BW>The Rock Island Line was into quite a bit of rail-related business
BW>before it hit on hard times. This railroad got into the game long after
BW>the prime routes had been gobbled up by the likes of U.P., C&NW, CB&Q,
BW>and a few others across the midwest, leaving them with traffic levels
BW>that dried up to the point of pushing them out of the business.
 
  The Arkansas Railroad Club in Little Rock is going to publish a book
later this year on railroad depots across Arkansas and the southern
United States...should be very interesting...with lots of photos, etc.
Thankfully, many of the depots (including the Rock Island depot in
Lonoke, 25 miles east of Little Rock...and in Little Rock are still
standing)...while many others, unfortunately, have been razed.
 
  The Argenta Rock Island Depot is going to be remodeled, after getting
quite a bit of landscaping done to it (lots of grass had grown up
around it, and the old depot was in sad shape). The Little Rock Rock
Island Depot (on the Choctaw Route) was at one time, The Spaghetti
Warehouse (a real nice restaurant), but it went out of business last
year. Now, it's a night club...sad turn of events for a classic depot.
 
  For the most part, all the Rock Island tracks in Arkansas are
gone...however, Union Pacific uses a small part of the old SunBelt Line
that ran from Little Rock to Memphis to interchange from its main line
running from St. Louis to Fort Worth, just south of Union Station, to go
to its line that goes over by the Little Rock Airport, and runs through
Redfield to Pine Bluff. The old Rock Island Biddle Yard is now used for
Union Pacific's Intermodal customers. A shortline railroad, the Little
Rock and Western, (offices in Perry county, northwest of Little Rock)
runs along the old Rock Island Route up from Little Rock to Danville
(tracks are gone west of there, leaving just the area where the roadbed
was...just like the former SunBelt Line that ran to Memphis...a small
segment to just east of Little Rock is all that remains for industrial
traffic.
 
  On another matter, Amtrak's Texas Eagle, which runs from Chicago
through St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas/Fort Worth, enroute to San
Antonio, derailed just as it left Little Rock's Union Station early
Friday morning. The cause of the derailment appeared to be a faulty
switch. The train was moving slow enough that no one was hurt the in
the derailment, and none of the cars overturned; but 4 of the cars off
the train got stuck in the ballast and crossties. Buses were brought in
to take some passengers to Walnut Ridge, AR and Poplar Bluff, MO (the 2
stops between Little Rock and St. Louis), with the rest boarding the
remaining cars for the trip to St. Louis...it finally left Little Rock 4
hours late. Union Pacific spent much of the day re-laying new track and
a new switch...and it caused quite a bit of congestion with the trains
for much of the day.
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