BNSF-Santa Fe 555 leads the BNSF local. It was waiting to cross the river to North Little Rock's UP yards at 11:08 a.m.
Wideangle looking west/south, taken from the Cantrell Road bridge overpass. You can see the BNSF local to the right along with Union Station and the State Capitol of Arkansas to the left .
Union Station is very busy during weekdays with the main parking lot to the left of the station full and people even having to park on the street. Office space inside is rented to various companies and organizations, including the 2010 Census Bureau. The old MoPac clock tower still has a working clock, although someone has to adjust the clock every few weeks. 'Our' railfan site is usually to the right of the station in that parking lot. The middle two tracks are UP's Main One (right) and Main Two (left) with most run-throughs going north toward St Louis and Chicago. The tracks come into Arkansas from Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston/Palestine-Marshall, Texarkana routing). UP Special Agents, Little Rock Police, State Capitol Police and even the Little Rock PD K-Nine unit often park in the lot to the right of the station, where we hang out.
Artsy shoot through some greening trees.
This left-over tray of food was sitting on top of the Amtrak watering enclosure. We disposed of it in the nearby dumpsters.
UP 8583 southbound passing BNSF 555 at 11:40 a.m. Note KCS Belle 4692 in the consist along with UP/SP 2020.
Ten locomotives today (most not running). This is the YNL75 heading to Pine Bluff, which often has numerous locomotives. It's fun to watch this train since so many types of engines are observed as well as lots of 'fallen flag' freight cars.
KCS 4692.
UP/SP 2020.
UP 2460, northbound, 11:49 a.m.
UP 1539, a real workhorse seen every day here, at 12:01 p.m.
Lunch break for a pigeon, not exactly an endangered species around here! (From F. Richard Burt: " Enjoyed your pictures from yesterday. The pigeon on lunch break reminded me of a pigeon walking near the tracks on a switching move where I was pulling pins. The cut of cars was moving fairly slowly, about half the speed of a casual walk. The pigeon seemed to be watching me as a potential threat, but stopped watching the wheels on the car that we were spotting next to Texas and Pacific's Fort Worth Main Roundhouse in the Lancaster Yard way out on the west side of town (ca. 1959), ...just to clear up the fact that T&P lost its original roundhouse in sight of Tower 55 in the Great Fort Worth Fire. Then, he stopped on the rail between the two wheels ...and became a grease spot.")
UP 4786, 12:20 p.m.
Mississippi Export Railroad boxcar EEC 2712.
Short 12-axle heavy hauler, using 4 sets of 3-axle trucks. It'd be nice to model. It's lettered QTTX 131117.
Looking at the football stadium at the nearby middle school.