Dardenelle & Russelvillle RR

What the Brochures Don't Say:
The night before our D&R visit, we camped at Lake Dardanelle - due to a glowing recommendation in local tourist literature - arriving after dark. In the morning, the first words out of anyone's mouth were Hey, what's with all of the steam? Adjusting our vantage point, we realized that we had pitched our tent just across the lake from a nuclear power plant. This was not our idea of bucolic splendor, but it did explain the two-headed fish that we found washed up on the beach amongst an unusually large number of Pepsi cans.

Three Electro-Motive switchers slept at the Russellville terminal that day:

mmn#14; EMC SC, sn. 711, blt. 7-37; ex MP 9001, now at Illinois Railway Museum
mmml#16; EMD SW1, sn. 1474, blt. 1-42; ex MP 6001, ex ex CEI 99; on D&R, 2006
mmml#17; EMD SW7, sn. 10526, blt. 6-50; ex Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer 132 (CEI
mmmmmmsubsidiary), 1208 (MP subsidiary); to Ouachita 17, retired by 2002, scrapped?

on Winton engines / cast frames:
#14 as an identification guide

In its early days, Electro-Motive offered its Winton engine-powered switchers with either welded (fabricated) or cast frames. From a distance, the difference is hard to spot, but close-up inspection reveals a General Steel Casting Corporation logo (right) near the step wells and a significantly heavier-looking frame (see photo, next section) on the cast frame versions .

D&R's SC (S=600 hp; C=cast) can be distinguished from an otherwise nearly identical model SW (W=welded) by these two features. The same goes for the N-series (N=900 hp). But if you want to know if it's an NC, NC1 or NC 2 (likewise NW, NW1, NW1a), you'll probably need to look-up its serial number, because the differences were mainly electrical. Another spotting diffugalty arises from the fact that some of the early N-series locos had electrical boxes similar to the SC/SW on their front platforms, while others did not. Also, both series had two exhaust stacks; whereas the 567-powered SW1 only had one.

Now, how do you know that your particular locomotive contains a genuine Winton 201-A: you can't crowbar open rust-encrusted doors on a photograph, eh? Most 201-A's were changed-out for 567's before they went to the scrap yards, but not all of these conversions produced bizarre hood arrangements such as Rock Island's, so the only reasonably dependable IDing method is to note the position of the engine's exhaust stacks - the Winton's were offset (above left photo).

Further identification of #14: the loco's provenance was easy to figure out, courtesy of Missouri Pacific, which helpfully affixed an ID plate (right; please keep the comments re our Photoshop acumen to yourself) to the engineer's instrument panel (left) - it formerly was the MOP's 9001.

further visual intelligence on #14

Foxes in the wild

While puns are common around Wx4, pics of Fox trucks are not: these two D&R flats are the only equipment with these trucks that we have ever encountered au naturale (i.e., not on a museum/tourist line).

Postscript: After we left, the 14 went to seed and the flats disappeared. While the engine is still extant in pretty bad shape at the Illinois Railway Museum, we have no idea about the fate of the flat cars. The photo below shows the situation at Russellville a few years later.

featuring their 1937 EMC SC #14

Forty years ago, a Charles Clegg photo of Dardanelle & Russellville
ten-wheeler #11 in Mixed Train Daily initiated our interest in this
five mile Arkansas short line. A decade later, we encountered the
much-traveled D&R 4-4-0 #8 in Jamestown CA (now at the Nevada
State RR Museum), painted-up as Sierra RR #8. Finally, in May 1980,
we visited Russellville, to find a genuine Winton-engined EMC SC
sandwiched in-between two ancient wooden flat cars riding Fox
trucks. But it was a Sunday: nothin' runnin'; everyone in church.

		Shortlines Index Help


What the Brochures Don't Say: The night before our D&R visit, we camped at Lake Dardanelle - due to a glowing recommendation in local tourist literature - arriving after dark. In the morning, the first words out of anyone's mouth were Hey, what's with all of the steam? Adjusting our vantage point, we realized that we had pitched our tent just across the lake from a nuclear power plant. This was not our idea of bucolic splendor, but it did explain the two-headed fish that we found washed up on the beach amongst an unusually large number of Pepsi cans.	Three Electro-Motive switchers slept at the Russellville terminal that day: mmn#14; EMC SC, sn. 711, blt. 7-37; ex MP 9001, now at Illinois Railway Museum mmml#16; EMD SW1, sn. 1474, blt. 1-42; ex MP 6001, ex ex CEI 99; on D&R, 2006 mmml#17; EMD SW7, sn. 10526, blt. 6-50; ex Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer 132 (CEI mmmmmmsubsidiary), 1208 (MP subsidiary); to Ouachita 17, retired by 2002, scrapped?


	on Winton engines / cast frames: #14 as an identification guide In its early days, Electro-Motive offered its Winton engine-powered switchers with either welded (fabricated) or cast frames. From a distance, the difference is hard to spot, but close-up inspection reveals a General Steel Casting Corporation logo (right) near the step wells and a significantly heavier-looking frame (see photo, next section) on the cast frame versions . D&R's SC (S=600 hp; C=cast) can be distinguished from an otherwise nearly identical model SW (W=welded) by these two features. The same goes for the N-series (N=900 hp). But if you want to know if it's an NC, NC1 or NC 2 (likewise NW, NW1, NW1a), you'll probably need to look-up its serial number, because the differences were mainly electrical. Another spotting diffugalty arises from the fact that some of the early N-series locos had electrical boxes similar to the SC/SW on their front platforms, while others did not. Also, both series had two exhaust stacks; whereas the 567-powered SW1 only had one. Now, how do you know that your particular locomotive contains a genuine Winton 201-A: you can't crowbar open rust-encrusted doors on a photograph, eh? Most 201-A's were changed-out for 567's before they went to the scrap yards, but not all of these conversions produced bizarre hood arrangements such as Rock Island's, so the only reasonably dependable IDing method is to note the position of the engine's exhaust stacks - the Winton's were offset (above left photo). Further identification of #14: the loco's provenance was easy to figure out, courtesy of Missouri Pacific, which helpfully affixed an ID plate (right; please keep the comments re our Photoshop acumen to yourself) to the engineer's instrument panel (left) - it formerly was the MOP's 9001.

further visual intelligence on #14
ml mllm mllm

	Foxes in the wild While puns are common around Wx4, pics of Fox trucks are not: these two D&R flats are the only equipment with these trucks that we have ever encountered au naturale (i.e., not on a museum/tourist line).
mlm.

	Postscript: After we left, the 14 went to seed and the flats disappeared. While the engine is still extant in pretty bad shape at the Illinois Railway Museum, we have no idea about the fate of the flat cars. The photo below shows the situation at Russellville a few years later.
	Photo credit: Ahem, we found this photo, er, misfiled sans accompanying credit file, and, um, it was too sweet to pass up. So, ah, if the photographer will identify himself and indulge us, ack, we will award him/her with our highly-coveted Wx4 Medal O'Freedom.