Included today:
LITTLE ROCK:
1) Amtrak 37 and Texas Eagle 21
2) UP 8144, 8197, 4859
BRINKLEY (5 trains today in less than 2 hours):
3) UP 4323, 4875, 5043, 9705, 7616, 9940, 1081, 8419, 4477, 4518, 8407
4) CSX 7353
5) NS 2772
6) KCS BELLE 4046
UP 8144 northbound at 7:27 a.m. Saturday, August 28, 2010 in Little Rock.
DPU-UP 8197.
Amtrak 21, the southbound Texas Eagle, was 6 hours late due to locomotive failure out of Chicago the afternoon before. It's supposed to arrive at Union Station in Little Rock at 3:10 a.m. but finally arrived at 9:09 a.m. Seen is fellow railfan Bruce H (left) plus 3 Amtrak crew members, waiting at 8:52 a.m. The train was just entering the UP yard area in North Little Rock.
The train arrives at 9:09 a.m. with Amtrak 37 on the point.
Stopped at 9:10 a.m.
Boarding at 9:11 a.m.
Boarding Number 37. The Amtrak crews based in Little Rock have known me since the mid 1970s so I can sometimes get close pictures like this. I don't stand on the platform where passengers are around, unless I have a ticket.
Closeup of the GE sticker on the locomotive.
Red over green dwarf signal telling Amtrak it's ok to switch to Main 2 around the corner then highball to Texas.
Little Rock is always a smoking stop...lots of cigarette butts over the fence.
My video of the Texas Eagle leaving southbound at 9:20 a.m.
To view directly from Youtube, click the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDlgSR2INsc
The consist of Texas Eagle 21 today: Locomotive 37, Superliners 39042, 32118, 37001, 33003-Lounge, 31035, 34042, 34057.
Disappearing around the corner at 9:21 a.m.
UP 4859 with a welded rail train, northbound at 9:24 a.m.
Now I'm in Brinkley, Arkansas. UP 4323 and 4875 are southbound on the Jonesboro Sub crossing Pine Street at 11:56 a.m. As a reminder, Brinkley is on Interstate 40 halfway between Little Rock and Memphis (about 60 miles east of Little Rock).
The Brinkley Depot Museum is to the left.
Coil cars. This was train # 1 at Brinkley today.
A train sits on the Brinkley siding at 12:28 p.m. and will let two trains pass before heading south.
UP 5043 and CSX 7353 pass the depot at 12:34 p.m.
This was train #2 today.
Another southbound arrives at 12:42 p.m. This is train #3.
UP 9705 and NS 2772, 12:43 p.m.
NS 2772 crossing US 70.
Part of the town of Brinkley seen over the flatcars.
The foreground track is the Brinkley Sub.
A train approaches on the Brinkley Sub at 1:34 p.m. east/south bound. I haven't seen a train on this sub for months but was told by a visitor from Memphis that mostly BNSF trackage rights trains use this sub now.
UP 7616 stopped on the curve between the Brinkley and Jonesboro Subs at 1:38 p.m. This is my 4th train in Brinkley today.
My 5th train of the day was this one on the Jonesboro sub headed by KCS Belle 4046. UP 7616 waits to the right. It's 1:40 p.m.
KCS 4046, UP 9940 and 1081 are the first three units.
UP 7616 leaves at 1:44 p.m.
UP 7616 and 8419.
UP 4477 and 4518.
DPU-UP 8407, 1:51 a.m.