The Arkansas & Missouri Railroad: Chasing ALCO and EMD Locomotives

[@kellyswoodyard]

Get away from the crossings. Once you've heard one train horn, you've heard them all. I worked on the engines, I know. The sound of the engine, that's what I want to hear. The roar of that 710 EMD, and the purr of the ALCo, that's the good stuff.

[@CombatDoc54]

Great to see these old engines again. I worked in the truck shop doing rebuilds. Had to pull the traction motors out, punchy or cut out all the bearings, haul the frame up to a side track north of the shop and sandblast everything. We used ground walnut shells instead of sand. The owner, Tony Hannold would by these old Alco's out of Canada. When we got them, they looked like they had been sitting forever growing rust. We had a huge crane come out and pull the trucks out and set the body on huge tripods, they would get blasted then go to paint. It was a big ass project that would take almost a year to complete. Engine tore down and rebuilt, all the wiring redone, everything. The final thing was always hanging the brass bell. We had a couple of old RS-1's we used for the excursion train and a couple of old t-6's we used for yard switchers. I would run on the excursion trains as conductor to get a little overtime. That was one damn rough ride. It was great going through the Winslow tunnel and stopping on this huge trestle that looked like it was better than a 100 feet high. I heard the 2 RS-1's are in a museum somewhere. I think one is in St. Louis and the other one is somewhere out East where Tony Hannold was originally from. It was such a miserable job at times. So hot in the Summer and freezing in the Winter. The consist would come in and we would have to fill them with water and pink shit (as we called it),, then put sand in them, then on to the next. A couple of times Myself and another guy that worked there road the night train North to Monnet which was pretty fun. We would get in a locomotive 1 or 2 behind the lead and just enjoy the ride. I still have my "blue flag" that I would hang on the controls of a lead loco if I was working on one in a consist. Since I lived closest to the depot, it was give the task in the Winter time of going to the depot around 1 or 2 A.M. every night and go through them to make sure they were all running. One night I was going through them, went into a cab, the heat was turned all the way up and it stank so bad, I'm like "what the f*ck is that", then I stepped on a hobo. LMAO, scared the shit out of both of us. I left him alone but told him he needed to be out of there by morning. Back in 1994 a production crew came in and used the Presidential car in a movie called Frank and Jesse starring Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton and Randy Travis. They would show a steam engine coming out of a tunnel, but just as the cars were ready to come out, they would cut to another scene. The reason being is that was just some stock, generic film and the steam locomotive wasn't actually pulling our cars. Our cars was being pulled by one of the RS-1's that were never shown on camera. So it just looked like the steam engine was pulling them. Then in another scene, the Jame's gang was going to rob the train. So this stunt double jumps off the Winslow tunnel onto a passenger car. What no one knew was the production company had bolted onto the roof a couple of hand holds. Tony Hannold blew a gasket about that!! The cars and the passenger station was also used in a PBS production a year or two before that.

[@bigtex144]

Love your video! 20:50 is the real money shot :)

[@AntonioRailfanning2182]

Thanks!

[@midwestrails8317]

Also nice that the engineer smoked it up for you with that ALCO! Definitely did it on purpose haha

[@midwestrails8317]

I’m planning on doing a couple days on the A&M and this video really helped me understand what they do. Thanks!

[@arkie74]

yeah, the A&M have really upgraded in the last 10 years. and still running C-420s, 424's an rs 27, and the now the retired rs3. it sets in springdale out side the office all nice and clean, but the internals are shot. and now sd 70 mac's. wonder when they are going to fix up those setting AC's and MAC's with the CSX paint still on them? they have a bunch, so I wonder if thats the future of the A&M main line. and use the alcos for passengers. if amtrack can share the main with CSX, UP, and BNSF, why not the A&M?

[@TheMoco53]

Sharp looking locos. Nice vids!

[@aaronl_trains_and_planes]

I'm fixing to make a HO scale model of the A&M. I'm originally from Fort Smith and now live in Rogers. Where I work gets service from the A&M, we get giant rolls of paper and convert them into cardboard.

[@darrelgibbs4898]

you have great video

[@northarkansastrains8352]

Great video! 👍

[@davestrains6816]

Nice video. Really great catches. Thanks for sharing. Dave

[@radanju3]

beautiful

[@arkie74]

I remember when right as the frisco and bn merged, and seeing trains with the red and white frisco locomotives in Fayetteville.

[@LouisianaRailProductions]

Nice footage man! Keep it up!

[@JetSetDiva]

Great video! So is it possible to see Alco's running freight every day on the A&M? Or just sometimes? Also, do they ever run their RS-1? I'm in North Carolina and would be willing to make a road trip to see some Alco's running in revenue service before they disappear, especially an RS unit.

[@AntonioRailfanning2182]

JetSetDiva The ALCOs run smaller freight operations like switchers and locals every weekday, I believe Mon-Fri. Best way to find out what’s running is to set up at the Springdale shops around 7:00AM and watch the power get ready for the day. Unfortunately, the RS1 hasn’t been running for a while now.

[@JetSetDiva]

@@AntonioRailfanning2182 Thanks for the info! It's neat to think those C-420's are ex-SCL units that could have run in my neck of the woods in SE North Carolina back in the day.

[@AmericanSteelProductions]

Dope

[@Agent_tx_tiger]

If only the bell on the ace locomotives were actually on the top

[@Henry5623]

Kind of odd how the nose lights and ditch lights on SD70ACe #70, #71, #72 are LED's yet the rear lights on all three units are industry standard old school halogen lights.

[@Martin98Baumann]

Probably done after the big wreck they had with those units

[@arkie74]

....we need a VIRTUAL RAILFAN CAM in springdale at the shop. thats wear all the trains north and south run through. ...jus saying. ALCO heaven, and 3 70 mac's. soon to be alot of mac's. but the ALCOS will always be a staple of the A&M! they already have a CN heritage unit #42 and they could upgrade to class one, they use welded rail, and bridge trains from ft. smith to the Neosho interchange with bnsf, and KCS. that would be cool to see a C420, and a C424, coupled to an UPac44, or KCS -8 or -9 running through the KCS main through westville Ok.. IF they installed signals they could be a class 1. just an Idea. KCS is my home road, but 30 miles east is the A&M. my other home road.

[@johnnybellamy6094]

WHAT THE DEAL WITH ALL THOSE STORED EX-CSX LOCOMOTIVES

[@AntonioRailfanning2182]

Johnny Bellamy The Arkansas & Missouri was contracted by Progress Rail (PRLX) to store some of their locomotives, the majority of which being those Ex-CSX AC60CWs.