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ABOVE: UP No. 1949 and No. 3872 are staged to go south from Biddle Yard to Pine Bluff on February 13, 2015. The eight-track ex-Rock Is- land yard is located on the south side of Little Rock, named for the road’s third vice president, W.B. Biddle. ABOVE RIGHT: Often referred to as “one-unit wonders,” this intermodal train is pulled by just a single unit, UP SD70ACe No. 8548, on April 5, 2014. The train is the ZLDMN (high priority Laredo-Marion), bound for the intermodal facility at Marion, Ark. Little Rock Union Station looms in the background. JAMES R. DOUGHTY PHOTOS RIGHT: A solid set of mod- ernized SD40Ns is in charge of this southbound freight passing Little Rock Union Station on February 13, 2015. STEVE JESSUP


east segment between North Little Rock and Pine Bluff, extending south to Alex- andria, La., (White Bluff Subdivision to White Bluff, then McGehee Subdivision to Monroe), also rates 10-15 trains. The northeast segment between Poplar Bluff, Mo., and North Little Rock (Hoxie Subdi- vision) sees 20-25 trains between Poplar Bluff and Bald Knob and 30-40 between Bald Knob and North Little Rock. The southwest segment between North Little Rock and Texarkana (Little Rock Subdi- vision) runs from 25 to 35 trains. Seasonal traffic, such as grain and perishables, an increase or decrease in coal traffic, and the fluctuations in port traffic can produce feast or famine pat- terns throughout the year. The bottom line here, at least, is that you won’t get skunked waiting for trains! The majority of UP traffic through Ar-


kansas connects the Chicago-St. Louis gateways to interior points in Texas, the Gulf Coast, and Mexico. As previously mentioned, two lines are necessary to move more than 60 trains between these regions. As is the case with similar par- allel lines on the UP system, the rail-


34 SEPTEMBER 2015 • RAILFAN.COM


road leans toward directional running, with the old Cotton Belt handling more southbound traffic while the old MoPac handles more northbounds. Thanks to the 600-acre intermodal fa-


cility west of Memphis at Marion, Ark., stack and high priority trains make up a large share of UP’s traffic on the parallel routes. North Little Rock also operates a smaller intermodal terminal, but since Marion’s opening in July 1998, the pre- mier stack show moved east. Intermodal business and coal repre-


sent the lion’s share of inbound commod- ities. On average, three coal trains per day are distributed to Arkansas power plants including the John W. Turk, Jr. Coal Plant in Fulton and the White Bluff Power Plant in Redfield (between Little Rock and Pine Bluff). Two other plants exist in the state, one in Newark, just west of Diaz Junction on the Missouri & Northern Arkansas line (Independence


Power Plant), and the other in Gentry, which is served by Kansas City South- ern in the northwest corner (Flint Creek Power Plant). Additionally, an average of two coal trains per day will pass through en route to power plants in Louisiana. Automobiles and chemicals trickle


in while outbound commodities beyond containers and trailers include stone, sand, gravel, food and grain products, and steel. The boom in oil trains can be seen here as BNSF crosses the state with their loaded and empty unit trains padded by a freight car at both ends. BNSF has other traffic as well with trackage rights on the parallel lines, the Little Rock-Pine Bluff segment, the Bald Knob-Memphis line, and the Brin- kley-Memphis line. BNSF trains do not have trackage rights on the Van Buren Subdivision or the McGehee Subdivision south of Pine Bluff, but they will operate on these lines.


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