|
My blogging continues!
IF you enjoy interesting history and a great narrative style, perhaps you may find as much enjoyment as I have over the years reading a historical account of the Fayetteville & Little Rock (and Black Mountain & Eastern).
Please allow me to share a prologue to your reading enjoyment:
After being exposed to the Freedom Train on a cold night in Oklahoma way back in 1976... this diesel boy found an entirely new appreciation for steam railroading. "The Experience" began a knowledge quest to learn more about these fascinating machines that I previously had no interest in. To the local library I went (Van Buren, AR) to check out just about anything and everything that had to do with steam railroading. One of the books I checked out was by Clifton C. Hull and titled "Shortline Railroads of Arkansas". I was amazed at the sheer number of shortlines Clifton documented in that book. Clifton's writing style was entertaining. Plus, it really stirred my imagination. Loved it. Two of my now "favorite" Arkansas railroads were discovered via Clifton's book: The Fayetteville & Little Rock (to become the St. Paul Branch of the Frisco) and the Black Mountain & Eastern/Combs Cass & Eastern.
Because of Clifton's historical efforts, as well as encapturing literary style, I was so hooked on learning more about those two lines that I made numerous treks to the region, as well as doing significant personal research on the BM&E, as well as the St. Paul Branch. (I now have several folders filled with unpublished material on both roads.)
Indeed, there are two books that are pivotal in my appreciation for steam, the Ozarks in particular:
* Shortline Railroads of Arkansas
* The North Arkansas Line (History of the StLNA/M&NA/M&A by Dr. James Fair.)
Anyrate, from "Shortline Railroads of Arkansas" I share with you the story of the Fayetteville & Little Rock.
See if stirs your imagination also!
Parts 1-3 (to be continued)...
Attached thumbnail(s)
  
|
Discover The F&LR 10/26/11
Oct 26 2011, 8:06 PM
