Arkansas & Ozarks Railroad - 1954 - Ozarka Spring Water Company, Eureka Springs, AR

The turntable is from the Ft. Smith roundhouse.

I think its cool how it and the doors now at the Trolley Museum in Ft. Smith survived.

I think it would look nice to see the SW1 in Frisco colors, but I do not think ES&NA would do it.

 

I like the Frisco color idea for the SW1 but I all ways wanted to see it in A&O livery and the coaches Tuscan red.

I do not know how much longer they can hold out.

It is starting to look like the pictures in Dr. Fairs book after the 1946 shutdown there in Eureka Springs, AR.

Craig

 

The A&O scheme on the SW1 would work too!

Where did the 70 tonners go?

Now somebody with money needs to purchase the line and promote tourism in the area!

A pity that I was not born with a golden spike in my mouth.

Joe Toth

 

Hello again Joseph,

After the A&O shut down, about 1960, the 70 tonners were hauled by low boy trailer to the Fort Dodge Des Moines and Southern (FDDM&S).

That line was another railroad owned by the Salzberg family.

The 800 was eventually sold to a scrap dealer in Canada and was scraped for parts.

The 900 made its way to the Santa Maria Valley (SMV) Railroad in Guadalupe, CA as there number SMV 70.

The last I heard the old girl was serviceable, but not used very often.

Craig

Edit 3/9/2024: The Santa Marie Valley (SMV) Railroad is located in Guadalupe, CA.

Corrected the railroad name to include Valley and the city and state where it is located.
MKD

 

The 800 ended up being sold to the Laurinburg and Southern (L&S) Railroad, February 1975, to be used for parts.

It arrived on the property with a broken crankshaft.

Jeff

 

Jeff,

Thank you for the correction and the information.

I had not known were the A&O 800 had ended up.

Wow, I wonder if there is a sad little pile of junk with just a hint of orange paint showing through.

Craig

 

Thanks Craig about the fate of the 70 tonners. Is the Salzberg family still in the RR bizz anywhere?

It appears that one man wants to save the ES&NA tourist operation. Though not directly related to this thread I would like to see the line saved. The heritage includes the original M&NA, M&A, A&O and even the Cotton Plant shortline that was operated on the far eastern part of the M&A. If Brian Waller is sincere about his plans it would surely help tourism in the area and might be a new place to get some Frisco equipment saved as well since the Frisco did have an interest in the M&NA, right?

Joe Toth

 

Thanks for these historic pictures.

Are there any surviving pictures of any boxcars in A&O Railroad livery?

I looked for sometime via Google with no luck.

 

The A&O had two GE 70 tonners, two former M&NA cabooses, and a handful of company service flat and ballast cars.

I do not believe that the road had any equipment available for interchange.

 

Thanks for sharing these!

The first layout section that the Ozark Model Railroad Association (OMRA) in Springfield, MO started out with parallels this railroad.

It is connected at Seligman, just like it did in real life.

This part of the layout has code 70 and smaller track on it, where as the rest has code 100.

I have an album here on the site that has photographs of OMRA's club layout.

 

I believe this represents the Kings River Bridge looking at the photographs posted in this topic.

It is part of the OMRA club layout, and is on the portion modeled after the Arkansas & Ozarks line.

Yeah, I know the Rock Island train looks out of place here.

 

The Rock Island is not all to out of place on the M&NA.

The M&NA leased a couple CRIP steamers, and later bought them.

During the lease the engines were in full CRIP paint.

 

Yeah Murphy, those were part of my personal fleet.

When I went to the club on a regular basis before they raised the membership fees, I brought them there and used them as a modeling theme for the picture.

I thought it looked cool on that high bridge.

I do not have that locomotive anymore, but I still have the cars behind it.

 

Another scene here features what represents the "Narrows" and the bridge at Beaver, AR.

That is right behind where my 5 year old son at the time this photograph was taken is sitting.

 

Is this layout and club still running?

I would like to visit it on my next trip to Springfield, MO.

Craig

 

Yes, it is still open.

They open the clubhouse each Tuesday night, except when they have their business meeting, which is once a month.

It is open around 6:30 or 7;00 pm and goes until about 10:00 pm on Tuesday nights.

By the way, that photograph with my son was taken about 10 years ago.

He is now 16.

 

Thanks for the great A&O photographs.

My grandfather, great uncle, and mother all worked for the M&NA/M&A, with my grandfather continuing to work with a few of the other office folks after the road shut down to complete ongoing paperwork and to finish out railroad retirement.

The line ran through our farm near Capps. I have had a lifelong interest in the line and it probably had something to do with my profession as a railroad civil engineer. I rode from Harrison to Alpena one Sunday morning with Jack Halter and Frank Green on their run to Seligman in A&O 900 to pick up more strawberry reefers, courtesy of my grandfather.

I was about 11 or 12 at the time, and the views from the cab echoed the ones in this thread. I have recently driven as much of the south end as I could from Helena to Harrison. I will probably drive the Harrison to Joplin segment next fall when the leaves are down.

What manual labor, blasting powder, and horse-drawn scrapers accomplished was inspiring coming from the perspective on current heavy civil construction practices.

 

A&O grade crossing at the east end of Pender Switch, looking west toward Seligman, April 2016.

Westbound trains were often broken in half here and taken into town in sections to beat the grade.

 

Congratulations Scott M on the publication of your article "Arkansas and Ozarks" in Trains and Railroads of the Past, Issue #10.

Thankful you contacted me and my family so we were able to contribute to your project.

Ramona Fletcher is my mother, Marty Fletcher is my brother, Knial Williams is my uncle, Genoa Williams, deceased, was my great uncle.