Arkansas and Midland Railroad GP38--2

[@TheTrainFreak]

Cool video Aaron. If you would like to meet the gentleman who pratically ran the AKMD right before the G&W takeover and his retirement over at Jone's Mill, let me know if you're interested and we could set something up. He lives down in Hot Springs and I've been working on his layout installing LCC for block detection and signalling. He also worked for the NYS&W, Erie, and Conrail before moving to Arkansas. He has a lot of cool stories to share and I think you'd be entertained listening to him. - Jason

[@manshedrailroad]

That's really cool. I might have to take you up on that offer sometime. Old timers always have interesting stories. My grandma is 99 and had to be transported by rail out of the cotton plant area (due to flooding) back in the 40s.

[@arkansasrailproductions5507]

Before G&W, the AKMD had a fleet of first gen and early second gen EMDs, such as former Illinois Central Gulf Paducah Shops rebuilt GP8s and GP10s, a couple of CF7s, four GP35s and two GP38-3s (rebuilt and repowered former GP35s) and for a short time, even an Alco S-3. The AKMD was initially formed in 1992 by Pinsly Railroads, starting with the Malvern to Mountain Pine line, Little Rock and Helena Branches. The Warren and Clearwater branches in southeast Arkansas weren’t acquired until the mid 2000s. The AKMD even ran two annual Santa Trains (one on the Malvern Branch and one on the Warren Branch) in early December until 2014 when they were acquired by G&W. Over the years, the original power slowly disappeared. Two of the GP8s were sent to the Arizona & Eastern Railroad, one GP8 was sent to the Burlington Junction Railway after being damaged in a fire. GP35 2505 was sent to the Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad. GP35 2500 was donated to the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden as it was restored back into its original Western Pacific appearance, WP 3002. After the incident between G&W and the EPA, the remaining GP8s and GP10s were scrapped in January 2024, including a historic locomotive, AKMD 707, as it was rebuilt from Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad GP7 5726, the Howard Fogg postcard unit. Today, the remaining GP35s and GP38-3s still operate on the AKMD. GP38-3 2502 is the last one in operation still in Pinsly colors. One GP8 managed to survive getting torched, AKMD 703. It was retired by the AKMD in 2021 and was purchased by Motive Care in 2022 and was sent to the North Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad in McGehee where Motive Care mechanics did a thorough check up on the 703. It later saw service on the NL&A, assisting with rail rehabilitation. It is currently stored on the NL&A at the former Riceland grain elevator located in McGehee, Arkansas.

[@manshedrailroad]

Thanks for the information. That's a remarkable journey for the AKMD railroad. I have been through McGhee on multiple ocassions. I love seeing the locos parked near the grain elevators. I am curious about one thing, why was the road name not abbreviated to AKMD and not ARMD?

[@arkansasrailproductions5507]

@@manshedrailroad Good question. On the earlier units acquired by the AKMD, the two CF7s and GP8s 700 and 703, had AMRR reporting marks instead of AKMD.