FOLLOW KCS ALONG HIGHWAY 59 Before the Belles BY DAVID BAER/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR T
he summer of 2014 will see the hills of northwestern Arkansas alive with railfans as the Nation-
al Railway Historical Society holds its annual national convention in Spring- dale. While the area is home to the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad and their well-known fleet of Alcos and new SD70Ace’s, there is also a surprising number of other interesting operations located within range. Just 20 miles west of town is the busy north-south main line of the Kansas City Southern. A quick look at the map reveals that Highway 412 heads due west out of Springdale and will pass over the KCS
main line in Siloam Springs, a small town hard on the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma. Just before reaching Siloam Springs on Highway 412, make a right turn onto Highway 59. A quick trip north to Gentry will put the visiting railfan right beside the KCS main line, which in this area is the known as the Heavener Subdivision. Between Gentry, Ark., and Anderson, Mo., Highway 59 more or less parallels the Heavener Sub, providing easy ac- cess to a section of main line that fea- tures a number of short grades through the Ozark Hills. These hills greatly af- fect the speed of trains as they make
their way along this section of track. In addition to the grades, there are a
couple of depots, a restored KCS F-unit with caboose, lots of local industry, and the very charming nature of the people and scenery in this area. Put them all together and you have the making for a wonderful place to visit. Today the KCS is populated by modern high-horsepow- er diesels dressed in a sharp rendition of their old Southern Belle passenger colors, leaving many to dub the new units “retro-Belles.” But let’s turn the clock back to the mid-1990s and view a different side of the colorful KCS “be- fore the Belles.”
OPPOSITE: Just south of the Kansas City Southern depot in Anderson is a feed mill located off Route 59 which is worked by the dodgers. On July 8, 1993, southbound “dodger” (local) No. 107 works the mill behind a matched set of white SD40-2s with the 657 working with 686. TOP: South of Decatur, Highway 59 parallels the Heavener Sub as southbound loaded trains assault the final hill in this area. A southbound grain train has just blasted through Decatur with smoke and sand flying from a trio of “grays” with KCS SDLP 745 and 747 working with SD40-2 632 on the morning of July 25, 1997.
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