On my way back home, I stopped in Springdale, AR at the Arkansas & Missouri RR shops, in order to catch what Alco goodies I could. RS32 30, coupled with a T6 Ohio Central M420 3554, ex-CN, in dead line. Not yet in service. Ex-Belt Railway of Chicago C425 605, recently arrived on the A&M. T6 18, coupled to the 30. Used in local service around Springdale & FAyetteville.
Later on, I drove over the Boston Mountains on I-540 to Van Buren & Ft. Smith to catch more A&M action. Here's what I found at Van Buren: C420 56 (the A.J. Hannold) and another C420 under the US71 bridge. All that sand you see is from the Arkhola Cement sand plant behind me, about 1/8 mile away. The sand is dredged from the Arkansas River, and is a good source of revenue for the A&M. In the Fort City, I found this just north of the ex-Frisco yard: T6 16, doing what Alcos seem to do best. It's heading up a grade from the yard, and will soon be crossing the 6th Ave. and Kelly Blvd. crossings at walking speed. He was revving up at brief intervals, accompanied with bursts of black smoke.
Great catches all. When I was up there a few weeks ago there wasn't any traffic. The only A&M I saw were sand hoppers on the same track . The only train I saw was a UP coal train parked in Van Buren. The only movement was a lone GP38-2 drifting e/b through Spadra later that afternoon.
The Ft. Smith run was operated during the daylight hours, with the turn to Monett running at night. Nowadays, the times have been switched, with the Ft. Smith Turn going at night, and swapping cars out at Rudy, north of Van Buren, to avoid long waits to cross both the ex-Iron Mountain (MP, now UP) and the Arkansas River lift bridge. AFAIK, besides the switcher I saw in Ft. Smith, switch jobs are still done during the daylight hours. Sadly, the former Frisco yard office is gone, a victim of a tornado several years ago. Also, a furniture factory that was along the west edge of the yard and the MP line is also gone. A lot of unoccupied buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged by the same twister, and have been demolished. The yard is still busy, and there is now a shed on the site of the Frisco car repair shed that houses Alcos in storage. A&M does a lot of interchange with UP in Van BUren, and with KCS over in Ft. Smith.And even though the T6 wasn't moving too fast, the track is in great shape- must be a low speed limit, plus the walking-speed restriction over 6th St.
