There were 13 trains between 4:18 pm and 7:43 p.m. at Union Station in Little Rock on Friday, May 14, 2010. Included on this web page:
1) Singing, happy Mockingbird overhead
2) UP 7650, 7816, 4631, 4272, 5747, 2482, 4641, 4095
3) LRWN 1544, 1542, 107
4) BNSF 6621
5) GMTX 2110
6) UP/SSW 1962
7) CSX 5344, 4822, 8067
8) CSXT Solar ballast cars
9) UPP 9005 dome car Walter Dean
10) UPP 103 observation car Cheyenne
11) MWCX hopper 101319
12) Red MKT gondola 16107
13) CSXT white hopper 291826
14) Lonely little purple flower among a sea of green
15) COER boxcars (Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railroad)
16) UP symboled boxcar 355155
17) Lots of ripe dewberries
18) SKRK old MoPac woodchip cars

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Or, to view all images in a larger format, click on:
http://thundertrain.org/trains-051410-bb.html


LEFT-A happy, singing mockingbird at the station. RIGHT-UP 7650, 4:18 p.m., train number 1.


LEFT-LRWN 1544, 1542 and 107, 4:27 p.m., train number 2. 


LEFT-
COER 171370, one of three COER boxcars on the Little Rock & Western. COER is Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad. RIGHT-A lonely purple flower in a sea of green with a few red berries. This was next to the Amtrak platform.


LEFT-UP/SSW 1962, 4:36 p.m., train number 3. RIGHT-Always a silver lining.


UP 7816, 4:45 p.m., train number 4.


LEFT-Old Missouri Pacific woodchip cars. one being SKRK 30006. RIGHT-White CSXT hopper 291826.


LEFT-The BNSF Houston to Memphis train arrived at 4:56 p.m., train number 5. RIGHT-BNSF 6621.


RIGHT-UP 4631, 5:38 p.m., train number 6.


LEFT-GMTX 2110. RIGHT-Ripened dewberries. (Someone had told me that dewberries ripen in May and blackberries ripen in July, so I guess they are slightly different berries).


LEFT-UP 355155 UP symboled boxcar. RIGHT-UP 4272, 6:17 p.m., train number 7.


LEFT-Two southbounds are lined up under the Cantrell bridge at 6:42 p.m. RIGHT-UP 5747, 6:44 p.m., train number 8. 


LEFT-Three trains in one shot. RIGHT-Little Rock & Western left at 6:52 p.m.


LEF-Twilight on a railroad. RIGHT-UP/SSW 1962 returning south, 6:54 p.m., train number 9.


LEFT-UP/SSW 1962. RIGHT-Red MKT gondola 16107.


LEFT-UP 2482, 7:06 p.m, 'train' or light engine move number 10. RIGHT-UP 4641, 7:09 p.m., train number 11.


LEFT-MWCX 101319 hopper. RIGHT-
CSX 5344 and 4 other CSX units hauling a long string of hoppers at 7:43 p.m. May 15. It was cloudy and dark, thus the blur, train number 12.


LEFT-CSX 4822 and 8067 were the 4th and 5th units on this train, which probably was a detour train for CSX over the UP because of the flooding still occurring in Tennessee.

I had asked what type of cars these were. Here are some answers I received from Internet sources, such as Trainorders, Railspot, emailed members of the Arkansas Railroad Club, and other places: Zach Pumphery:- The solar panels power the dump doors.  They're ballast hoppers.  UP and BNSF cars have them, too. ********** Ron from Trainorders: They are ballast cars. They are quite old and have been modified to enable the doors to be opened and closed electrically, instead of with the big old back breaking pry bar. That's what the solar panel is for. Also, I would imagine that they wouldn't need as large of crew to unload these. Some ballast cars, Herzog comes to mind, can be unloaded remotely from the locomotive by a crew member with a laptop computer, and at a pretty good speed too. I've never seen the operation first hand but, I've heard others talk about being on a ballast train that was unloaded like that. They said it was real quick and they got right across the road without delaying other traffic.  **********  bnsftrucker from Trainorders: On the cars we have, we have a big battery box on one end to power up the electric powered hydraulic pumps, the solar panels on our cars just keeps the batteries charged up.

Bob King from mailing list and Railspot:  You are probably correct about this being a rerouted CSX train.  This was forwarded to me:CSX Nashville-Memphis tracks could be out for six weeks
Memphis Business Journal - by Mark Szakonyi of the Jacksonville Business Journal Nashville, TN- It will be up to another six weeks before CSX reopens its flooded rail lines connecting Nashville to Memphis. CSXspokesman Gary Sease said the company will restore service to the line in phases, thus allowing some local customers to gain service earlier. Much of the line, which eventually connects to Chicago, runs along or near the Harpeth River, which washed out much of the line when it rose above its banks Saturday. The flooded rail line from Nashville to Springfield, Tenn., will be operational by the end of the weekend at the latest. Sease said the 10 trains that run daily on the Memphis-Nashville line are being rerouted to other rail carriers. The cost of bringing the rail lines back online is unknown, he said. CSX’s line to Memphis is important because it is a major gateway to lines operated by West Coast rail companies Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

KS: CSX lost 24 or so miles of it's Memphis line west of Nashville. UP may have been the only source of ballast to repair the track given that the line was cut off from the rest of the CSX system.
********** Charles Hitchens from mailing list: I think it was Trains Magazine back about 6 months ago that somebody wrote in asking what type of cars they were. They are ballast cars and the panels are solar panel with heating elements inside the car. They are used to keep the ballast from freezing together.  


CSXT 966314 is one number on a car. These are ballast cars with solar panels to power the dump doors.


This train went on and on. They were loaded with ballast.



BELOW: A Union Pacific passenger special passed Union Station in Little Rock, Arkansas on Friday, May 14, 2010, arriving 7:18 p.m and leaving 7:30 p.m. It stopped because the drawbridge of the Baring Cross Bridge over the Arkansas River was raised for a barge and the train sat at the station for 10 minutes. It was going to Council Bluffs, Iowa and originated in New Orleans, Louisiana earlier in the day. UP 4095 headed the two-car special, which included dome car UPP 9005 Walter Dean and observation car UPP 103 Cheyenne. Here are some photos and two embedded YouTube video links. Thanks to a Conway railfan for giving me the heads up on this train.


UP 4095 heads a two-car UP special past Union Station in Little Rock, Arkansas, arriving at 7:19 p.m. May 14, 2010, train number 13.


LEFT-UPP 9005, "Walter Dean" dome car. RIGHT-UPP 103, "Cheyenne" Observation car.


LEFT-Obs end of the Cheyenne. RIGHT-Wide scene showing Union Station. It was getting dark as you can see.


Left at 7:32 p.m.

Below are two HD videos I made, one of the train arriving and stopping and one of it leaving, including a horn blast when it left.


To view this video directly from YouTube with a larger picture, click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADufUWSUjY8

The above video is the train arriving, the one below shows it leaving.


To view directly from YouTube with a larger picture, click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygSY6EyD2B8


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