The Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Part 1

[Split]

I know some of you have already seen pictures of some of these places, but this post is about The Missouri and North Arkansas railroad in general. It was completed to Eureka Springs, Arkansas in 1882. Passenger service to Harrison was started in 1903. This railroad was called the M.N.A., short for Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Co. It was built on through to Helena, Arkansas in 1909. The right of way was either donated or purchased from land owners. The track was 349 miles long and it ran from Helma, Ar. to Seligman, Mo. The railroad suffered a strike in the late 1940's which put the always financially troubled railroad out of business, In September of 1946 the railroad was decommissioned. In 1949 the railroad between Harrison and Seligman was re-opened. The railroad ran into some issues and was forced to be put to rest May 5th 1960. I believe the tracks were ripped up in 1961. The land that was used for the right of way has since been returned to property owners. In March of 1981 a couple from Eureka Springs decided to re-open a 2 mile stretch of the railroad. They laid down some tracks and brought in some locomotives by truck. The railway from Junction to Eureka was re-opened in April of 1981. Here are some pictures of the remains of the old MNA Railroad.

[White Rabbit]

That's really neat. I need to get back down there and check out all that additional stuff that I missed the first time around, like the trestle. I didn't know about those tracks still being there, though.

[Split]

Thanks, the trestle was pretty breathtaking. When I first saw it, I did not expect it to be so tall. The ESNA (Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railway) still runs a train on those tracks for tourist in the summertime. The track in the pictures are from the "Wye" at Junction. It's where they turn the train around to head back to Eureka. From my understanding, the Wye was used back when the old MNA railroad was in operation for the same purpose of turning trains around. I was checking out a website, it's where I found the really old pictures. They actually have a link to this site for recent pics of the tunnel on their page. Anyway's it looks like the Depot in Joplin is abandoned and still standing. http://northarkansasline.com/new_page_15.htm#joplin

[Willard]

Actually that depot served, I think 3 different rail lines that ran through there and I think at one time 4 different lines went through Joplin.

[caver]

Here is a picture I took of the train at the above mentioned wye.

Is the trestle farther down the railway to the west of the tunnel? I turned around as a property owner had put a large mound of dirt across the grade and to continue would have been more suitable on my motorcycle. I never did explore past the east end of the tunnel as it was about this time last year and things were a bit brushy.

[tyler]

above mentioned

lol

[Split]

Is the trestle farther down the railway to the west of the tunnel? I turned around as a property owner had put a large mound of dirt across the grade and to continue would have been more suitable on my motorcycle. I never did explore past the east end of the tunnel as it was about this time last year and things were a bit brushy.

If you go past the dirt mound, you will find the trestle. The East side is pretty brushy since no one goes down there. It also gets a bit thicker once you pass the mound of dirt as well.

[caver]

When I was there the bats were pretty active in the tunnel.
I kept shooting until I got one in flight in this picture. Hard to do with the delay my old digital camera has.