Scenery and Photo Props
The Kansas City Southern main line through this area faces a couple of short grades in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. Starting in Neosho and ending in Decatur, the Heavener Sub endures a series of sags to over- come on its way south. The first grade is out of Neosho, the second is south of Noel and the last ends at Decatur. In the 1990s, KCS used manned helpers south from Neosho to Decatur to help the heavy coal and grain trains over these
grades. Today, the manned
helpers are just a memory, replaced by distributed power units (DPU’s) placed on the rear of trains. While manned helpers are a thing of the past, the heavy coal and grain trains require DPU’s and the trains will still bog down on the hills in the area, making chasing relatively easy.
In addition to the easy chasing of trains, the route between Anderson and Gentry has a surprising number of photo props. Working from north to south, Anderson retains its KCS depot,
TOP: Gentry, Ark., is one of the locations of a passing siding on this section of the Heavener Sub. On the morning of July 9, 1993, north- bound dodger No. 108 rolls through town, heading for a meet with a southbound train at North Gentry. The Highway 12 overpass can be seen in the background. RIGHT: Between Anderson and Lanagan, Mo., Highway 59 runs right beside the tracks of the Heavener Sub. The helpers on a southbound grain train roll alongside an empty highway near Lanagan late on the afternoon of July 9, 1993. BELOW: A northbound empty hopper train No. 92 sits beside the KCS station in Noel, Mo., on the morning of July 9, 1993, as it waits for a loaded southbound train to pass. A trio of KCS units, 733, 652 and 754 work with neatly hid- den BN SD60M 9267. Thankfully it is early morning and there are no cars in the parking lot to block the shot!
42 APRIL 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM
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