Western Railroad Discussion > Delta Southern Tallulah, LA to McGhee, AR

Delta Southern RR still has engines on the 8 or so miles of track, if it’s 5 mph track it’s 2 mph, from Tallulah, LA north to a siding
that links their mainline with a small group of businesses on the Mississippi delta. I stumbled across these engines quite by accident
after leaving Vicksburg, MS on my way to Little Rock, AR. I kiddingly said to my wife about the track we were paralleling to watch
for abandoned engines and my first photos here are what we saw, and it gets worse. I stopped to photograph these engines sitting on
a sparsely travel road, State Highway 65 and the road leading back to some businesses on the delta. After shooting a few photos I drove
back the adjacent road to investigate and found one thriving Complex Chemical company and a river barge transloading facility. I also
noticed a lot of new tracks sidings well ballasted which I learned was dew to the total rebuilding of the chemical company that had
suffered a near total loss during a tornado of 2010 and were just getting back in business. I could go on and on about the economic
problems of the Mississippi delta but will concentrate on the railroads I found along these parts. After an hour or so I continued on still
paralleling worse track I’ve seen which was obviously abandoned. Thirty miles later I arrive in McGhee, AR and find a small but well
maintained yard and as I arrive so does a UP local freight who ties down for the day. At the far end of the yard sits a Arkansas Midland
Railway engine they service about ten miles of track out of McGhee.

photos marked and additional information accordingly;
All comments and corrections welcome even if they are wrong....:o)

Alan

photo 1 I call these two photos the “Mug Shots” left
photo 2 Mug right
photo 3 a couple of abandoned Delta Southern engines sit on the mainline that leads to McGhee,AR about 1/2 mile farther up sits a dozen or so pieces
of mow equipment in about the same condition and the track, next thirty miles was garbage.

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photo 4 McGhee, AR water tower the towns drinking supply........ok
photo 5 a UP local heads into McGhee
photo 6 UP local arrives in Yard at McGhee and will tie down for the night

Thanks, Alan

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photo 7 in an extreme telephoto shot is a Arkansas Midland Railway engine they service about ten miles of track out of McGhee.
photo 8 parting shot of Delta Southern 104 at Talla Bena, LA


Thanks again, Alan

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So, does Arkansas Midland only consist of those 10 miles of trackage . . ? I have seen
high cube boxcars with those markings out here on the west coast. Just curious as to
high big that line actually is (?)

Yarddogh Wrote:
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> So, does Arkansas Midland only consist of those 10
> miles of trackage . . ? I have seen
> high cube boxcars with those markings out here on
> the west coast. Just curious as to
> high big that line actually is (?)


I did find this info when trying to put together this post
[ AKMD operates 112 miles of track in Arkansas over five disconnected lines ]
the reporting marks had me confused also and I' still confused as I was only passing through.
Thanks, Alan

Alan, nice shots and very interesting to me because this is all new to me. Looks like you found the Delta Southern graveyard. Glad you were not there at night : )
John

Finally some pictures of the line. I was down there almost ten years ago and the track was much worse than that former line Maumee and Western out in Ohio. Got some great videos I will have to download someday onto Youtube.

zzzzz Wrote:
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> Finally some pictures of the line. I was down
> there almost ten years ago and the track was much
> worse than that former line Maumee and Western out
> in Ohio. Got some great videos I will have to
> download someday onto Youtube.


Now I'd like to see that.
Alan

Is it Possible that these units were shut down for the weekend ? I remember they Haul a lot of Cars for the Local Sugar Mills

miralomarail Wrote:
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> Is it Possible that these units were shut down for
> the weekend ? I remember they Haul a lot of Cars
> for the Local Sugar Mills

Maybe, I talked with the people at Complex Chemical and they call Delta Southern when they need tank cars taken
To KCS connection at Tallulah about 8 miles south. Like I said I went north from where the engines were sitting and
The line is really bad, so bad I wouldn't take a " Hover Craft " Down it, just saying.
Alan

I liked 4 thru 7. The others are just sad. Thanks for the report.

I worked for the Delta Southern for 8 yrs and there are NO sugar mills there is the complex chemical place and cotton seed. The AKMD runs McGehee AR to Warren AR a old MP branch and to the Potlatch paper mill east of McGehee. The Dardanell and Russellville is running McGehee to Lake Village AR and possable to Lake Providance in the future.

shay2977 Wrote:
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> I worked for the Delta Southern for 8 yrs and
> there are NO sugar mills there is the complex
> chemical place and cotton seed. The AKMD runs
> McGehee AR to Warren AR a old MP branch and to
> the Potlatch paper mill east of McGehee. The
> Dardanell and Russellville is running McGehee to
> Lake Village AR and possable to Lake Providance in
> the future.


Wow thanks for al the info, I'm a Eastern guy on the Western board. I was coming home from Florida, the long way, and
ran across these engines, made some great contacts at Complex and was given name at Delta Southern but my efforts to
contact them were not successful. Thanks again for the info,
Alan

shay2977 Wrote:
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> I worked for the Delta Southern for 8 yrs and
> there are NO sugar mills there is the complex
> chemical place and cotton seed. The AKMD runs
> McGehee AR to Warren AR a old MP branch and to
> the Potlatch paper mill east of McGehee. The
> Dardanell and Russellville is running McGehee to
> Lake Village AR and possable to Lake Providance in
> the future.

I remember when the line east of McGehee was a important secondary mainline, providing a cutoff north to the ex-MP mainline south of Poplar Bluffs. In the immediate post UP-MP merger era, the Union Pacific decided this route was perfect to route Gulf Coast chemical traffic away from the congestion of Little Rock and save some mileage too. They even installed some Centralized Traffic Control signalling on the line. Then, the UP management did an about face, decided two lines was one too many. They rerouted traffic back thru Little Rock, removed the CTC (re-installed elsewhere on the system) and ultimately abondoned much of the route.

I always enjoy these discussions of out-of-the-way places (sorry, residents of McGehee!). We have the visual proof of what "is" today or yesterday.

Then I always do something foolish. I go to Google Maps satellite view (not Google Earth) to get a gander at what the whole scene looks like. This time, I see this picture of a thriving community with rail lines shooting everywhere. There are several trains (or at least strings of railroad cars) in yards. You can see freight cars backed into sidings to pick up or drop off product. The overall scene gives the viewer the impression, "There's lots going on here. If you just sit and wait a few minutes, a train will come by.)

I guess the point is, it would be nice if Google gave us a rough date of when the view was plugged into the satellite map. It would also be nice if the names of railroads were listed when you "right-click" on a line. (The old DeLorme Street Atlas did that. The new DeLorme Street Atlas doesn't.)

Just my 2-cents!

Barry

poffcapt Wrote:
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> I always enjoy these discussions of out-of-the-way
> places (sorry, residents of McGehee!). We have the
> visual proof of what "is" today or yesterday.
>
> Then I always do something foolish. I go to Google
> Maps satellite view (not Google Earth) to get a
> gander at what the whole scene looks like. This
> time, I see this picture of a thriving community
> with rail lines shooting everywhere. There are
> several trains (or at least strings of railroad
> cars) in yards. You can see freight cars backed
> into sidings to pick up or drop off product. The
> overall scene gives the viewer the impression,
> "There's lots going on here. If you just sit and
> wait a few minutes, a train will come by.)
>
> I guess the point is, it would be nice if Google
> gave us a rough date of when the view was plugged
> into the satellite map. It would also be nice if
> the names of railroads were listed when you
> "right-click" on a line. (The old DeLorme Street
> Atlas did that. The new DeLorme Street Atlas
> doesn't.)
>
> Just my 2-cents!
>
> Barry

Thanks guys a lot of information here I really enjoyed and at MeGhee, few weeks back, UP brought in a good size train and there
Was quite a few cars on the sidings maybe 50 - 60 and did have the appearance of a busy yard which I felt it was.
Alan

nice to know they plan to restore service to lake village. i drive down us 65 several times a year and for a lonf time there were stored caes on line, always looked like they were going to fall over sideways

bronco22 Wrote:
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> nice to know they plan to restore service to lake
> village. i drive down us 65 several times a year
> and for a lonf time there were stored caes on
> line, always looked like they were going to fall
> over sideways


I drove up 65 looking very closely for and RR cars or equipment along the line all the way up to McGhee,
didn't see anything. Thanks for the comment.
Alan