Arkansas & Missouri (AM) 52 - Alco C420

Arkansas & Missouri 52 works a cut of cars in Van Buren.

Two 420s are lifting lots of sand loads upgrade out of the plant by the river. 251s rule!

The folks on the rear platform of this one time LIRR coach, now a chair car with an observation platform, wave as the train pulls from Winslow, headed for the tunnel and the deep Boston Mountains.

The southbound excursion crosses Frog Bayou.

The excursion to Winslow approaches the I 49 overpass as it rolls through Chester. Theres not much room on the bridge, since the on ramp takes up most of the space there, so I dont recommend this vantage point.

The excursion to Winslow has finally gotten the bridge, and is crossing the Arkansas River and will be back at Fort Smith in about 15 minutes.

The excursion has passed through Van Buren, and is now waiting on the Arkansas River lift bridge to lower. The head end is looking squarely at the counterweight to the lift span, which serves as a smashboard to keep a train from rolling into the river. It will be another 15 minutes til the bridge goes up, despite the lack of river traffic.

The excursion pulls away from the station at Winslow.

The power rolls down the siding at Winslow, making its run around move.

The power has run around the train, and is now backing to the head car to couple up and head south.

The brakeman connects the air hoses now that the power is on. Hell do a terminal brake test, then its back to Ft Smith.

The power makes the hitch, and does a short tug test. Its good.

A foot to go

The power is almost back on the train.

The power has run around the train at Winslow, and the brakeman helps the engineer back down to couple on for the trip south.

Now the bridge is down, the train is crossing, and will shortly be in Fort Smith to drop its passengers.

The Arkansas River bridge is down, and the excursion can finally make the last leg of the trip to the Ft Smith Trolley Museum to drop its riders.

The bridge descent continues, about half way there now.

The bridge descent is now underway, but still a few more minutes til its ready for a train. The train still waits...

Finally the horn sounded, and the lift span started down. Note the smashboards have lifted up as the structure descends.

I returned to the Fort Smith area the following Saturday to shoot the southbound excursion. Im in Ft Smith Park for this set. The train has pulled up on the bridge and is waiting for it to descend so it can get back to the station. It took a good 15 minutes for the bridge to start down. There was no river traffic during this time.

The 1500 trip rolls south past the Tyson feed mill.

A&M 52, the power on the north end of the train, poses at Springdale

The A&M put on their dome, as well as a diner ahead of the dome, seen passing the Tyson mill south of Springdale.

The 1500 trip returns past Georges in Springdale. Its so dark Im getting blur. Shutter speed is about ten minutes at f4.

The 1300 trip arrives at the Springdale station on its return trip. The next group is already lined up under the canopy.

The 1500 train leaves Johnson switch, the turn around point, en route back to Springdale.

A&M 68, 58, 52, 46, 48, 44 Alco C-420's switch the BNSF Yard in Monett, MO 8/25/13.

A&M 52 in Monett, MO

Being cleaned at the shop.