Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

51 Years of Railroad Photography
1960-2011

Oct. 7, 2011

On my way from Memphis to Texarkana, AR, I decided to look for the Arkansas Midland at Malvern, AR. What I found was the former MP station. I also found a group of prisoners working along the right of way under the watchful eyes of a couple of men on horseback.

When I got to Texarkana, I decided to look for the area where the KCS and MP crossed the SSW. I had not been here since 1967 when I rode the KCS "Flying Crow" to Texarkana to shoot trains. I walked from the station to this area which was governed by a tower in the area across the KCS to the left.

The picture below shows the MP crossing in the distance. There were very few trees herein 1967. Now we are in a forest.

If I not mistaken, that is the foundation of the tower there in the trees in the image below.

This is the view north on the KCS

Before I can get a shot to the south on the KCS, I hear a train blowing for a crossing. This train had 2 Retro Belles.

The northbound takes siding for a southbound unit coal train with BNSF power and no DPUs in this flat country.

The next train was a northbound UP on the former MP tracks about a block away from where I was parked. I did not get shots of them but there were 2 J B Hunt containers on the top level of a couple of well cars, contrary to what the J B Hunt Intermodal man had told us at a NRHS meeting in Springdale, AR. BNSF, CSX, and NS are supposed to have exclusive contracts to handle J B Hunt containers.

This view is from the first street crossing north of the previous location. The track heading off to the left was once used by KCS passenger trains to reach Union Station. Southbound trains headed in and backed out. Northbound trains backed in and headed out.

I found this pair of engines east of Union Station along the former MP main line.

The UP is replacing the MP classic cantilever signal bridge so I was glad to see and photograph this one before it disappeared. I had found that ones in Hoxie, AR gone 2 weeks earlier.

I suspect that this eastbound BNSF train on the former MP mainline is the HOUMEM that came about from the SP merger into the UP system. The going away shot shows the train about to pass under the US71 overpass.

This view of the former Cotton Belt and Missouri Pacific yards was taken from the Texas Viaduct.

The next train was another eastbound intermodal at the east end of Union Station.

Union Station, to the left, is not in the best part of town as the area where the freight houses once stood is now the Bowie County Texas Correction Center (jail). This view of some engines in the former MP yard is shot between Union Station and the jail.

The last shot of the day was of this unit at the east end of the former MP yard in Texarkana, AR.

Oct. 8, 2011

In Ashdown, AR, I found this KCS engine at the south end of town.

I discovered the following power at the Kiamichi Railroad station in Ashdown.

As I was leaving Ashdown, I met a southbound BNSF loaded unit coal train. I was in a hurry and I did not figure I could turn around and catch it, so I headed north. Just north of the hot box detector at Rich Mountain, AR, I ran into another southbound loaded unit coal train. This time I knew I could get ahead of the slowly moving train on the grade, so I turned around and headed back toward Rich Mountain to a spot I had shot a loaded unit coal train about 11 months earlier. The site was more overgrown this time so the angle is slightly different. Note that the lead engine is BNSF. The next 2 units are UP. The DPUs are BNSF and KCS units.

At Page, OK, I discovered a northbound general freight waiting for a meet with another unit coal train that I miss just south of Heavener. Page is one of my favorite locations due to the surrounding mountains.

A cloud came over allowing me to get a good shot of one of the second units GE sterable trucks.

At Heavener, OK I find a general freight stopped at the fueling facility at the north end of the yard. Shortly after I took these pictures, I heard the DPU power up and head south.

I then headed north to find another loaded unit coal train southbound at Howe. I turned around and caught the headend just before it reached the fueling facility. The DPUs stopped near the north end of the yard.

Oct. 10, 2011

I made a visit to Bartlesville, OK to visit with a cousin and his wife. On the way I spent a half hour at Cherokee Yard in Tulsa. The first action was this trimmer set pulling a long string out of the hump.