Steam & Excursion > Eureka Springs and North Arkansas.

Eureka Springs and North Arkansas railroad is a tourist line in Eureka Springs, Arkansas  and has around 5 miles of track.  In October 1986 they held a railfan weekend.  This clip shows the first event of the weekend.  ES&NA #1 a wood burning 2-6-0 built by Baldwin in 1906 with ES&NA #201 an oil burning 2-6-0 built by Alco in 1906.  This pair of stea.m engines double head a freight to the ES&NA depot.

Thanks for viewing.

Ron Hirsch
Springfield, Mo.

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Hmmm.  A brace of real 'puffers.'  That whistle sounds great and this pair seems to be up for the action.

This railroad hasn't run steam in a number of years, correct?

Interesting pair of locomotives, both from the W.T. Carter & Brother/Moscow, Camden & San Augustine operations in eastern Texas.  Baldwin built the #1 new for Carter in 1906, it was stored for years in the Carter steam graveyard in Camden, Texas.  The #201 is another fascinating story, built as noted by Alco in 1906, one of several hundred nearly identical 2-6-0s Alco and Baldwin built for the Isthmian Canal Commission for use in constructing the Panama Canal.  The Panama railroad system had already adopted 5-foot gauge as their standard, hence these were all built to that gauge.  The Equitable Equipment Company of New Orleans bought a large number of the Panamanian Moguls after the canal had been completed, brought them back to the US, converted them to American standard gauge, and offered them for sale.  They were especially popular on logging railroads and shortlines in the southeast.  The 201 was one of the final two steamers active on the MC&SA up to the time they bought their first diesel in 1961.  The Carters sold both engines to the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas, who in turn sold it to the Reader Railroad in Arkansas where it remains today.  ES&NA kept the #201 in operation into the later 1980s, it remained in storage there until the road donated it to the city of Anna, Texas, which is cosmetically restoring the engine for display in their city park.  

Attached photos are an RH Carlson shot of the #1 in Camden on 15 July 1937, and then an uncredited color shot of the #201 in front of the Camden enginehouse on 28 January 1959.

And yes, the ES&NA has been all diesel, using an EMD SW-1 for power, for several decades now.  

Thanks for posting the video!

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

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Both locomotives were sold to the Reader by Carter.  They were leased to the Scott and Bearskin Lake tourist operation, and then moved to the ES&NA before being recovered by the Reader, and their present disposition.  

Thanks for the update/correction on their ownership. 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV