LEFT-Re-arranging displays inside the Brinkley, Arkansas Depot Museum, which is the original 1911 union station built to serve both the Rock Island and Cotton Belt, plus the Missouri Pacific for awhile. The original depot here was destroyed by the big 1909 Brinkley tornado and rebuilt in 1911. It was about to be demolished in 1999 or 2000, but the citizens of Brinkley and Monroe County got together and formed the Central Delta Historical Society and got Union Pacific (the current owner of the old Cotton Belt tracks, now the Jonesboro Sub), to donate the depot to the historical society in 2001. It was refurbished and now is a museum, in which I volunteer on some Saturdays. The floor is the original floor, as is most of the roof. RIGHT-Depot taken from the west side. The tracks are on the other side.
LEFT-Taken from the north side, looking south. The SP caboose is on a piece of track moved in for display and is on the abandoned Rock Island right-of-way. RIGHT-Union Pacific surveyed the area next to the Brinkley, AR depot in the first week of May, for the purpose of moving the curved track from the Brinkley Sub (straight ahead-former Rock Island trackage) 45 feet to make the curve less severe, to speed up trains. They want to start the curve at the road crossing (near the building to the left of the tracks) and straighten it. Now, speeds off the Brinkley Sub are limited to 10 mph and you can hear the loud squealing of the freight car trucks as they go over this curve. Work on moving this line will begin in May. I don't know where UP will detour trains while the work is ongoing. Speeds on the Jonesboro Sub (former Cotton Belt) in the foreground are 59 mph. This should give me a few photo ops since I can view the work from the depot's bay windows.
LEFT-Brinkley is at MP 199. The road crossing is US Highway 70. RIGHT-The curve to the right is the line UP is moving.
LEFT-We can't figure out the placement of the stakes and orange ground markings of the survey, but we'll find out the reasoning soon enough. RIGHT-CSX 7893 zips the depot by at 3:01p.m. Saturday, May 15, 2010. Lots of CSX and NS locomotives on this line as well as UP. I find that a shutter speed of 1/400 or smaller is required to 'stop' the action here.
LEFT-Sunday morning, May 16 at Union Station in Little Rock. A boy waves at UP 9819 at 10:13 a.m. and the engineer blew his horn to acknowledge the wave. Sunday mornings and afternoons I sometimes see families here enjoying watching trains, many with grandparents bringing their grandkids. The Amtrak platform is owned by Union Station owners, Bailey Corporation, and John Bailey has given his permission for us to take pictures here. I will not, however, stand on the platform at midnight and 3 a.m. when Amtrak's Texas Eagles stop here. And yes, I do sometimes go down to the station at those hours. RIGHT-UP 5135, 10:40 a.m. May 16, southbound.
LEFT-Using a 50mm lens here, which is equivalent of how it looks with the naked eye. UP 5135 had 9 locomotives behind it. This is the North Little Rock to Pine Bluff local (now called the NLPB instead of the YNL75). UP often uses this move to transfer locomotives. RIGHT-UP 4021 was the last in line.
LEFT-I'd like to model this train. RIGHT-Good old scrap metal. How does this stuff stay inside that car?
LEFT-Dump cars.. RIGHT-UP 8553, 11:10 a.m.
LEFT-Airplane parts car. This from Tex Collins: "The picture of the car with the caption "Airplane parts" is correct. The reporting mark VAIX stands for Vought Aerospace Industries. The plant at Grand Prairie, Texas, is the originating point. The parts are wings and tail assemblies for Boeing. So far, my wife and I have counted 6 VAIX cars. Vought does both Aluminum and Composite structures. The have one of the largest autoclave units for making composite structures in the country. On a historical note, the plant that Vought uses is actually owned by the Government. In WW II that plant was used by North American Aviation to produce P-51 (F-51) fighters. The P-51C was the first model built there." RIGHT-UP 2426, 11:52 a.m.
UP 9786 is the first of 7 locomotives on this train, which is heading for Gurdon, Arkansas. It's 12:06 p.m.
LEFT-DME boxcars. RIGHT-IC/CN 2720, 12:15 p.m.
LEFT-Chessie Hi-Cube, CSXT 180777. RIGHT-Another Chessie Hi-Cube, CSXT 180546. These two were remarkably graffiti-free. Looks like someone did, however, paint white eyes on the Chessie cat.
LEFT-After our monthly Arkansas Railroad Club meeting, it starting to storm. RIGHT-Looking toward UP's Baring Cross bridge from our meeting place, about 4 p.m. May 16.
LEFT-UP 6433, 4:03 p.m. May 16. RIGHT-Dark and starting to rain.