Ft. Smith / Fort Smith, AR - Roundhouse & Turntable

Ft. Smith sometime in the 1960

"Seven miles downhill, pretty steep also. But that is another story."

Steepest part is 2.69% according to the Arkansas and Missouri (A&M) Railroad data.

The 2.69% section is about a mile long. The rest of it is a paltry 2.5% or so.

Been told it is one of the steepest mainline grades still seeing daily use.

 

Ft. Smith sometime in the 1960

Yes, lucky for me it was an empty flat, for a idler car.

Still biting the seat, the air worked on the car, Chester and Rudy looked really good that day. Really scary with a Burro Crane and flat.

The American Crane was not nearly as bad, although I did a full test of the brakes at Winslow.