x

All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm

COWCATCHER MAGAZINE

The W&PRR: Evolution of Operations on the Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Railroad

October 21, 2021

If anything good can come of a pandemic, it’s sending model railroaders back to their projects and layout rooms. The Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Railroad has experienced significant growth since early 2020 through evolution of operations, when staying inside seemed like the best idea.

While temptations to acquire more right of way have been tempered, a lot of new things have emerged since then. Track has been completed, including a couple of expansion, scenery continues to develop – the bare plywood is covered for the most part – and refining operations continues.  

Some new additions have been chronicled in the Cowcatcher: the development of lower staging (July/August 2020); the Carthage Viaduct (November/December 2020); disguising main lines (March/April 2021) and building The Times-Gazette modern-day newspaper plant (September/October 2021 and November/December 2021).

Union Pacific Train No. 3100 rounds the passing siding at Texarkana with 20 cars bound for Texarkana. – Cowcatcher Magazine

The biggest development of the railroad has been defining its purpose. What does it do? Why is it there? Where is it going?

The railroad’s operational scope has evolved into streamlined movement of freight from Dallas and Kansas City on the Union Pacific with limited main line switching. The Kansas City Southern, which has trackage rights, plays a secondary role.

Call it a preview of Precision Scheduled Railroading.

Once trains depart from Dallas and Kansas City, the only real switching is picking up and setting out cars at interchanges in Texarkana (UP and KCS) and Fort Smith (UP). The heavy lifting happens with the W&PRR in Fort Smith via Van Buren, Whitehurst and Pine Ridge and a KCS local in Texarkana, AR.

The only exceptions are UP’s coal drag between the Monticello Mine in Mount Pleasant, TX, to lower staging and the power plant in Jefferson City, MO, switching Buhrman-Pharr Hardware in Texarkana, TX, and interchanging with the W&PRR in Pine Ridge.

The coal job is run by a dedicated UP crew and strictly moves from Mount Pleasant to Jefferson City in lower staging.

Grain and ag products, cement, petroleum and coal main commodities

The railroad has a diverse portfolio of commodities anchored by grain and agricultural products, petroleum products and coal. Secondary commodities include cement, produce, beer, paper, scrap, plastics and food.

The W&PRR, a growing short line and UP subsidiary, provides last-mile service in Van Buren, Whitehurst and Pine Ridge through its connection at Fort Smith.

About 200 miles away, a KCS interchange in Texarkana, AR, accepts cars, which are classified in a small yard and routed to a handful of industries.

At either location, switching usually starts with a trip to the interchange to pick up setouts.

Grain is the most dominant commodity moved – UP and KCS run unit trains. Both run the length of the layout and makes stops in Texarkana where loads and empties are picked up and dropped off. Most of the action is in Texarkana, where Avilla Feeds and M&M Milling handle about a dozen cars between them.

A key run on the KCS is Cargill’s elevator in Kansas City to Dallas, including a stop at the Texarkana interchange.

In Pine Ridge, Greystone Cement receives and dispatches cars for the UP through a special interchange agreement on the W&PRR’s inbound track. Farmer’s Union receives a handful of cars that must be transported several miles away from the Fort Smith interchange.

Oil is a big player in Van Buren and Whitehurst. The W&PRR serves a small Texaco refinery, storage tanks at Gulf Oil, plus Ozark Oil in Whitehurst. Enough volume exists to dedicate a train specifically for moving tank cars.

Other commodities on the W&PRR include newsprint and plastics.

Jobs within jobs in operations

A typical operating session includes two mainline operators and switch jobs in Van Buren/Whitehurst/Pine Ridge and Texarkana. In between mainline runs, a Dallas operator switches Zion lumber company in East Dallas and Sunshine Biscuits and Dallas Recycling off Dallas Yard, and builds and breaks down trains. A sixth job consists of shuttling cars off the layout to lower staging.

Several test runs have confirmed the layout’s operational design. For the most part, everything has run smoothly.

As one observer said, the layout has great potential for jobs within jobs. Particularly with the small oil sweep on the W&PRR and grain jobs in Texarkana. Another possibility is a dedicated cement train between the Fort Smith interchange and Willis Cement in Pine Ridge.

Check back soon for more updates on the Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Railroad.

Back to Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Main Page

Current Issue: July/August 2025

$6.95 (U.S. Orders Only)

Katy Flavor

Growing up in Central Texas in the 1980s, David Heyde loved big machinery. Only natural for a boy surrounded by a mighty river complemented by steamboats, an active Army airfield and regional airport, and equipment that tended row upon row of corn, soybeans and other grains. What loomed largest, though, was the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. Heyde’s MKT Central Texas Subdivision, a compact but bold HO-scale layout, captures on two levels around the walls the zest of the iconic railroad that ran from Kansas City and St. Louis to Galveston, TX, and the Gulf of Mexico. All while maximizing space in what once was a one-car garage.

Holding Steady

This year’s National Narrow Gauge Convention is coming home, where it all began 45 years ago. The Mudhens will once again have a large presence at the convention Sept. 3-6 in St. Louis. Over the last four decades, their rise has been rather circuitous. While developing national appeal in narrow-gauge circles, these dedicated modelers from St. Louis to Arizona to Texas have persevered.

Personal Switcher

The Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad (KCRR) debuted in early March, with no small impact on a parcel of track along the former Missouri Pacific Railroad near the Kansas-Missouri line. What’s turning heads, says KCRR president Rich Duncan, is that the tiny Class III short line is rewriting the railroad marketing narrative on first-mile, last-mile service with a new level of dedicated switching so its three customers can better connect to the Union Pacific.

Plus

Columnist Michelle Kempema writes that model railroaders and railfans can preserve their legacy for a good cause, railroads once ran special trains in enormous size and variety and autonomous battery-electric rail cars are being piloted on two Georgia short line railroads. Also, one modeler looking for something unique for his layout found just the thing in an old model railroad magazine - plans to scratch build a rock bunker. And more!