upcoming 2019 springdale programs - …page 1 -the arkansas scrambler july 2019 volume 32, no. 11...

- THE ARKANSAS SCRAMBLER July 2019

Volume 32, No. 11 July 2019

Official Monthly Publication of the

ARKANSAS-BOSTON MOUNTAINS CHAPTER NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Chapter No. 188 founded in 1987

UPCOMING 2019 SPRINGDALE PROGRAMS July 18 - Dick Hovey - “KCS and Railroad Scanning”

August 15 - TBD

September 19 - TBD

Contributing to THE ARKANSAS SCRAMBLER: Submis-

sions to the newsletter are welcome. Send content (articles, sto-

ries, photos) for the monthly SCRAMBLER newsletter to editor

Mike Sypult at [email protected] DEADLINE for the

SCRAMBER is the 9th day of each month. The editor reserves the

right to edit, hold or omit material at his discretion.

Restored Missouri & Arkansas depot in St. Joe, Arkansas - March 4, 2017 - Mike Sypult photo

mailto:[email protected]


THE ARKANSAS

SCRAMBLER Volume 32, No. 11 - July 2019

THE ARKANSAS SCRAMBLER is

published 12 times each year by the

Arkansas Boston Mountains Chapter,

National Railway Historical Society

Inc, PO Box 1303, Springdale, Arkan-

sas 72765-1303. Opinions expressed

herein may not reflect the official posi-

tion of the ABMT Chapter or the Na-

tional Railway Historical Society.

Editor…………………..Mike Sypult

Every effort is made to provide accu-

rate and complete information in THE

ARKANSAS SCRAMBLER monthly

newsletters. Please send corrections to

[email protected]. We welcome

your input!

Arkansas Boston Mountains Chap-

ter, National Railway Historical So-

ciety Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)(3)

educational organization incorporated

under the laws of the State of Arkan-

sas.

Meetings of the membership are open

to the public on the third Thursday of

each month at 7:00pm at the ADA

compliant Reilly P. McCarren Railroad

Museum at the Arkansas & Missouri

Depot located on Emma Avenue in

downtown Springdale, Arkansas. Meet-

ings in winter months are not held

when the Springdale public schools are

closed due to inclement weather. Visi-

tors are welcome at all chapter meet-

ings. Visit our website at:

www.arkrailfan.com

WELCOME ABOARD all new and renewing members!

MEMBERSHIP: Local chapter membership is $12 per year. Please make

checks payable to ABMT NRHS. Regular membership for the National Rail-

way Historical Society is $50 per annum and Family Membership is $54 per

annum. Please refer to the NRHS website www.nrhs.com for complete de-

tails.

2019 DIRECTORY OF OFFICERS

President………………..Gary McCullah

Vice President…………..Larry Cain

Secretary………………..Malcolm Cleaveland

Treasurer………………..Rose Ann Hofer

Membership…………….Malcolm Cleaveland

Dist.7 Nat. Director…….Ken Eddy

Nat. Representative……..Jim Gattis

Editor ……………….....Mike Sypult Program Director……….Hugh Harris

From the President… All who operate model trains are familiar with the

black gunk that builds up on track and wheels. This

gunk is caused by micro-arcing of electricity across

that infinitesimal gap between wheel and rail.

I learned all of this from the May 2019 issue of

Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

(MRHMag.com) in the Publishers Musings column (Page 4). The

magazine is free for download unless you want the premium issue.

Even then the cost is less than $2.00 per month.

A comparison was made of various sprays and liquids that model rail-

roaders use in gunk-fighting and it turns out that materials with a die-

lectric constant (D C) of 2.0 or less are the best at preventing gunk.

Anything with a dielectric constant over 10 creates that black goo.

Guess what has D C over 10. That’s right, IPA or isopropyl alcohol

has a D C of 18.

I would suggest downloading the issue and printing the chart out for

future reference.

- Gary McCullah

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.arkrailfan.com/


The Restored SL&NA Depot at St Joe, Arkansas

by J. L. Gattis

What might seem to be an unlikely bit of railroad history restoration is located in the northwest part of

Searcy County, Arkansas, at the little burg of St Joe, population less than 200. Nestled in the Ozark Moun-

tains, this town is 14 miles from the nearest railroad line, but that was not always the case.

At the turn of the previous century, the St Louis & North Arkansas was extending their route from Eu-

reka Springs (i.e., Junction) to Harrison and onward in a southeasterly direction. The SL&NA opened the St

Joe depot in September, 1902. (According to Louis Still, the St Joe station did not have a water tank; that hon-

or went to the next stop down the line, Gilbert, on the Buffalo River.) After a foreclosure, the line was re-

named Missouri & North Arkansas in 1906. A few snapshots of news stories from that era report the line’s

progress; note that actual events may have occurred before the dates published, and the reports included some

“fake news”.

Inside the nicely restored St. Joe depot. - Jim Gattis photo

If you have a news story about a railroad place, submit it to the editor at [email protected]


July 1902 Since the beginning of year, 20 miles track has been laid from Harrison to Everton.

Grading for another 15 miles to St Joe is underway. [Ed. note: Actually, 35 miles is the distance along the rail-

road from Harrison to Gilbert.]

October 1902 The road has been extended to Gilbert, with work in progress to Leslie.

August 1906 The SL&NA has been reorganized as the M&NA. Directors have authorized extensions

from Seligman, Mo., northwest to Joplin, and from Leslie southeast to the Mississippi River. A mortgage to

$11,500,000 has been recorded.

September 1906 The north extension will be built with 1% maximum grade and 4 degree maximum cur-

vature. The south extension will be built with 0.6% maximum grade and 8 degree maximum curvature.

November 1906 The contract for Leslie to Pangborn [Ed. note: Pangburn] has been awarded. The termi-

nus of the south extension will be Helena.

July 1907 Work between Helena and Brinkley has commenced. Work is in progress from Leslie to

Searcy, and between Woodruff [Ed note: later renamed Wayne], Mo., and Neosho.

October 1907 Construction from Seligman to the northwest is almost completed. A force of 1,400 men

is working on the Leslie-to-Searcy extension.

Two Fairmont speeders. The most-recently acquired speeder had been purchased new by the M&NA in 1934, and

operated out of Harrison. It had made its way to an individual in Texas, who had nicely restored it. Eventually,

the speeder migrated to Paul Slavins in Oklahoma. A museum board member spotted it on social media, and with

a combination of donation and purchase, the museum obtained it. The story was covered in the October 28, 2018,

edition of the Harrison Daily Times. - Jim Gattis photo


November 1907 Tracklaying has begun on the extension from Seligman.

December 1907 The line from Neosho, Mo., to Leslie is in operation [Ed. note: This appears to have

been premature; see next entry]. On the line toward Helena, maximum grades will be 0.6%, and maximum

curves 6 degrees. The road is being laid with 65 pound rails.

February 1908 Tracklaying between Woodruff and Neosho is almost finished. The company has track-

age rights into Joplin.

Extending from Joplin, Mo., to Helena, Ark., the railroad operated on a thin economic edge much of

the time, and eventually succumbed to changing times, competition from improved roads, and a labor strike in

1946.

However, instead of being demolished, the depot was appropriated by other users. It was restored to its

current use as a depot museum in the 2009−2011 period. A few examples of the many interesting pieces of

memorabilia the museum houses, and plans for additions, follow.

A large plan sheet of the layout of the immediate area, from the Office of Valuation Engineer. It shows

that the depot was sandwiched between the main track and a siding. This sheet was copied from files of the

Boone County (Ark.) Heritage Museum.

Upcoming plans include laying tracks around the depot, using old M&NA rails obtained in 2018 from

the Heber Springs area.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (#93000988). The operating entity is

an IRS-recognized non-profit organization. The organization holds quarterly meetings at St Joe, and is consid-

ering forming a “depot club” of interested supporters.

If you have any historic photos or articles related to the depot or the railroad in the area, please submit

them to [email protected] .

TO VISIT

Organization volunteers open the depot museum on most Saturday afternoons from 11 am to 4 pm, and also on some Sunday afternoons.

St Joe is about 25 miles southeast of Harrison, Ark., on US Highway 65, only a few miles from the scenic Buffalo River. The closest town with an array of services is Marshall, about 15 miles to the southeast.


St. Louis & North Arkansas Railroad Official Guide entry for May 4, 1903. Notice St. Joe at this time was at

milepost 104. - Mike Sypult collection


Missouri & Arkansas Employee Timetable No. 7, effective February 25, 1945 showing the Second District includ-

ing St. Joe at milepost 155. - Mike Sypult collection


ABMT NRHS CHAPTER MINUTES ̶ June 20, 2019

Meeting called to order by President McCullah. Minutes of May meeting approved as published.

Ken Eddy gave a quick rundown of Golden Spike 150 the NRHS Annual Membership Meeting participated as

guests. The excursion on the Hebrew Valley RR was cut very short due to a derailment. The next meeting will

be in Dallas, Tx November 7-10. A possible by-Law change will be discussed.

The schedule is as follows:

Nov 7 Goya Library at SMU houses NRHS archives

Nov 8 excursion at Museum of American RR and on TexRail

Treasurer report - checking balance is $3,824.25.

Scrambler Editor - checking on E-mail problem on disseminating newsletter. Also, O&CC presentation at

Cincinnati, AR June 22 at 2:00 pm. Osher Lifelong Learning presentation Friday Sept 20. 1:00-3:00 pm Rail-

roads of Eureka Springs.

Old Business - Frisco Fest August 24, we will be in same location as last year. Al Kaeppel expressed concern

that we may not get enough traffic to make effort worthwhile. A signup sheet was circulated.

New Business - A question was raised about our presence on social media, specifically FaceBook.

Traintalk - A&M has been running high-rail truck preceding all Ft Smith bound trains. Also, using units re-

furbished for owner on trains. Bob Stark mentioned that Missouri State U has Frisco archives including all

kinds of paperwork. Jim Gattis noted that the Monett turn has been switching PepperSource on North side of

Rogers. Mike S reported an F unit on Texas State RR in MKT paint and snow on Cumbres Pass. Steve Tharp

reported flooding on UP’s ex MKT line at Verdegris River dislodged the bridge and ex-MOPAC line washed

out at Ft Gibson.

Motion made and seconded to adjourn. Unanimous approval.

- Gary McCullah filling in for Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Secretary

upcoming 2019 springdale programs - …page 1 -the arkansas scrambler july 2019 volume 32, no. 11...

Documents