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