Kansas City, Mo.

The manner in which the railroad property of the Gulf Terminal was constructed appears in Appendix 2.

Introductory

The Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Terminal Company, hereinafter referred to as the Gulf Terminal, does not perform the usual functions of a common carrier in that it does not conduct a general transportation business and receive compensation for services performed on the basis of published tariff rates. It is merely the proprietor of a union passenger depot at Shreveport, La., and sundry buildings used in connection therewith and 1.173 miles of tracks serving the same, which it maintains at its own expense and sublets for the joint use of certain common carriers, which pay an annual rental regulated by the extent to which the facilities are used by each lessee. The identity of the user companies on June 30, 1914, was as follows:

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (operating the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company's property); the Texas & Pacific Railway Company; Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railroad Company; Houston & Shreveport Railroad Company; Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas; Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company; Houston East & West Texas Railway Company (irregularly).

Certain rights with respect to news and omnibus privileges are let to others than common carriers, for which an annual consideration is received.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The Gulf Terminal did not construct its property, but acquired it upon completion from the Arkansas Construction Company, which built it. The Arkansas Construction Company was a Missouri corporation and was one of a chain of companies incorporated at the instance of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Company, which developed the railway properties at present comprising The Kansas City Southern Railway system.

Prior to the organization of the Gulf Terminal, the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company had contracted with the Arkansas Construction Company for the erection of a depot at Shreveport, La., at an approximate cost of $15,000. This plan was subsequently abandoned, the Gulf Terminal was organized, and the establishment by it of the union passenger depot was decided upon. Thereupon the construction company acquired the necessary lands and constructed the passenger depot, tracks, and other appurtenant facilities. This work was done by the construction company, presumably under its contract with the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company. There is no record that any contract existed between the Gulf Terminal and the construction company.

On September 7, 1897, the Arkansas Construction Company conveyed title to the completed property to the Gulf Terminal by deed and received in payment therefor securities of the Gulf Terminal as hereinafter set forth.

The property owned by the Gulf Terminal on the date of valuation is substantially the same as that which was originally constructed, and consists of the following:

Land, 4.25 acres, embracing the site of its depot and appurtenant structures and the tracks accommodating the same; 1.173 miles of side tracks accommodating the depot; brick passenger depot, 29 feet by 100 feet, one and one-half stories, with train sheds, platforms, etc.; frame baggage room, 30 feet by 107 feet; frame express room, 26 feet by 75 feet; frame eating house, one story, 18 feet by 19 feet, with additions, porches, etc.; frame Pullman storeroom, 23 feet by 19 feet; and sundry appurtenances.

Changes have consisted of additional tracks to accommodate new tenants using the premises, concrete platforms substituted for wooden ones, train canopies, remodeling the interior of the depot and eating house, and other miscellaneous work of a similar but less important character.

The Gulf Terminal has never owned any rolling stock or motive power of any kind.

To provide access to its facilities for certain of the tenant companies the Gulf Terminal leased for a period of 20 years from July 1, 1904, from The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (which operates the property of the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company) the joint use of 1.94 miles of double track.

Leased Railway Property

Lessee transactions. — In order to provide means for certain tenant companies to gain access to its property, the Gulf Terminal is obliged to procure from The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (which operates exclusively the property owned in fee by the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company) the right for them to use, jointly with the lessor, 1.94 miles of double track, for which the Gulf Terminal pays a rental of $1,200 per annum. This arrangement is covered by a 20-year contract, running from July 1, 1904.

Lessor transactions. — The entire property owned by this company is jointly used by the tenant companies named in the introductory under short-term agreements, which provide for payment for the privilege on the basis of a flat rate per month for regular trains and a rate of $2 per train for irregular usage. The station privileges extended to private parties are unimportant and not worthy of mention.