CraigZ Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 I was back out in Arkansas this week. Part of the trip was up in Northwest Arkansas, home of the Arkansas & Missouri RR which runs about 140 miles of ex Frisco trackage. It's famous for its 100% Alco fleet, nearly all C420s but with an RS36 and some MLW units as well. Typical is this C420...the only one of which I was able to get even a passable photo. Â Â Anyway, from a connection with the BNSF in Missouri they drop down through the Ozarks to Ft Smith, Arkansas. They cross the Arkansas River on a lift bridge, nice big truss structure that's hard to photograph due to vegetation. But frankly I found this little structure more interesting - a mix of a modern steel plate girder bridge, a length of wood trestle with a ballasted deck, and a 99 year old concrete 7 span ballasted deck stretch. When I first saw it I thought it was a disused coal/stone/sand trestle. But it's not - there's no evidence of there ever having been openings in the concrete section, and it's not wide enough to handle two tracks. Nope...it's on the A&M's main line down to the river bridge. It was just an unusual structure that I thought the RMwebbers would find intriguing... Â Google street view: http://g.co/maps/np945 Â If you back out into Google Maps you can see where the UP (ex MoPac) crosses the A&M on the north side of the bridge. The train in these two photos was coming in from the west; it recrewed right at the diamonds. Couldn't photograph there as it was horribly back lit but I did get coming out of the east end of the yard as it accelerated out of town heading east toward Little Rock, AR. Â Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Fascinating stuff Craig. As soon as I saw the topic title I thought"Alco country" and you didn't disappoint. But the beautifully lit UP train is a bonus - that just sums up what US railroading means to me - so jealous as I've never had the chance to see it for real. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 PS Rmwebbers with long memories may recall that Model Railroader featured the A&M as a project layout once upon a time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted April 28, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 28, 2012 I was back out in Arkansas this week. Part of the trip was up in Northwest Arkansas, home of the Arkansas & Missouri RR which runs about 140 miles of ex Frisco trackage. It's famous for its 100% Alco fleet, nearly all C420s but with an RS36 and some MLW units as well. Typical is this C420...the only one of which I was able to get even a passable photo. Â Â Anyway, from a connection with the BNSF in Missouri they drop down through the Ozarks to Ft Smith, Arkansas. They cross the Arkansas River on a lift bridge, nice big truss structure that's hard to photograph due to vegetation. But frankly I found this little structure more interesting - a mix of a modern steel plate girder bridge, a length of wood trestle with a ballasted deck, and a 99 year old concrete 7 span ballasted deck stretch. When I first saw it I thought it was a disused coal/stone/sand trestle. But it's not - there's no evidence of there ever having been openings in the concrete section, and it's not wide enough to handle two tracks. Nope...it's on the A&M's main line down to the river bridge. It was just an unusual structure that I thought the RMwebbers would find intriguing... Â Google street view: http://g.co/maps/np945 Â If you back out into Google Maps you can see where the UP (ex MoPac) crosses the A&M on the north side of the bridge. The train in these two photos was coming in from the west; it recrewed right at the diamonds. Couldn't photograph there as it was horribly back lit but I did get coming out of the east end of the yard as it accelerated out of town heading east toward Little Rock, AR. Â Â Stop dead end! Those four locos ont be going far!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Things were a lot different back when I was Asst. Roadmaster in Van Buren in 1980. Its nice to see the pictures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEngineShed Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Great find Craig, really amazing collection of materials and styles, plus it is very compact. The next bridge to the east is interesting too. Steel girders, timber and steel supports... Â http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Van+Buren,+AR&hl=en&ll=35.436536,-94.353217&spn=0.000535,0.001725&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=69.814448,105.996094&oq=van+b&hnear=Van+Buren,+Crawford,+Arkansas&t=h&layer=c&cbll=35.436536,-94.353729&panoid=4uZa0HzkV8p_uWdkk4V-jw&cbp=12,293.91,,0,2.99&z=19 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I never realized that the Frisco ran that far east.......no wonder Martyn said some of their locos ended up in Georgia. Or was it Jordan? Anyway great find, Craig! Â Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I never realized that the Frisco ran that far east.......no wonder Martyn said some of their locos ended up in Georgia. Or was it Jordan? Â Van Buren wsas more on the western end of the Frisco, it went as far west as Ft Worth and Oklahoma City. Eastward it went all the way to Pensacola, FL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 That bridge looks like something cobbled together from bits out of my spares box, 'Which was nice' Â Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 30, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2012 Van Buren wsas more on the western end of the Frisco, it went as far west as Ft Worth and Oklahoma City. Does Floydada TX come to mind here? Must have been a mench in one of the Glory Machines videos, I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 My perceptions of FRISCO are distorted by that name since childhood, I always thought they were based around San Francisco..... Â So, where did the "Frisco Kid" come from???? We should be told.... Â Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted May 1, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 1, 2012 Â Does Floydada TX come to mind here? Must have been a mench in one of the Glory Machines videos, I think. Ah, now I see. A Google eventually produced the fact that it was Frisco subsidiary, the Quanah, Acme and Pacific , which got as far as Floydada, still somewhat short of the Pacific in its title. I think the QA&P had a red indian (native American?) symbol, as ISTR a pic of such in some Kalmbach volume. Â Warning: The Frisco historical society's site appears to have been infected, so I actually had to re-boot to get rid of an infinite on-screen ad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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