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My look at the Rock Island in Arkansas. Even though it has been more than 25 years since the railroad's bankruptcy, there are still a lot of remnants throughout my home state. Here I've included photos of many of those places, as well as downloadable MP3 files with firsthand stories for anyone interested in this once great railroad. There are also links to other web sites with related material. For anyone who doesn't know the history of the Rock Island, Wikipedia has a great look. MOST RECENT UPDATE: 3/07/08- Raymond Van Hook shares his Rock Island Recollections about growing up alongside the tracks in Howe, Oklahoma in the 1940s and '50s. The town, which is about 40 miles from the Arkansas boarder, was along the Rock Island's mainline that ran between Memphis and Tucumcari, New Mexico. |
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ROCK ISLAND BRIDGE & LITTLE ROCK DEPOT 15 black and white images, taken in the late 1980's to mid-90's, of the century old Rock Island Bridge, spanning the Arkansas River at Little Rock. At that time the bridge and nearby depot were abandoned and decaying. In fact at one point there was a plan by Union Pacific, which had acquired the bridge, for it to be dismantled. But fortunately it and the depot have been preserved as part of the Clinton Presidential Library, which was built on the grounds of this former railroad complex. Also included are 10 more recent images taken on a foggy day. |
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OTHER ROCK ISLAND DEPOTS IN ARKANSAS They may not have tracks beside them anymore, but there are plenty of old Rock Island depots still standing in Arkansas. While many were in terrible shape just a few years ago, most have been restored and are beautiful relics of a long gone era. In this section you can see classic images of some of the depots, along with photos that I've taken in recent years. I also include old trackage and other remnants where the railroad ran through Arkansas. There are also photos of two short-line railroads now operating on old Rock Island tracks. |
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42 images of this Rock Island caboose, which my family and I are now restoring. The 73-year-old caboose was used by the railroad for 50 years, until the Rock Island's bankruptcy in 1980. After sitting abandoned for two decades beside a house near Pinnacle Mountain, outside of Little Rock, I bought the caboose in 2003 and moved it to my parent's home. We're now working to renovate it as a guesthouse. Here you can view images of the caboose when we bought it and the extensive efforts that it took to move it. |
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My small collection of Rock Island postcards from Arkansas. The first several are from the early 1900's, with two showing the Little Rock bridge, two of the Little Rock depot and one of the Rock Island's track west of Little Rock, where it parallels the Arkansas River. There are also five postcards showing other deports in Arkansas, photographed from the 1960's through the 80's, including North Little Rock (Argenta), Lonoke, Carlisle, Hazen and Booneville. |
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While researching a high school paper on the railroad in 1988, I recorded an interview with L.T. Walker, who worked as a conductor and had retired a decade earlier. I found his incredibly vivid stories so fascinating that in recent years I've been seeking out more Rock Island employees to record their stories, which you can download here as MP3 files. I've also spoken with Joe Rook, who worked as a conductor before the railroad shut down, and Al Dodson, who was the Rock Island's union representative. They all weave together great, first hand accounts of the Rock Island's final years. |
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ROCK ISLAND AND OTHER TRAIN-RELATED LINKS: -Minnesota Public Radio produced an incredible documentary on the history of the song "Rock Island Line," a folk song that, as explained here, was first documented in a Little Rock, Arkansas prison in 1934. The entire radio program can be listened to on this web site. -Here's an interesting site focusing on the Choctaw Freight Terminal in Little Rock, which would become the Rock Island's, situated on the opposite side of the tracks from the railroad's Little Rock depot. Sadly the century-old structure was destroyed in November 2001 to make way for the Clinton Presidential Library. At least the passenger depot and Arkansas River bridge are being preserved. See some great photos of Rock Island sites in Little Rock on this page. -Ken Ziegenbein of North Little Rock hosts Ken's Weather and Railroad, which includes lots of information and constantly updated photos of trains and sites around Arkansas. Many Rock Island items, along with an online version of his monthly publication Arkansas Railroader. -The Rock Island Technical Society has a detailed site that has equipment rosters, including the locations of all known Rock Island cabooses, photos and lots of great historical items. -A site called Brian's Rails has a section on Ghosts of the Choctaw Route, which looks at relics of the mostly taken up Rock Island track through Arkansas, including some great photos. -A really great, professionally maintained site is RailPictures.net, which features photos of practically every railroad, including plenty of "fallen flags" like the Rock Island. Plenty of photos are added every day, so it seems there are always new images to look at. -A good source for official railroad information is the Federal Railroad Administration site. Here you can do searches, read different reports are railroading and see official information about Amtrak. I am not directly associated with any of these sites. If any of these links no longer work, please let me know! Also if you know of any sites with Rock Island-related content, also please shoot me an email. |
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