SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2003 - Union Station, Little Rock plus a few scenes of the under-construction Little Rock River Rail streetcar system and pictures of the old Rock Island Choctaw Passenger station and the old Rock Island Arkansas River bridge in Little Rock, both of which are inside the under construction Clinton Presidential Library and both will be a part of the library. (The Choctaw Rock Island freight house was demolished for the library).


CN5286, 1000 am, May 18, 2003.


LEFT-CN9574. RIGHT-UP6207, 1013 a.m.


Three generations of a family were also at the station watching trains this Sunday. RIGHT-'Where Did You Come From?' graffeti.


Colorful train headed by UP4517, 1209 p.m.


More views of this train, which included Conrail 8648.


There is a patch of blackberries (dewberries) just below the tracks which looked delicious, but I wasn't about to eat them with all the locomotive exhaust in that area during the week.


LEFT-The old Rock Island bridge across the Arkansas River is at the left of the picture in east Little Rock. The structures to the right of this bridge, and the bridge itself, are in the Clinton Library complex, currently under construction. The bridge is supposed to be used as a pedestrian walkway with an elevator in the middle when the complex is complete in 2004. RIGHT-You can see the old Rock Island Choctaw Passenger Station to the right in this picture with other Clinton library stuff to the left. The camera is facing east and this whole area is fenced off with alarms. This station will become a school at the library. The station has never been this isolated from other buildings.  The Choctaw Freight House, built in 1899, was directly in back of the passenger station a few hundred yards, but had been covered by the May Construction Company's metal buildings since the 1950s and was razed in 2001 for the library after a few of us tried to save it.


Construction of the Little Rock River Rail's streetcar system was continuing on May 18, 2003. The rails will be laid next, along the path you see here. This is the Main Street Highway Bridge over the Arkansas River.  The electric poles are already up. Apparently, funding has again been restored to finish the project. You can see downtown Little Rock over the bridge.


Brand new Central Arkansas Transit Streetcar #408 has already been delivered and is sitting at CAT's offices. It cost about $800,000.






The River Rail Streetcar Maintenance Facility is almost ready in North Little Rock.