On Monday May 3rd I made the decision to photograph the KCS business train in the Rich Mountain area of Arkansas / Oklahoma as it was predicted to be northbound in that area during daylight hours on Wednesday May 5th. Since the exact train time on Wednesday was not known, I decided to spend the next night in DeQueen, Arkansas to be safely in position. I left home Tuesday afternoon under overcast skies, and shortly before 5:00 pm I made my first stop in Hugo, Oklahoma where I found two G&W Kiamichi Railroad SD40-2’s parked at the edge of the yard.
I then drove east from Hugo and when I reached Valliant a Kiamichi local freight was eastbound leaving town having just crossed the diamond shared with the DeQueen and Eastern.
In the southwest quadrant of the diamond at the DeQueen & Eastern’s facility that serves the huge International Paper Company mill sat vestiges of the old and the new guards. On the left Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern GP40 D14 and on the right new owner Patriot Rail GP40 4015 in the new local paint scheme.
Here is a closer view.
Later on when I reached Broken Bow, Oklahoma I paused to photograph Dierks Lumber 1927 Baldwin 2-8-2 number 227 which is purported to have been the last steam engine to operate in McCurtain County back in 1963. Too bad there was not a current D&E train going by in the background.
About thirty minutes later I checked into my motel in DeQueen and then went out to scout nearby locations for the next day’s passenger train. While making my rounds I stumbled across the D&E switching with three Patriot Rail leased units on the west end of their small yard next to their shops. The engineer was working from an ex-CN GP40-2LW now Foster Townsend Rail Logistics number 2903.
As darkness set in I returned to my room for a good night’s rest while looking forward to seeing the beautiful KCS business train the next day.