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The KCM&O was a real railroad, chartered in the year 1900 by Arthur Edward Stilwell, with the goal of creating the shortest transportation link between Kansas City and the Pacific Coast. Unfortunately, the railroad was plagued by construction delays and lack of traffic, resulting in a severe shortfall of capital. Several more obstacles, notably the Mexican Revolution, stood in the way of its completion, and so it mostly remained as unprofitable disconnected segments throughout the lifespan of the Orient. The railroad entered receivership in 1912, and again in 1917 under Stilwell’s successor William Kemper.

In 1928, the Orient was acquired by the Santa Fe, who immediately sold off the Mexican segments to the Mexican government. Upon completion to Presidio, TX, the American half of the system remained a backwater branch line operation until it was all abandoned or spun off into short-line operations in 1992. The Mexican portion of the route, an incredibly mountainous and scenic part of the country, was eventually completed by 1961 under the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico. Today, much of the Texas portion is owned by the state and operated by Texas Pacifico Transportation and a smaller portion is currently the Texas & Oklahoma Railroad; the rest is abandoned. Further north, most of the Orient right of way into Wichita KS is abandoned, though Farmrail and the Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad own and operate portions of it. The Mexican portion from the border to the coast is owned by Ferromex. The ‘Chepe Express’ passenger service through the Copper Canyon continues to be a popular tourist operation.

For the most part, it seems that the Orient is home only to once grand ambitions which fall victim to misfortune and become failed dreams. But what if Stilwell had the chance to rewrite the history of his railroad not meant to be? What if his hopes of a massive ‘Port Stilwell’ in Topolobampo, SI came to fruition, and his railroad served as an essential, efficient link in global transportation?

This is my own fictional take on the KCM&O, an attempt at visualizing what the Orient might look like if investors continued to believe in Stilwell’s dream; if the railroad remained independent, and perhaps, if the conditions of its construction and operation were much more favorable. Various other fallen-flag railroads of Texas and Mexico have been merged into it, some of which were also dreams never to be reached. Together, a coherent system from Chicago and the Twin Cities through Kansas City to both Pacific and Gulf ports as well as a premier fleet of locomotives and equipment powered the Orient into the 21st century and ensured its existence for many more years to come.

Logos of the Mexico & Northwestern, Trinity & Brazos Valley, and Chicago Great Western railways, predecessors to the KCM&O. All were real, but only the first had ties to the Orient in real life. The two other major predecessors of my fictional version of the Orient were also real railroads, but were fairly small in real life and did not have logos, so I will have to design them myself sometime.