Southwest (Arkansas) shorts
Wednesday, October 21
I was up around sunrise and began making my way around the town of Prescott, in search of the Prescott & Northwestern. Unfortunately, the good weather from Tuesday did not last. Skies were overcast the entire day, and the rain moved in after dark. But rain or shine, I was here to shoot the P&NW, so I tried to make the best of it. It didn't take me long to locate them; they were switching cars on the north side of town before they heading to a nearby tire plant. Next, they headed south to interchange cars with the UP.
Unique locomotives were the attraction: Prescott & North- western owns three GE 70-ton switching locomotives. # 24 was hard at work during my visit.
Next, I headed back over to Gurdon to check out the Caddo Valley Railroad, a shortline which operates a former Missouri Pacific branch. They had a few ratty looking geeps and some of the worst track I had ever seen.
Traffic was busy on the Union Pacific Little Rock Subdivision through Prescott and Gurdon throughout the day. This former Missouri Pacific line sees predominantly eastbound traffic between Texarkana and Little Rock. (Westbounds use the former Cotton Belt line bewteen Pine Bluff and Texarkana.) Trains rolled through Prescott about once every 30 to 45 minutes during my visit.
This pair of Kansas City Southern locomotives in the "Southern Belle" scheme made a nice subject for an after-dark photo shoot. Light source was a sodium vapour street lamp directly behind my camera.
Coming next: Rich Mountain in the rain. Check back soon...
WSC
np: Kathleen Hanna - "I wish I was him"
I was up around sunrise and began making my way around the town of Prescott, in search of the Prescott & Northwestern. Unfortunately, the good weather from Tuesday did not last. Skies were overcast the entire day, and the rain moved in after dark. But rain or shine, I was here to shoot the P&NW, so I tried to make the best of it. It didn't take me long to locate them; they were switching cars on the north side of town before they heading to a nearby tire plant. Next, they headed south to interchange cars with the UP.
Unique locomotives were the attraction: Prescott & North- western owns three GE 70-ton switching locomotives. # 24 was hard at work during my visit.
Next, I headed back over to Gurdon to check out the Caddo Valley Railroad, a shortline which operates a former Missouri Pacific branch. They had a few ratty looking geeps and some of the worst track I had ever seen.
Traffic was busy on the Union Pacific Little Rock Subdivision through Prescott and Gurdon throughout the day. This former Missouri Pacific line sees predominantly eastbound traffic between Texarkana and Little Rock. (Westbounds use the former Cotton Belt line bewteen Pine Bluff and Texarkana.) Trains rolled through Prescott about once every 30 to 45 minutes during my visit.
The Colossus sightings continued...
I planned to spend Thursday on Rich Mountain -- in the Ouchita Mountains between Mena, Arkansas and Heavener, Oklahoma. So I drove west to Ashdown, stopped for a brief night photo session, then continued north to DeQueen to spend the night.
This pair of Kansas City Southern locomotives in the "Southern Belle" scheme made a nice subject for an after-dark photo shoot. Light source was a sodium vapour street lamp directly behind my camera.
Coming next: Rich Mountain in the rain. Check back soon...
WSC
np: Kathleen Hanna - "I wish I was him"
Labels: Caddo Valley Railroad, gurdon arkansas, KCS, Prescott and Northwestern Railroad, Prescott Arkansas, road trip