Passenger Trains Return
With the enthusiasm generated by Biloxi Blues, residents of western Arkansas hoped that a passenger train might someday return to the new rail- road. Hannold stated one day in the early 1990s, “I’m too busy running a freight railroad,” when he was asked about the possibility of operating pas- senger trains on the A&M.
Hannold ran his freight railroad well. Service to his customer base in- creased and the A&M became a part of
the booming Northwest Arkansas econ- omy that included retailing giant Wal- mart and poultry producers like Tysons and Georges.
The public interest in passenger service persisted. In 1989, Sean Reed and Robert McClanahan brought a lightweight streamliner train to the railroad from central Arkansas for a couple of years. The A&M provided lo- comotives and crew to power weekend excursions over the line. The stream- lined train even boasted a dome obser-
vation car, the Susacapejo. Eventually the streamlined train of Reed and Mc- Clanahan was moved back to central Arkansas and Hannold began the rail- road’s own excursion service using ren- ovated heavyweight passenger cars. Today passenger trains on the A&M may include a former California Zephyr streamlined dome coach, a ca- boose, or an open air car in their con- sist. The passenger trains of the A&M are popular. From April through No- vember the excursion passenger trains
ABOVE LEFT: Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and his wife, Hiliary, campaign for his relection from the rear platform of the A&M’s business car Traveler in Van Buren on October 4, 1990. The Traveler was sold to New York’s Livonia, Avon & Lakeville in 1998. ABOVE RIGHT: Eighteen years later, Governor Mike Huckabee has stepped off his own campaign train in Van Buren while running for re-election. BELOW: The Huckabee cam- paign train rolls into Van Buren on October 16, 1998.
32 MAY 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM
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