On the route of the Southern Belle - March 2008
In March 2008 I flew to Houston to meet up with fellow rail fan Mel Finzer from Chicago for a 5-day odyssey along the route of the Kansas City Southern Railway through Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. We also got to see the Arkansas and Missouri, Texas Oklahoma and Eastern and DeQueen and Eastern short lines too.
I didn’t know what to expect when we started out, the KCS and the states through which it runs were unknown quantities. The scenery is not particularly special, with the exception of Rich Mountain between Mena, Ark. and Heavener, Okla. The further north one goes, we reached Monett in Missouri, the more plains-like the landscape becomes.
The KCS is a very busy railroad funnelling coal from Wyoming to power producers in Texas and other southern states, grain for export from Gulf Coast ports plus bridge traffic bound for Mexico.
So all in all we saw plenty of diverse trains in a variety of landscapes, I don’t think it could have been better!
Read MoreI didn’t know what to expect when we started out, the KCS and the states through which it runs were unknown quantities. The scenery is not particularly special, with the exception of Rich Mountain between Mena, Ark. and Heavener, Okla. The further north one goes, we reached Monett in Missouri, the more plains-like the landscape becomes.
The KCS is a very busy railroad funnelling coal from Wyoming to power producers in Texas and other southern states, grain for export from Gulf Coast ports plus bridge traffic bound for Mexico.
So all in all we saw plenty of diverse trains in a variety of landscapes, I don’t think it could have been better!
March 6th, Camden, Tex.
Leaving Houston we headed along US 59 towards a rendezvous with the KCS at Texarkana on the Texas-Arkansas border. On our way, whilst it was still light we detoured off the 59 to Camden to get this picture of 7 mile short-line Moscow Camden & St Augustine’s motive power, an EMD switcher. The railroad is a subsidiary of Georgia Pacific, serving the lumber industry.
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