Midnight trains passing Union Station in Little Rock, Arkansas, Monday, August 24, 2009, including Amtrak Texas Eagle No. 22 and the Ringling Brothers-Barnum&Bailey circus train on its way to Illinois.  I've also included Youtube videos of these trains - I put the digital video camera on a tripod and starting recording as I took the still photos. Although dark, you can see enough detail of the trains as they passed the Amtrak platform lights. Lots of action between 10:30 pm on the 24th and 12:30 a.m. on the 25th. As usual when Amtrak is in the station, a UP special agent was present in his patrol car. All photos and videos by Ken Ziegenbein.
   Included tonight:
1) UP 3927, 3968 (Circus Train), 6602
2) BNSF 3202
3) NS-Unknown
4) Ringling Brothers-Barnum&Bailey Circus train
5) Amtk 115 on the Texas Eagle

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE Or, to view all images in a larger format, click on: http://thundertrain.org/midnight-trains-little-rock-082409-bb.html

LEFT-Signals under the Cantrell Avenue overpass at 10:22 p.m. RIGHT-
BNSF 3202 with the BNSF local at 10:42 p.m. northbound. It was pitch black here and I used  a flash then lightened the photo, so the grain shows up nicely :-) I can't read the number of the second unit. Here's a Youtube video of this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okrrT-Tr9PI


LEFT-Approaching train at 10:57 p.m. The train on the right is the BNSF local backing to the Pulaski siding on the Little Rock & Western. RIGHT-
UP 3927 northbound at 10:58 p.m. Here's a Youtube video of this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7B6gejEAMM


LEFT-Handheld shot of the BNSF local backing to the Pulaski siding, 11:07 p.m. RIGHT-Amtrak's Texas Eagle northbound No. 22 is arriving at 11:09 p.m. The light between the Amtrak crew is the BNSF local.


Union Station and Amtrak arriving. Typical night at the train station.


LEFT-11:13 p.m. Crew change for the Eagle at 11:16 p.m. RIGHT-Baggage cart. Here's a Youtube video of this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2UPxVkQlks


Union Station from the east side.


11:27 p.m. Leaving for Chicago at 11:31 p.m. Here's a Youtube video of this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoT9ft4_UeI


Another northbound freight approaches at 11:50 p.m. Still not the circus train! A NS-led freight, 11:50 p.m. Here's a Youtube video of this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xKYUYJQ2Do


The circus train finally arrives at 11:57 p.m.


UP 3968 leads the circus train at  11:58 p.m. Aug 24.  - Here's four Youtube videos of this scene. The train stopped 4 times in front of the station so I had to stop the video recording each time and resume it when the train started moving again. If you watch all 4 videos, you'll get every car.  Note that the video is darker, but you can see the cars as they hit the platform lighting.  
Video Part 1 -  Video Part 2 - Video Part 3 - Video Part 4


RIGHT-Using my flash got this result.




The train was stopped for this scene. It's now past midnight, but there were people on the train in the vestibules chatting.




LEFT-Note the small floodlights on the cars to the right. RIGHT-Material cars are beginning to show up.




Exposed circus vehicles, buses and trucks.




It's now 12:12 a.m. August 25. The end is in sight.


Amtrak had left just 30 minutes earlier. RIGHT-My final train of the night lead by UP 6602 leading a loaded coal train southbound. For a Youtube video, click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhB6iK41-JE


It got real quiet here after this train left. I went inside the Amtrak office for a little while, then went home.

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