Steam & Excursion > AFT Move Notes- St Louis MO to Little Rock AR

St Louis MO to North Little Rock AR
Monday April 12, 1976
341 Miles, All MP
Helpers entire trip.
Press stop: Newport AR
Water Stops: Piedmont & Newport AR
Pilot Crew change: Poplar Bluff AR
Track at site no longer exists

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Wouldn't the pilot crew change have been Poplar Bluff, MO actually?

Also curious, was running down the much faster joint MP/SSW Chester Subdivision considered, as opposed to the "Buffalo Trail" (as the De Soto Subdivision was called) that the AFT ran?

Posted from Android

MO, right, sorry.

I’ll second check the route notes this afternoon. The notes I have are the trip synopsis’ that were issued to department heads the day before a given move. They call out service stops, the order of the consist, turning the train if needed, things like that. And the locations of these events. What I do is connect the dots as best I can. Generally the route is pretty obvious, but occasionally- not so much. If I get it wrong and someone knows better l go back and make corrections. I want my maps to be as correct as they can be- I’m trying to leave an accurate record that will stand up to anyone using them as a record in the future.
SR

BTW: The routes the AFT used are not always intuitive (ie: direct). The host RR’s had their, no always obvious, reasons for sending us the ways they did- traffic, weight, or clearance issues- things like that.

Okay- the dots to connect are:  St Louis-Piedmont-Poplar Bluff-Newport-North Little Rock Freight House-North Little Rock Yard.  The route was all MP.

So is there a better way to draw this route than the way I did it?
SR

If the AFT went through Piedmont, then the route you drew is correct.

       Tom

towazy Wrote:
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> If the AFT went through Piedmont, then the route
> you drew is correct.
>
>        Tom

The map is drawn correctly. The AFT did indeed go through Piedmont, Mo. on the MoPac's "passenger line" across the Ozarks, the former St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern, which came into the Missouri Pacific family in the Jay Gould era. This was MP's De Soto Subdivision to a point near Poplar Bluff, and is the route that was used by the MP's Texas Eagle, and before that the famed Sunshine Special (among other trains), and is still the route used today by Amtrak's Texas Eagle as well. Because of its heritage, that route on the MP has long been informally referred to as "the Iron Mountain". And that is also the source of my online name "ironmtn", since I lived near the line when I first joined Trainorders many years ago not long after it began.

At the time of the movement from St. Louis to Little Rock, I was back in my hometown of St. Louis in my first job after college in Chicago. I saw and photographed the AFT spotted on the riverfront on Wharf St. (later Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd.) just to the east of and below the Gateway Arch. I've never forgotten walking right alongside the 4449 on Wharf Street as it did some switching move -- what a memory!  I watched the train depart, and then headed south to watch it pass (after dark) at a grade crossing I had staked out, a nice quiet spot near Festus, Missouri.

I didn't know the line well at the time, and had been directed to this location by a railfan friend. Unfortunately, he didn't know the route well, either, and I ended up at a crossing on a MoPac branch a few miles away. By the time I heard the 4449 approaching in the distance and I realized my error, it was too late to cover the distance over to the mainline track that the train was traversing. I should have known better. The track at my location, while good, was not up to mainline standard, and I should have realized it. But I was a freshly minted railfan at the time, on one of my first encounters with steam, and I was just not as knowledgeable or thorough and careful as I should have been. Lesson learned!

I could do nothing but stand there late at night and listen to the 4449 working and whistling its way down the Joachim Creek valley a few miles away, as it headed south toward De Soto. I would in subsequent years visit that beautiful valley and drive along the MP many times. But I sure wasn't there when and where I needed to be that night.

The train's passage in the distance was beautiful and memorable in its own way. The sound of the 4449 whistling for grade crossings at Hematite and Victoria was lovely. But it wasn't what I had imagined or planned. And I never have quite forgiven myself. It was the sole opportunity that I had to view the 4449 and the AFT underway at track speed. And I blew it, totally.

That night is indelibly etched deep in my consciousness, and it has haunted me many times through the years. So,  I can attest with certainty, and from personal experience, that the 4449 and the American Freedom Train absolutely traveled down the MP's De Soto Subdivision as mapped above enroute from St. Louis to Little Rock.

Yessir, it did indeed. Sigh....

MC



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/21 20:58 by ironmtn.

ironmtn Wrote:
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> That night is indelibly etched deep in my
> consciousness, and it has haunted me many times
> through the years..

MC, a sad but well written story.  Your regret is palpable.  Sorry you missed it!

Andy

To ironmtn- thanks for the confirmation on the map- I put a bit of effort in these, but I still worry about getting them wrong.
I’m sorry about the botched shoot that night, but on the other hand- the sound of a far off steam train at night is surely a thing onto itself, right?
Again, thanks
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> But on the other hand- the sound of a far off
> steam train at night is surely a thing unto itself, right?
> Again, thanks
> SR

You're welcome on the map confirmation. Glad to help out. A note on two points on the route description that I missed previously: The  water service and pilot crew change stops at Piedmont and Poplar Bluff were both in Missouri. Newport is in Arkansas.The text has all three as being in Arkansas.

And yes, the sound of a far off steam train at night is special -- very special. If I couldn't see it as planned, I sure am glad that I did get to hear it that way. And it was very memorable, and very special.

MC