A Very Short, Short Line

The locomotives on the front of this post card belong to the

Dardanelle & Russellville Railroad. Here they are shown working for the McAlester Fuel Company. Both engines were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the early 1900s. This website has a very good, concise history of the railroad: http://aslrr.net/dardanelle-russellville-railroad/ The Dardanelle and Russellville Railroad (D&R) operates on 4.8 miles of rail in Russellville, AR. It began operation on August 15, 1883 when it mainly hauled cotton and other agriculture products until 1900 when it shifted to mostly coal. The railroad carried coal until the 1950s when the last underground mines of McAlester Fuel Company were closed. That is the same year in which regular passenger service came to an end. Arkansas Shortline Railroad worked with the city leaders and bought the D&R in 1988 when the railroad was in severe financial difficulties. Within the first year, carloads increased by 282% and over 600 jobs directly connected to the railroad were saved from relocation. Currently the D&R offers full service transload in the yard for the companies Potlach-Deltic, AnPro (Division of the Mars Company), Denali, PolyQuest, and Gator Joist. They also place cars for the companies Stella Jones, West Fraser, Cunningham Metals, and Pet Solutions. The D&R also provides rail scales for their customers and interchange with the Union Pacific. The DR was chartered in 1883 and opened on August 15 of that year. The company was reorganized under its present name on January 13, 1900. Regular passenger service ended in 1950.

This is another post card from my collection by the publisher Railcards.com. The publisher no longer operates.