Pending final approval from Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Cotton Belt 819 will again pull the Cotton Belt Star passenger special from Pine Bluff to Tyler and return for the Texas Rose Festival. The train will leave Pine Bluff on Friday, October 21 and arrive in Tyler early that evening. On Saturday, October 22, the 819 will make a special afternoon excursion trip from Tyler to Athens, TX and return. The Cotton Belt 819 will depart Tyler Sunday morning, October 23, for the return trip to Pine Bluff.

This is a great trip! The 4-8-4 runs on native rail departing Pine Bluff from the building where she was built in 1942. The mild October weather and fall foliage add to the excitement. The nearly 600 mile round-trip from Pine Bluff offers passengers the chance to experience travel behind a beautifully restored mainline steam locomotive with numerous station stops along the way to board passengers.

Saturday in Tyler features the Texas Rose Festival Parade and tours of the famous Tyler Rose Gardens. Many other activities are planned for this special weekend in Tyler.

Plan to ride with us and enjoy this special event. For advance ticket reservations or more information, contact the Arkansas Railroad Museum at (501) 541-1819. A special trip notice will be mailed to all CBRHS members along with the official trip timetable in the near future.

The first meeting was held in February of this year to determine if there was enough interest in Tyler and surrounding areas to form the group. On April 9, 1994 by-laws were adopted and officers were elected. The Tyler Tap Chapter was formed! The following is a list of those officers:

Gerald Cooper

Pete Martinez

Winston Green

Paula Rigsby

Darrell Beard

Bill Pyle

Billie Henry

Ray Cooper (Chairman), Homer Fleischer,

Joe Locke, Bill McGinnis

On April 23, a regular monthly meeting was held at the Ramada Inn in Tyler. Members voted to participate in Clean Tyler on April 30. Our group was given the job of painting the hand railings at the Smith County Historical Society building. Those present were Gerald Cooper, Roy Cooper, Pete Martinez, Chris Martinez and Winston Green. They were treated to a hot dog feast at noon at Harvey Hall.

Also at the April 23 meeting, the following committees were established to help plan for the hosting of the 819 excursion to Tyler and Athens during the Rose Festival this October:

• { Clean-up Committee: To prepare passenger cars for public inspection, day trip to Athens, and return trip to Pine Bluff. This will include such activities as vacuuming, sweeping, emptying trash cans, etc.
• { Train Tour Committee: Passenger cars will be opened for public inspection during idle periods. Tours will be conducted and information given concerning each car.
• { Souvenir Committee: Help with sale of T-shirts, buttons, caps, etc. provided by Pine Bluff to public in Tyler and Athens.
• { Crew Transportation: This committee will help ferry the train's crew to and from their overnight accommodations at Tyler motels/hotels.
• { Food Committee: This committee will help schedule both at-site meals for excursion workers and possibly a more formal meal at a local restaurant during the weekend.
• { Advertising Committee: This committee will help canvas the area with flyers and news releases concerning the 819 excursion prior to ticket sales. (Very important!)
• { Security Committee: This committee will help provide security around the depot helping passengers on and off the train and around the train once its moved to the yard.

I know I can speak for everyone at the Tyler Chapter in saying that we are proud to be a part of the 819 support group and hope that we can make everyone's trip a little more fun and a little less work!

TYLER TAP CHAPTER OFFICERS - Front row (left to right) Winston Green, Gerald Cooper, Paula Rigsby. Back Row (left to right) Pete Martinez, Billie Henry, Bill Pyle, Darrell Beard.

During the midwest floods last summer, railroads cooperated to an unprecedented degree to keep trains moving via detours and shared facilities. Not a single shipper had to close a plant or lay off a worker because of railroad failure to deliver freight in the flood area, the Association of American Railroads reported. (Southern Pacific Update)

Fans of Cotton Belt 819 will want to get a copy of the May 1994 issue of TRAINS Magazine (Volume 54, Number 5). The magazine features a beautiful color photo of the locomotive in action during the 1990 St. Louis trip.

TRAINS Editor Kevin P. Keefe pays tribute to the caretakers of 819 in the accompanying text. CBRHS is grateful for the kind words and the exposure. Look for the Arkansas Traveler in TRAINS.

Several readers have provided additional information and personal recollections about the wreck fifty years ago of Cotton Belt 813 after reading the article by Paul Files, Jr. that appeared in the last (March 1994) issue of the Cotton Belt Star. There are also a couple of corrections that need to be made to the text that appeared under the picture that was not a part of the article. Many members said that they had never seen a photograph of the accident before. Special thanks to Joey Narbutowitch for making the photo available.

• { The date of the accident should have read APRIL 8, 1944. The year was incorrectly shown as 1945.
• { The Engineer's last name should have been spelled HUGON, not Hugan as shown.

I thoroughly enjoyed the March issue, especially the article by Paul Files, Jr., on the Wreck of Cotton Belt 813.

I was on Third Trick, Illmo, MO, when this happened, and this was the first picture I've seen on the tragedy, and one picture is worth 10,000 words.

Kent was nothing but a 10 x 10 foot telegraph office, at a junction with Rock Island, standing all alone out there in open country. I worked there often, and was very familiar with the long, sweeping 90 degree curve immediately north of Kent.

As a hobo in the 1930s, I often rode behind Engineer Bill Hugon, and like all those brave Cotton Belt old-timers, he was fearless. We'd drop off Little Bay Hill, down through the racetrack at Bearden, through Gravel Pit, floating like a breeze, at 70 MPH.

I recall one day at Faith, Arkansas when a young flagman on the Section Gang flagged Hugon, on the first section of a southbound fast freight. He stopped almost opposite the small telegraph office, and climbed down from the engine. He walked up to the flagman and smiling mischievously, said: "Young man, if you don't get out of my way, I'll run over you!" and laughed.

The Pine Bluff Sub-Division of the Cotton Belt consisted of curves and hills, but that didn't deter those old-time engineers from all being "Speed Kings," and HEROES.

Thanks for running the story about the wreck at Kent and the picture. I enclose Camden News article of April 8, 1944 describing the wreck, though there are some inaccuracies. At that time we did not know what happened to cause the switch engine to run away. It was wartime, and rumors went around that it was sabotage.

Many years later, Mr. Fred Gammill told me what caused it: Unlike the Type E superheater and front-end throttle on the 800's, the 500's and most of the smaller superheated engines had the throttle in the dome, and Type A superheaters between the throttle and the cylinders. If the throttle leaked and the engine stood a long time without a fire in it, condensate would build up in the superheater units. Then, if someone put a big fire in it, steam would be raised in the superheater, which could cause the engine to move if the reverse lever was not on center and the wheels not blocked. These things were supposed to have been done, and Mr. Gammill said the engine watchman had been cautioned about putting a fire in engines that had been standing a long time. Probably when the engine was left there they thought they would need it sooner. Once enough pressure was formed in the superheater to make the engine move, the leaking throttle would keep it moving. Sadly, every switch between the engine and the main track was either lined right for the engine to come out, or was in a trailing direction, so that it would run through it. They tried to catch it on a motor car, but it had too big a start on them.

The switch engine was not "demolished," but its tender was mashed almost as wide as it had been long. The engine remained on the track. The picture shows the curve - the headlight was swinging around far to the right, and the men probably did not see anything until almost the moment of impact.

Conductor Guy Lee of Camden told me that he was supposed to be the head brakeman, but that E. C. Morrow had called in that he had a flat at Watson Chapel and would be late. Mr. Petticrew asked Lee to go north instead of his regular run, so they could get the northbound train out of the yard. At Brinkley, they received a message about the tragedy.

I am sure some of the older people know much more about this than I do. It would be interesting to have some of them comment on it.

W. E. Hugon, engineer, Pine Bluff

E. C. Davis, fireman, Pine Bluff

E. C. Morrow, head brakeman, Pine Bluff

The trio were riding in the locomotive, Engine No. 813, of the southbound freight train. They were scalded to death.

No one was aboard the switch engine, No. 569. This engine, a much smaller locomotive, was practically demolished. It remained on the rails but the heavier freight engine fell over on its side. The speed gauge showed the southbound engine was going 56 miles an hour. This freight had a long string of cars behind it. More than a dozen left the tracks and were piled up along the right of way.

Traffic on this main line Cotton Belt Route will be tied up for several hours, and all passenger trains were rerouted via Gurdon.

Trackage was torn up for some distance at the scene of the accident, which is near the junction of the Rock Island and Cotton Belt lines just across the Ouachita river bottoms. Highway No. 7, the Kent highway, has been under water from the flooded Ouachita for the past three weeks, but water was off the route today and many motorists rushed to the scene.

Engine No. 569 used in switching in the Camden yards had completed its day's work and was standing at its usual berth in the Camden yards. In some manner its brakes failed to hold and the locomotive backed down the yard switch and then split several other switches and got on the main line before meeting the speeding southbound train. Veteran railroad men say it is the most unusual accident in recent years.

Investigating officials started to work immediately.

Wrecker crews were summoned and are at work clearing the tracks.

The three trainmen were all veterans of the Cotton Belt.

Killed were Engineer W. E. Hugon, 54, Fireman E. C. Davis, 27, and Brakeman E. C. Morrow, all of Pine Bluff, who were in the engine of the freight.

Cotton Belt officials here were unable to explain how the switch engine, used in the Camden yards, was on the main line. It was parked for the night, they reported, in the yards but in some manner backed on the main line and traveled north apparently unmanned for some two miles.

The switch engine was demolished and the big freight locomotive was overturned. Twelve cars of the freight were derailed and traffic tied up south of here.

On Monday, February 7, Tyler City Manager Ernie Clark and Tyler Chamber of Commerce Vice President Mark Thompson visited the Arkansas Railroad Museum at Pine Bluff. They were given a tour by Peter Smykla, followed by a luncheon and a meeting with members of the Board of Directors. The role of the Tyler Chamber of Commerce is in helping to promote the 819 excursion to Tyler and the Tyler to Athens trip on Saturday during the Rose Festival weekend of each year. They were very impressed with the museum and what the 819 excursion does for Tyler and the Rose Festival.

On Wednesday, May 4, a group from Athens paid a visit to the museum. They were Mayor Dick Stonier, Chamber of Commerce President Larry Beeman, Vice President Tommy Maxfield, Tourist and Convention Director Bobette Bandy, and City Secretary Pam Burton. A guided tour of the museum was given by Jack Stone, followed by a luncheon. A meeting was held after the luncheon with Chamber of Commerce Vice President Tommy Maxfield giving a presentation on their plans for the Saturday when the 819 makes the trip from Tyler to Athens. Plans are for the hamburger feast that is held in September to be moved to the Saturday in October when 819 makes the run from Tyler to Athens. There will be lots of activities planned for that day around the square and where the train unloads. They were very impressed with the museum and the escort that officer David Price gave them from the airport to the museum.

Look for more information on the trip from Tyler to Athens in the September newsletter. (Editors note: Gerald Cooper, President of the Tyler Tap Chapter of CBRHS, accompanied the groups. Submitted by Bill Pyle, Tyler Tap Chapter Editor.)

One morning about 10 A.M. back about 1944 I was on duty in Fordyce Tower listening on the Dispatcher's phone. The engineer on a northbound freight came in on the phone and said: "The operator here at Faith has passed out, and his board is red. What should we do?"

The Dispatcher replied: "Clear the board, and hi-ball to Pine Bluff Shops." Of course, the operator was fired, the job was advertised, and I bid on the job, and got it.

Faith, Arkansas was a very wide place in the road. Working nine hours a day on First Trick Fordyce Tower, I suddenly realized that the operator at Faith was working thirteen hours a day, and dollar signs appeared before my eyes.

The first problem was getting from Fordyce to Faith, as nothing northbound stopped there. So I hopped a freight at Fordyce and took off. We met a southbound freight at Cabool. It was a perfect meet, my northbound train holding the main, and only having to reduce speed to about 20 MPH before the southbound cleared, and I hopped off. I walked the six miles to Faith. But for that meet, I would have had to walk twelve miles back from Pine Bluff.

For several weeks I slept on a cot in the small station. Then my family arrived and we lived for a short time in an old abandoned house just back of the station. Later we lived with a nice young couple who shared half of their cottage more than a mile back in deep piney woods. The most difficult part of that was getting off duty at 10 P.M. and walking through those deep piney woods, carrying only a kerosene lantern, past an old cemetery. With an occasional owl hoot, and deepening shadows, I was constantly looking fore and aft, expecting someone to be following me. It was a nightmare.

As I've stated earlier, Faith siding was on the side of a hill descending southbound, so only southward trains used the siding. On one tour of duty seven southbounds headed into Faith siding, and I handled all switches, both north as they headed in the siding, and south as they left town.

In copying train orders at Faith, as well as other small intermediate stations on the Cotton Belt, time was of the essence. It meant that southbound trains were already by South Pine Bluff, and northbounds were already by Rison. And that meant that often the Dispatcher had to hurry his transmission.

At Faith we had a Scott type train order signal, a wooden paddle, painted red, at the top of a switch stand. Parallel to the track it was considered GREEN, but perpendicular to the track it was RED. The moment the Dispatcher rang and said "Copy 5 North (or South)" I'd stand up, move one step to the left, with the headphones still on my head. Then reach back with my left foot, lift the handle on the switch stand, and turn my signal to RED. Then start copying the train order, knowing that the train was approaching me at speed, and that seconds were precious. It was no job for a nervous person. Our job was to keep the trains rolling, never to stop or delay.

Later during World War II a new siding a mile south of Faith was built, on level terrain, and called Rone. My station was moved there. I remember on one occasion I handled the south switch at Rone for a northbound, and the head brakeman threw off 75 cents in change to show his appreciation. They left the siding through a spring switch on the north end, so both trains effected a meet without either stopping.

Rone was nothing but piney woods, and owl's hooting, the most isolated station on the Cotton Belt.

In addition to all our other business during the War, we had four oil trains north daily, with the movement balanced by four empty tank trains south every day. One Sunday morning at 7:45 A.M. I placed my velocipede on the track and followed a southbound empty tank train from Faith to Rone. I derailed at the north spring switch at Rone, and really got shook up. I discovered that over a foot of main line 112 lb rail had broken off and was missing. I wondered how on earth the southbound had gotten over it. I rushed to the depot and learned that a northbound freight was already by Rison, Arkansas. I ran down the track a half mile and placed two track torpedoes, and shortly flagged the 800 north with a red fusee. The Engineer was Slim Atherton, and he cooled his heels there at Rone for several hours as a track crew had to be called out of Pine Bluff to change rails.

Back in the 1930s Slim was on an 800 northbound picking up at Lewisville, Arkansas. I had already delivered him his train orders, and had walked out on the station platform to admire the engine, and Slim invited me up into the cab. He waved the orders under my nose, and said: "How do you expect me to read these?" I was shocked, even though I knew Slim had a point. So I replied: "Sorry, but I'm not responsible for your education," and with that I half fell and half climbed down from the engine, fearing retaliation.

One of my favorite rules in the Uniform Code of Operating Rules was Rule 108 which read: IN CASE OF DOUBT OR UNCERTAINTY, THE SAFE COURSE MUST BE TAKEN.

Being a railroad man, that's exactly what I did.

At intermediate stations like Faith, Rone, Rison and Bearden, delivering orders to an 800 engine was almost like handing up to a second story building moving at 70 MPH. With the arrival of the 800 engines we required longer cane hoops. The wind velocity from the engine would bend the cane hoop about a foot and we had to compensate for that, all the while standing about two feet from a meet with your Maker. I had a friend one night at Piggott, Arkansas handing up to a southbound Missouri Pacific freight at speed, being sideswiped by the door of a refrigerator car which had swung out. A man with iron nerves, he became so nervous he fell to his knees and delivered orders to the caboose in that position. It was some time before he staggered into the depot and was able to compose himself.

The Pine Bluff Sub-Division consisted of hills and curves. A Missouri Pacific engineer, detouring over the Cotton Belt, amended that by saying: "The Cotton Belt doesn't have curves; it has corners!"

Most head brakeman would stand on the engine deck when picking up orders, but some brave ones would climb down the engine ladder, making it easier to deliver but more dangerous for them. I've seen brakman's arms blue and bruised from high-speed deliveries.

Of all the places I worked, I hated handing up at Rison, Arkansas. A southbound freight, dropping off a hill, would swerve at the last moment and miss you, standing on the OUTSIDE of a curve. Had a train ever derailed, it would have taken you and the station into the next county.

Years later now, as I write this, even now, I get nervous. The memories still linger, stronger than ever.

CBRHS OBTAINS ALCO LOCOMOTIVE - A new addition to the Arkansas Railroad Museum is ALCO/GE B-2089 previously assigned to Army Transportation Corps service at the Red River Arsenal at Texarkana.

A set of three train orders written for engine 819 was recently donated to the Arkansas Railroad Museum by CBRHS member P. B. Wooldridge. Two of the train orders were written on March 15, 1943 when 819 was barely a month old and pulling passenger extras. The third order was written in 1947. CBRHS members John and Judy Wellenberger provided the frame for the display.

The train orders are displayed adjacent to locomotive 819 in the museum building, along with a narrative explaining the handing up of train orders. The display will let old-timers relive the "good old days," gone and never to return, and educate the youngsters as to what they've missed.

It takes a lot of work to keep a steam locomotive in top operating condition. Many volunteers put in long, hard hours keeping 819 ready to roll. Recently, fire brick in the firebox was repaired. Throttle valves have been serviced. The pilot valve for the throttle valves has been replaced. Getting replacement parts for 819 is not as easy as going to the neighborhood locomotive supply store. Many items have to be custom built. Machinist Joe McNabb fabricated the new valve. Joe also replaced drive wheel bushings on the left side of the locomotive.

Both the 819 main tender and the 814 auxiliary tender have been filled with fresh water. A special water treatment solution has been added to help dissolve rust and calcium deposits.

Bill Bailey has been busy doing electrical work on the engine and both tenders. A new rear lamp has been installed on the 814 tender, along with the necessary wiring upgrades. Work has also been done to repair some minor electrical problems on the locomotive. As reported in the last issue of the Cotton Belt Star, the 819 passed the annual hydro test and received a one year flue extension. The next time you stand and gaze at this magnificent locomotive, take a moment to appreciate all the dedicated volunteers who keep it going, and all members of CBRHS for their support.

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- It was lunch time, 5 p.m.. Which really, timewise, doesn't follow.

But lunch here, specifically that purveyed by the Ill-Mo Beanery and formally known as Railside Lunches, isn't on a regular schedule.

Lunch the other afternoon meant this: Mary Waddington and Bev Riley cooking hamburgers, frying eggs, making sandwiches, brewing coffee and packing cartons of milk, doughnuts and slices of pie into brown paper bags.

Lunch meant four humming refrigerators, a microwave, a sizzling grill and a big poster of Elvis, all in a squeaky clean kitchen with a sign on an open door saying, "Private Property, No Trespassing."

It meant nary a customer in the joint. Nor a cash register.

Not exactly your everyday restaurant.

But the customers were coming, men aboard an eastbound Union Pacific diesel locomotive (three slave units following) and 70-plus loaded trailer-train cars.

The scanner crackled.

"Passing the high school," it said.

Bev walked outside with three brown bags in a duct tape-reinforced cardboard box with a handle on it.

The handle was wrapped in duct tape, too.

Bev crossed the street, walked up to the railroad tracks, then climbed what resembled a flight of stairs going nowhere. Atop the stairs was an inverted "L," the so-called "hook."

Bev attached the handle of the box to the hook and swung it toward the tracks.

The train, moving about 20 mph, got bigger and bigger as it approached, blasting its horn for the next crossing down the tracks.

Fifty yards from the hook, a crew member in a plaid shirt popped out of the diesel's cab, waited until the time was right and plucked the box from the hook.

That done, he took the bags and let the box drop to the ground beside the tracks, then waved at Bev as the locomotives and its slaves accelerated, picking up speed.

Bev retrieved her box and walked back to the little building.

"Next train due through in about an hour," she said.

Three bag lunches delivered. Now others to make.

In a way, what had just happened by the tracks had been sublime, a sort of ballet. Two persons acted with a learned sureness and grace despite being dwarfed by the massive power of the engines, the rumble of the cars, the whipping wind the train created as it passed.

Time was when things being picked up by a moving train wouldn't have caused a second glance. That happened all the time with mail sacks.

But the mail trains are long gone. So now it's just lunches.

And just the lunches from the Ill-Mo Beanery, the only place on the 21,000-mile Union Pacific system that delivers meals to crews by means of a flight of stairs going nowhere and a pipe that looks line an inverted "L."

Some folks here think that Ill-Mo provides the only such service of its kind in the country.

So maybe, here just south of Cape Girardeau, a part of the past lives on in Scott City.

Bennie Wheeler and Bob Camp own the place, an establishment that's been doing what it does since 1949. The U.P. and Conrail train crews that run between Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Dupo, Ill., phone in orders night and day, and pick up two to four lunches per train.

This day, Bev and Mary were working the 4 p.m. to midnight shift. Others take over at midnight and 8 a.m., and fill more brown bags. The place is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Bev's 39, a St. Louis native. She loves her job, going so far to decorate her delivery boxes with her nickname -- "Puddle Duck."

Puddle Duck?

"That's what they call me," said Bev.

Mary's a tad older than her co-worker -- 86. She's worked in restaurants and cafes most of her life and said she has not the slightest intention of retiring.

"Only thing I've noticed at my age," said Mary, "is that I can't get up those stairs real good anymore."

"So I leave that up to Bev."

Bev didn't say a word. She just smiled and kept filling sacks. (James J. Fisher in the Kansas City Star via Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 28, 1994)

Like a broken-down locomotive, the Cotton Belt Depot has been waiting six years for new parts.

The parts arrived when the Texas Transportation Commission approved a $262,000 grant to put the 92-year-old building back on track.

After remodeling, the former depot is to house a visitor's center, museum, specialty retail shops geared toward tourism, and a private office.

"We're thrilled with the news; this has been a long process," Karen Hampton, a Heart of Tyler Inc. board member, said.

Heart of Tyler applied for the federal grant last October, but the struggle to utilize the depot began in 1988.

The Southern Pacific Transportation Co. of San Francisco gave the building to the city of Tyler six years ago but the railroad company did not convey the property on which the building stood. The real estate was leased for $100 a year.

City Council members refused to spend some $300,000 for major renovations when Southern Pacific could later decide it wanted to use the land and order the city to remove the depot. In 1991, Southern Pacific agreed to sell the land for $55,000, but council members did not want to buy it and face the costly remodeling job. They urged Heart of Tyler to find a private buyer.

The depot, on East Oakwood Street, was built in 1902 and used as a train station until the 1950s, then as railroad offices. It was boarded up in 1987, given to the city in 1988 and has been used by the city for storage.

The breakthrough came when the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 provided federal funds for acquiring scenic or historic easements and historic preservation and rehabilitation of historic transportation facilities.

The grant required a 20-percent local match, and last year, Michael Butler and Steve Fitzpatrick agreed to provide the $65,000 matching funds and locate their architectural office in the building.

Ms. Hampton sees the depot as the beginning of additional revitalization on the levee area around the railroad tracks.

"We have always viewed this as a key building in the vision for the levee area where we can begin to see some other re-investment dollars into other buildings," she said. "This, coupled with what the chamber plans for the Wadel-Connally Building and what we've seen at The Discovery Place, is a marvelous catalyst."

Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Tom Mullins said the chamber plans to relocate to the Wadel-Connally Building, and with the depot, will begin a downtown historic district. He said private investors have also purchased property in the area for refurbishing.

The depot will not only be a preservation project, but could become productive property. Heart of Tyler estimates annual maintenance will cost about $10,000, while annual rental income could reach $21,000.

The federal funds for the depot are awarded through the state, and the grant application was submitted by Heart of Tyler to the Texas Department of Transportation where it competed with similar projects from across the state for a total $90 million.

Four other projects were submitted from the Tyler area and the East Texas Rails-to-Trails project was also approved. Projects for Camp Ford, the Tyler Bicycle Club and Goodman Museum were not successful.

The state's approval serves as a recommendation to the Federal Highway Administration, which will review the projects before disbursing the grants.

Tyler Main Street director Dina Stapleton was in Austin for the commission's decision. She said funding will be provided directly to Heart of Tyler in July or August.

She said Heart of Tyler will "immediately begin working out the logistics" of buying the land and securing the building from the city.

The total project cost $327,000 and will include a new roof, carpentry, masonry, heating and cooling repairs, new doors and windows, plaster work, paint, staining, sidewalk repairs, landscaping and parking lot improvements. (John Fuquay in the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Saturday, April 30, 1994)

Remember:

Always remember to LOOK...LISTEN...AND LIVE!

Darrel promises a full report in the next issue of the Cotton Belt Star. Included will be highlights of the month-long journey including details of what Darrel describes as the "worst experience ever" going through a 1.5 mile tunnel, up hill, at full throttle. Should make for some interesting "war stories." Stay tuned.

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major chili consumption - CBRHS members and guests enjoy food and fellowship at chili supper March 19 at the Arkansas Railroad Museum.

William E. Hugon Elbert C. Morrow Earl C. Davis

"The Cotton Belt doesn't have curves; it has corners!"