Hi John!
I've thought about loaner and/or leased power (GN, for example)... but figured my efforts need to be toward something that was actually in KC. Besides, I have 13 (that's THIRTEEN) Class 1 railroads to pick n' choose from for modeling!
In addition to the above list, I foresee the following roads having a presence on my KC Lines layout "one of these days":
* KCT (If/when a brass Alco S-2 shows up on the secondary market.)
* Katy (The red scheme, but NOT with the "shield" like on the Lionel MKT NW2... but the yellow herald.)
* KCS
* MILW
* CGW (They had SEXY switcher paint schemes in the '50s that lasted into the '60s!)
* ATSF (Can be in two schemes: Zebra and Bookends.)
* UP
* ??? (There's still the Wabash, CRIP, n' GM&O to pick n' choose from!)
So, as you can see, simply selecting from what IS correct for KC offers a lifetime of modeling possibilities.
erdnA