The Arkansas
weather was still
struggling to cooperate when Thurs- day’s trip departed Springdale. A&M C420s Nos. 44 and 68 led a trip south, and the first two run-bys (just outside of Springdale and at West Fork) were held under cloudy skies. The sun some- how peeked through for the third runby at Mountainburg, however. The desti- nation for this trip was Fort Smith, and once there passengers had the chance to ride the Fort Smith Trolley Muse- um’s 1926-built Birney, walk the perimeter of the Fort Smith Railroad’s engine facility , tour the restored Frisco passenger depot, and visit Miss Laura’s brothel (now the visitor’s center). Friday was for short trips, meetings and the banquet. A longer stop was made at the Fort Smith Trolley Muse- um, and other area attractions were al- so visited. That evening, A&M Chair- man of the Board J. Reilly McCarren was the speaker. The last piece of the A&M main line was covered on Saturday, as the fea-
RIGHT: No. 4742 passes the line’s water tank as it is paced by a 1951 Chevrolet track in- spector’s car at Eureka Springs. BELOW: The Eureka Springs & North Arkansas hosted the NRHS convention on June 11. The north end of the 2.5-mile line features a timber trestle. EMD SW1 No. 4742 (built in 1942) was the power for the one-car train.
tured trip headed north to Monett, Mo. A southbound grain train complicated operations a bit, but it was worked into a photo opportunity when it met the NRHS special at Exeter. Problems with air conditioning in the dome car caused a lengthy delay in Monett (you can’t buy dome car filters at the local auto parts store, although it was attempt- ed), so no photo stops were done on the return trip.
The convention was officially over at this point, although there was still one more trip. The NRHS and A&M teamed up to operate a public trip from Spring- dale north to Butterfield on Sunday, June 15. Even though it covered a lot of the previous day’s trackage, there were still a lot of riders and the southbound photo stops that had been missed the previous day were accomplished. A lot of work goes into operating a
26 JULY-OCTOBER 2014 •
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