Railfan Report
8:45AM: Atkins, AR.
Our first train of the day was this westbound UP manifest.
UP 6091
UP 9107
Just after the first UP train cleared we spotted the headlight of another westbound on the horizon. We changed locations and caught this westbound coal train returning to the coal fields of Wyoming.
UP 7058
UP 7155
SP 262
After the empty UP coal train cleared we snapped a few shots of this Con Agra switcher at the grain elevator in Atkins Arkansas.
Apon arriving at Springdale Arkansas we found this Arkansas & Missouri local switching a few industries south of town.
AM 42
AM 50
At the Arkansas & Missouri shops we snaped a few pics of one of the railroads big new monsters to be used on the north end of the system.
AM 70
After grabing lunch we caught this Southbound KCS manifest pulling into the siding at Watts, Oklahoma.
KCS 2036
KCS 20??
A few minutes later the Siloam Springs Dodger appeared and begun switching the large industry at Watts.
KCS 4821
KCS 4768
At Howe, Oklahoma we snapped a few shots of the junction of the Arkansas and Oklahoma and the KCS. Was this once an old Rock Island mainline?
In the yard we found a trio of AC4400's preparing a Southbound grain train for the trip over Rich Mountain.
KCS 2045
KCS 2048
KCS 2012
KCS 093
The southbound grain train appears to be ready to head south. KCS 2012 has been added to the end of the train and put into DPU mode. We head South of town to set up for a photo.
We headed south of Heavener to set up at the Poteau River Bridge but after waiting for 30 minutes we headed towards Mena AR. to find lodging for the evening. Good thing we did because the grain train didn't pass through Mena until 8:00PM.
DAY 2
