After many months of all GPs/all the time for local service around Russellville (with most being blue or maroon leasers), we finally have a nice C-C in our midst, and in the correct colors. This ... (more)

Running from GMD-1 1143, the engineer eases over the worst part of D&R's line. The big customers are here on the southern end, but this is also where excessive ground water makes track maintenanc... (more)

Oil train passes the D&R connection as it rolls south on UP's Van Buren Sub.

The engineer started up the grade to Oakland Heights with just 16 pulling, but the SW1 apparently is having a problem. Not to worry, as Alco 18 is following a few hundred feet behind, and can com... (more)

On a typical late winter/early spring day in these parts - warm enough for tees, but gray and damp - a D&R employee enjoys the benefits of one-man operation. After dropping his cut into the D&R/U... (more)

UP recently completed a signal upgrade on the Van Buren sub that my un-scientific observations tell me has really improved ops through this former bottleneck. They seem to be fiddling with power ... (more)

A grubby coal service GE slips between clean, shiny local power in UP's Russellville yard. The number of local units fluctuates, but on this day there were six diesels, most in fresh paint. They... (more)

Geeps await the next call to duty in UP's little Russellville yard. That's the main running through the middle of the flock. Seems to me it would be unnerving to blow between the sitting locos a... (more)

Apologies to UP fans, but UP power - at least on the Van Buren Sub - is generally dirty/rusty/scruffy, and until recently we rarely saw pool power in these parts. That has changed, with an influx... (more)

Just for a few moments, the sun finds a hole in the clouds and lights a trio of local service locomotives in UP's Russellville yard. Leading is 2252, which started life on DT&I, followed by GMTX ... (more)

This big GE heading down the hill on the D&R means a unit tie train for BNSF must be almost ready to head out.

D&R 16, still working at age 73, takes a southbound train down the hill toward the yard at North Dardanelle. The crest of the line is about three-fourths of a mile behind 16. There is a bit of a... (more)

Coal empties on the Van Buren Sub usually have two units up front, and a solo DPU, just like loads. Today, a single unit led the empties north past Russellville local/yard power, with two GEs in ... (more)

Slow orders on account of major signal work allows me to get a broadside shot of 8989. Maybe it's all that hood extending beyond the radiators, but the latest SD70s look a mile long to me.