A view of the members of the KATY Parsons Shop Band of Parsons, Kansas. "KATY" was the commonly-used name of the Missouri - Kansas -Texas Lines (known as the M-K-T, KATY, or Katy) railroad that operated as a regional railroad from St Louis, Missouri, through Kansas City and down to San Antonio and Houston, Texas. The railroad's main repair shop was in Parsons, Kansas, and all heavy repairs to the diesel engines and freight cars were made there.