ABOVE: A switching job near Fort Smith demonstrates why Alcos were nicknamed “honorary steam locomotives” on August 8, 2013. Thanks to the A&M mechanical depart- ment, most units do not smoke like this. No. 32 was having turbo problems and was worked on by mechanics at least twice while we watched the pair switch. LEFT: The final days of all-Alco operation drew many interested fans trackside. A young mother and son watch the southbound Monett Turn pass underneath from a highway bridge on the south edge of Butterfield, Missouri, on August 9, 2013. ROGER A. HOLMES PHOTOS
point of the my trip.
Our train stopped at the Union Pa- cific diamond in Van Buren. The A&M interchanges with the UP here and the Kansas City Southern and Fort Smith Railroad in Fort Smith. When I noticed a headlight to my left I first thought that it was a UP train but it turned out to be the Van Buren switch job with the pair of locomotives that we had seen on Thursday. The switch crew took our train and we went power light to the ex-
Frisco yard where the 56 cars were waiting to go north to Springdale. We switched ends, now on No. 44 (built in 1965 for the Seaboard Air Line), ran the air test and headed north, across the Arkansas River, through Van Bu- ren. Anticipation was great! Riding in the cab of an Alco powered freight through the Boston Mountains, over the three high bridges and into Winslow tunnel would be the high
The Alcos effortlessly got our train underway out of Fort Smith. I was neg- ligent in determining the makeup of our 51 loads. I wondered how many of those were sand cars. Sand, dredged from the Arkansas River at Van Buren, is big business for the railroad. The Monett Turn will set out cars at Gate- way for contractors. More carloads will go to Kaye Concrete at Monett. Other commodities hauled by the A&M in- clude grain, feed, lumber, scrap metal, food products, paper and more. As our train picked up speed my cell
phone rang. Tim called to let me know that they had made it back to the hotel okay. “Ask him if he can check the
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