Wednesday,
May 13, 2009 and Thursday, May 14, 2009 at Little Rock, Arkansas. Most
interesting are some night shots of BNSF-Santa Fe 160 (in Warbonnet
scheme) as it was moving cars to Pulaski in west Little Rock (on former Rock Island, now Little Rock & Western tracks)
and UP heritage units 1996 (Southern Pacific) and 1982 (Missouri
Pacific) in the UP yards. Rumors have it that these two heritage units
will be used on Operation Lifesaver trains in Arkansas the week of May
26-29 (Piggot-Marmaduke May 26, Paragould May 27, Jonesboro May 28, Pine Bluff May 29). I have nothing official on this yet.
Interesting
sideline Wednesday night at Union Station: When I got there about 5
p.m., Little Rock & Western was just starting to go to the UP yards
from it's tracks across from Union Station. Later, the BNSF local
headed by SF 160 came in from Pine Bluff, crossed the Arkansas River,
then backed its cars to Pulaski Siding in West Little Rock. We heard on
the radio that a minor derailment in UP's yards awhile earlier had
blocked one of the access tracks, so some trains were becoming backed
up on the UP west of Little Rock, including the one with UP 1996 and
1982 (the train
they were on, MFWNL, got to Little Rock Junction at 7:35 p.m. and
didn't get to leave for the yards until almost 3 the next morning,
sitting there about 7 hours. Little Rock Junction is just around the corner from Union Station.
Anyway,
there were no UP trains passing the station for a while. We then heard
that the Little Rock & Western train was ready to return from the
yards to head back west to Perry, Arkansas. As they were preparing to
leave the yards, the BNSF local called and was ready to return to UP's
main-1 line, having done their switching at Pulaski. Since the
BNSF local was on the Little Rock & Western's single-line track,
the LRWN train could not immediately come out of the yard. The
dispatcher did some quick and smart thinking, stopping the LRWN train,
then allowing the BNSF train to get onto UP's Line 1, cross the Baring
Cross bridge, then backing up and crossing over from UP Main 1 to UP
Main 2 at that busy switch at Union Station, backing all the way to
milepost 347, which is at the west side of the station, stopping there
while the LRWN train came off UP Line-1 onto their own tracks (where the BNSF train just exited)
. Then the BNSF local heading forward again (north) and went on to
Memphis. All in all, it was a rather interesting night of train
watching, dispatching, switching, and all with non-UP power. This all occurred between 5 and 10 p.m.
Included today: 1) UP 1996, 1982, 8555, 2) BNSF 160, 4010, 4188
LEFT-On
my way to Union Station during Little Rock's rush hour, about 4:50 p.m.
May 13. Nothing to compare with the traffic I put up with in Fort Worth
back in the 70s when I worked there. RIGHT-At Union Station, BNSF 4010 arrives at 5:24 p.m.
LEFT-BNSF 4188. RIGHT-UP 8555 in the glaring sun, 6:58 p.m.
LEFT-Union
Station at twilight, May 13. RIGHT-BNSF 160 heads the BNSF local from
Pine Bluff to Memphis, passing the station at 7:57 p.m. May 13.
RIGHT-The BNSF local backing on LRWN tracks to Pulaski at 8:10 p.m.
RIGHT-The BNSF local returning to UP tracks at 9:01 p.m. (Read text at top of page for more information)
Santa
Fe 160. I saw this unit in Kansas City back in 1994. After backing onto
UP's Line-2, the local is ready to head north to Memphis.
UP Heritage locomotives 1996 and 1982 on May 14 in UP's North Little Rock yards. (I was here by permission and took these photos from my car)
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