I just happened to be at the station watching trains, when I noticed no activity for about 30 minutes and the signals all red. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of am Amtrak engine around the curve south of the station (AMT 118), and it pulled into the station, almost 11 hours late. When it pulled into the Amtrak siding, there was nobody waiting on the platform, no agent, no crew, like I usually see when Amtrak comes in (since LRK is a crew change point). But then the people and agent (Richard) started coming out of the waiting room, and soon they were on the platform along with dozens of smokers who got off to have their smoke stop.
I knew that it was delayed in Texas due to a problem with the locomotive (I believe), but when I last checked its scheduled arrival in Little Rock last night, it was supposed to be here at 4 a.m. or thereabouts. So I was surprised to see it. A conductor told me that they had been delayed again on their way here by a UP derailment of some sort and because of freight congestion at some point. Here are some photos (I sat on the ground to look up at the train departing).
Amtrak 22 headed by Amtrak No. 118 arriving at 10:05 a.m.
The Sighteer Lounge car.
Richard with the baggage cart at 10:09 a.m.
Southbound UP freight passes at 10:11 a.m.
UP 7915 with an intermodal passes at 10:20 a.m.
DPU-UP 7669, 10:21 a.m. It was a very shot intermodal.
Leaving Little Rock at 10:28 a.m. Taken from the ground up!
