RIGHT: This scene at North Little Rock is dated October 20, 1938. Two steam engines are side- by-side, with MoPac No. 9771 on the left con- nected to a cut of freight cars. WRP COLLECTION MIDDLE: There’s still plenty of MoPac power in this shot of North Little Rock Yard taken from the North Locust Street overpass on July 6, 1985. A southbound freight is departing with SD40-2 No. 3178 on the point. The tower be- hind the fourth unit no longer exists. SCOTT LINDSEY BOTTOM: The entrance to North Little Rock Yard is seen on February 13, 2015. STEVE JESSUP
granted to the “new” competitor, Burl- ington Northern & Santa Fe (now BNSF Railway). It only stands to reason one railroad can’t hog the Razorback State.
North Little Rock and Jenks Shop With four lines tracing a path to the
center of the state, Little Rock was and still is a major hub, first for MoPac and now for Union Pacific. With the Pine Bluff facilities out of the spotlight since SP joined the family, the scope of Little Rock becomes magnified. According to UP, North Little Rock is
the second largest classification yard on the system, behind only North Platte, Neb. Even Roseville and West Colton in California can’t win the silver in that category. Just west (railroad south) of the yard on the north bank of the river is UP’s massive Downing B. Jenks Shop. The $40 million facility opened in 1984. The entrance to the facility leaves
no doubt that this is the company’s largest, cleanest, and most comprehen- sive engine maintenance shop. UP No. 6938, one of 12 DDA40X “Centennial” units cosmetically preserved for display, stands to greet the workforce everyday. Jenks Shop currently employs more
than 1100 workers, nearly 40 percent of the total number of Union Pacific em- ployees in the state. Complete overhauls, air brake repairs, wheel replacements, electrical component maintenance, full paint jobs, light running work, inspec- tions, and even a good “scrub-down” at the wash racks represent just a fraction of all that is done here. The main repair building has 272,000
square feet of space. Surrounding struc- tures include a tank farm and pump- house, a turbo repair facility, a multi- bay paint shop, a center for component remanufacturing, and a load test facility plus a storage yard, storage tracks, and even a pre-wash building. A glance on the front side of the shop
reveals one of two transfer tables that can move locomotives from the five house tracks to one of 18 short stub tracks. The second transfer table is located on the backside of the building and spans 15 tracks on either side of the rectangular
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