A few trains today, July 7, 2010 at North Little Rock, Arkansas (no....not at Union Station :-). Included is a BNSF train on the Van Buren Sub with nothing but ATSF and BN hoppers, plus a special "Trooper on a Train" run. I don't remember seeing a BNSF train on UP's Van Buren Sub before.

Included today:
1) BNSF 5189, 5202
2) NS 8343
3) UP 1966, 2346, 4739, 7443, 7846
4) Golden Triangle boxcars
5) MP 3646, 6-axle truck passenger car
6) MP 15082 baggage car
7) MoPac rec caboose (painted at Jenks Shops about a year ago) 13064

   Here is Gerald Hook's explanation of the BNSF move, sent on the Railspot Group on July 9, 2010: "UP train FTRUNL09 departed Russellville around 16:00 today behind BNSF 5202 & 5189 with 60 carloads of Treated Ties. This train is bound for La Junta, CO. This is the first of what D&R hopes will be many more unit trains of Treated Ties shipped from Thompson Industries to BNSF and represents the culmination of many years of frustration getting the Unionn Pacific to (1) accept the idea of handling their competitors ties over its line and (2) offering rates that allow this to occur.
   BNSF is not a new customer for Thompson. For several years, BNSF has shipped dry, cut-to-size, stacked-in-bundles-ready-for-the-treating-cylinder ties to Thompson by truck from Springfield. Every weekday morning, four or five flatbed trucks left Springfield for Thompson's plant on the south side of Russellville, a distance of about 165 miles via US 65-Harrison-AR 7. They usually arrived Thompson's around noon and were given priority unloading and reloading so the drivers would start back to Springfield around 1 PM. Loaded in each direction, the trucks made the round trip in approximately 9 hours. In Springfield, they were unloaded and the next day's bundles of dry ties were loaded so they'd be ready to leave the next morning.
   This new unit train move is a new contract between Thompson and BNSF and could total 8-10 trains by the end of the calendar (and contract) year. Meanwhile, trucks will continue to handle the existing tie contract for the foreseeable future. It is hoped that next year, all of Thompson's ties to BNSF will move in unit trains. (Gerald Hook - Russellville, AR)

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LEFT-BNSF 5189 heads a train west/north on UP's Van Buren Sub toward Van Buren, Arkansas and then Oklahoma. It's 12:06 p.ml July 7. Approaching W. 24th Street in North Little Rock on the Van Buren Sub. I'm on Railroad Avenue. RIGHT-BNSF 5189, 12:09 p.m.


LEFT-BNSF 5202. The train is crossing Pershing Avenue on the overpass. The train had nothing but ATSF and BN hoppers.


LEFT-ATSF 178895 hopper. RIGHT-UP 1966 eastbound at 12:44 p.m.


UP 1966 and 2346.


LEFT-Golden Triangle Railroad boxcars. RIGHT-UP 4739 with a long train of baretables/flatcars at 1:01 p.m.


UP 4739-NS 8343.




LEFT-The Trooper on a Train special at 1:25 p.m. on its way to Marche, about 15 miles west toward Conway. The 3 cars are always in the UP yards in North Little Rock...work crews use them and you can see smoke coming out the the chimney of the baggage car, so I assume they were cooking a meal on board. Consist: UP 7443, MP 3646 with six-axle trucks, MP baggage car 15082, MoPac red caboose 13064 and UP 7846 trailing. RIGHT-Note the smoke from the baggage car.


Here's the other side of MP 3646.


Here's a closeup photo of the red MoPac caboose I took in August 2009 right after it was repainted.

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