Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

51 Years of Railroad Photography
1960-2011

Feb. 24, 2011

This empty BNSF unit coal train is seen on the NS at the west end of White Siding in Memphis.

March 6, 2011

After unloading my model railroad layout from the U-Haul truck, Kenny Young, from Memphis, who helped with the move, and I headed to Wagoner, OK where the former MP and former MKT lines of the UP cross. Our first train was a northbound grain train on the MP from Van Buren, AR to Coffeyville, KS.

The next train was on the MKT line from Muskogee that took the connection to the MP line to Coffeyville, KS. The first car appears to be containers of garbage with the last cars former MP MOW hoppers.

Returning from a potty break, we see the flasking start and the gates drop. Upon getting to a street paralleling the MP tracks, we make an emergency egress. I then discovered that my camera battery was dead. The pictures of this train were taken by Kenny Young. This train was the only one of our day with a DPU. Most trains on the former MP Wagoner Sub operate with DPUs these days.

March 7, 2011

In Van Buren, AR we found these two lease units working the west end of the UP yard.

In Russellville, AR, we decided to check out the Dardanelle & Russellville which has its office and shops in North Dardanelle. across the Arkansas River from Dardanelle. We were able to shoot three of their engines. A fourth was a long way down the line in the shade of a tree.

March 10, 2011

The flowering trees are in full bloom in Memphis, blocking our view of the lead unit on the loaded unit coal train on the NS at the east end of White Siding.

The DPU was well down the main from Estate Road of White Siding in Memphis.

March 11, 2011

On my trip to Tahlequah, I made my usual circle tour of the Van Buren, AR UP yard. I found these two lease units switching the east end of the yard near South 28th Street.

This ex-MP caboose was seen at the west end of the yard.
 

This ex-SP MOW flat car was found coupled to the ex-MP crane in the engine terminal.

March 17, 2011

The passenger equipment for this special arrived in Ft. Smith on March 15, 2011 and was stored in the A&M (former Frisco) North Yard. My first photos were taken about 7:30am CDT when it was so dark I was shooting at ISO 1600 and 1/100 sec. These photos are of the consist backing out of North Yard on their way to the former Frisco passenger station.

The rear car, BNSF 30 Glacier View, is a former full-length dome car which has had the rear converted into theater seating for viewing out the rear of the car while traveling down the track.
The next car, BNSF 11 Fred Harvey, is a diner named after the person who provided food service at lunch stops for the Santa Fe and Frisco. The movie "Harvey Girls" starring Judy Garland told the story of the young ladies who worked and lived together in these Harvey Houses.
The next car, BNSF 45 Powder River, is a former bi-level commuter car converted to sight-seeing lounge car before aquired by the BNSF.
The fourth car from the rear, BNSF 6 Topeka, is a former business car.
My cameras auto-focus malfunctioned on the shot of the sleeper BNSF 64 Marias Pass. The car behind the locomotives, BNSF 52 Glorieta Pass, is a former baggage car converted to a power car to provide HEP (head-end power) to the passenger cars.
The A&M provided 2 C420s, 52 and 68, as power for the train.

Next we see the train backing past the Pavillion across the tracks from the Miss Laura's, the Ft. Smith Welcome Center (only former brothel Welcome Center in the nation).
The camera behaved for the picture of BNSF 64 Marias Pass.
The turbo on the A&M #52 was not working properly as evidenced by the puff of black smoke as the engineer notches out the throttle.

These shots are at the former Frisco station and match various shots of Frisco passenger trains 45+ years earlier.

The train waited at the old station until everyone arrived and they were ready to load the train as at least one State 59T crossing will be blocked by the train.

As the train loaded, I repositioned myself at the station in Van Buren to shoot the train coming by that structure. A car raced across in front of the train as it approached the station.

At Chester my camera acted strange, allowing for this distance shot showing downtown and the train in the distance but then nothing until the train had passed.

The date stone from over the south portal is on display by the pavillon for A&M passengers at Winslow. The plague has a serious error. This tunnel is not near Rogers, AR, much closer to West Fork or Fayetteville, even Springdale or Lowell.

The train could be heard coming up the mountain. Then they sounded the 1-mile single toot on the horn. A few minutes later the sound of the train disappeared as the train entered the tunnel. Here we see the train as it is exiting the tunnel and running through the cut on the north side of the tunnel. As the train cleared the crossing, there was a rush of traffic as the rear of the train headed down the mountain.

My next location was Brentwood where during my college days the RPO of the passenger train would pick up a bag of mail on-the-fly. I regularly stood in the vestibule of the coach just behind the RPO and watched this operation up close.

The next location was the station area in Fayetteville from the Lafayette St. overpass at the north end of the station.

I then headed for Springdale. I was surprized to hear the horn of the special at the south end of town and was able to get to the station before the special.

Apparently #52 had been giving trouble on the trip up to Springdale as they replaced it with #58. One person reported that the engineer had been operating the train from the second unit with the conductor blowing the horn from the engineer's seat in the lead unit.

The train continued to Butterfield, MO where it turned on the wye and returned to Springdale so that the business men passengers could catch buses to return to Ft. Smith. I caught up with the train again as it approached the station in Springdale on its return.

Since I was the program at the Arkansas/Boston Mountain Chapter of NRHS that night, I hung around Springdale and caught a little action. First was the local switcher having just finished working George's Feed Mill and taking a break south of the Sunset Ave. crossing.

Later the same unit is seen returning from dropping their cars north of the shops on one of the tracks which lead off to the east of the main.

The last action for the day is the power for the special returning to the shop area after dropping the passenger cars off somewhere north of the shops.

This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren. If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu