[3] On January 1, 1888,[4] Knott was promoted to traffic manager for Louisville and Nashville Railway (L&N),[5][6] a position he held until October 7, 1891.
[note 1][12][14][15] But his time with the Plant System lasted less than a year as he resigned in July 1900 to take the vice president and general manager position at Chicago and Alton Railroad.
[18][19] Concurrent with his appointment at the Alton,[20] Knott was selected to succeed Samuel W. Fordyce as president of Kansas City Southern Railway on July 11, 1900,[21][22] beginning his term on August 1.
[27] In late October 1900, reports circulated that John W. Gates took control of a majority of shares of KCS stock, which led to rumors that W. G. Brimson would succeed Knott as president.
[31] On January 3, 1901, Knott served as chairman for a conference in New York City discussing standard freight rates for western and northwestern railroads.
The conference closed with no significant changes to the rates and no new resolutions adopted, with Knott reported as "being entirely satisfied with the present situation.