Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas
Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas

Author: Michael E. Hibblen

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 1

ISBN-13: 1467125385

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For nearly 80 years, the Rock Island was a major railroad in Arkansas providing passenger and freight services. A decline in rail travel after World War II and an increase in trucks hauling freight over government-subsidized interstates were among factors that left the railroad struggling. Efforts to merge with other railroads were stalled for years by federal regulators. The Rock Island filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and attempted a reorganization, but creditors wanted the assets liquidated, with a judge shutting it down in 1980. Most of the tracks that traversed the state were taken up, but a few relics, like the Little Rock passenger station and the Arkansas River bridge, remain as monuments to this once great railroad.

The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway
The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway

Author: James R. Fair

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 9780875802190

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The Louisiana & Arkansas Railway, known as "The Better Way," ran its first trains at the turn of the century and expanded over the years to connect New Orleans to Dallas. Well-maintained and enduringly profitable, this regional railroad succeeded because of the tenacity of three men who consecutively oversaw all aspects of operations. The story of the L&A is largely a collective biography of William Edenborn, William Buchanan, and Harvey Couch--the men who built and extended the line by shrewd acquisitions. These successful businessmen combined wisdom, foresight, and propensity for hard word--traits they had first demonstrated in other careers--with their longtime love for trains. Each applied remarkable talents for industry and commerce toward the development of the L&A to mold it into a model regional railroad. In this first history of the L&A, Fair traces the line's development from the early boom days of railroading to its dissolution in the modern era of takeovers. Although for much of its existence the L&A operated under the control of a parent company, the KCS, it long maintained independence. The eventual takeover by the superline in 1992 finally dissolved the L&A entirely.

Southern Timberman
Southern Timberman

Author: Archer H. Mayor

Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Published: 2009-08-01

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0820334480

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In Southern Timberman, Archer H. Mayor traces the legacy of William Buchanan and the companies he owned along the borders of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, from his first lumber mill in the early 1880s to the sale of the last company in 1979. Like many self-made men, Buchanan was known for both his compassion and his relentlessness. To the hundreds of workers who lived in his company-built mill towns, “Old Man” Buchanan was a caring father figure. To his business associates, he was a strong-willed profiteer--a God-fearing, “cut-out-and-get-out” lumberman whose crews laid waste to thousands of acres of virgin pineland. Whatever his tactics, William Buchanan had a gift for making money. By the time he died in 1923, he was one of the wealthiest men in the South. Southern Timberman is also the story of a strong, volatile family who fought--sometimes among themselves--to preserve that fortune. Tracing the growth of Buchanan’s ventures from the first acre of virgin pine to the charged atmosphere of the corporate boardroom, Mayor paints a compelling family portrait set against the background of America’s oil and timber industries.

The Boys on the Tracks
The Boys on the Tracks

Author: Mara Leveritt

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2021-01-26

Total Pages: 494

ISBN-13: 9781515049852

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Two Arkansas teenagers are run over by a train. The state medical examiner rules they smoked themselves into "a marijuana-induced stupor" before lying down, side by side on the tracks. He rules the deaths accidental. Case closed. Except that when the parents of one get the bodies exhumed, new autopsies point to murder. That launches the mom of one of the boys on a journey that will lead her into a dark world of drugs and political corruption. In 2001, after this book's release, a U.S. court of appeals wrote: "The record in this case reads like a John Grisham novel." Shockingly, this story is true.