The Arkansas Western Railway operated a 32-mile rail line between

Heavener, Oklahoma Heavener is a city in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,414 at the 2010 census, an increase of 6.7 percent from 3,201 at the 2000 census.

and

Waldron, Arkansas Waldron is a city in Scott County, Arkansas, United States. Its population was 3,386 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Scott County. History Waldron was platted in 1845 by surveyor W. P. Waldron, and named for him. A post offic ...

. It bought the assets of its predecessor in 1904, and the company was merged out of existence in 1992.

History

About three years after the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad (KCP&G) arrived in Heavener in what was then

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, the Arkansas Western Railroad was incorporated December 13, 1899 to build a line from Heavener to Waldron in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. The line was about 32 miles in length, passed through

Bates Bates may refer to: Places * Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County * Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County * Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Elli ...

, Cauthron, and

Hon, Arkansas Hon is an unincorporated community in Scott County, Arkansas, United States. History The community was named after the family of John Hon, which settled the area in the 1830s. A post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer ...

, and was completed in 1901. The purpose of the railway was to service the timber industry. The Kansas City Southern (KCS) acquired the KCP&G in a foreclosure sale in 1900. On May 13, 1904 the KCS incorporated a new subsidiary, the Arkansas Western Railway, which then acquired all the assets of the Arkansas Western Railroad on June 1, 1904. The Arkansas Western Railway continued to be operated under that name, but the acquisition allowed “through-service” from Ft. Smith to Waldron, about 45 miles to the south-southeast; however, the round-about route took 3 hours and 15 minutes while making 14 intermediate stops. In 1932, the railroad built an extension of about 22 miles from Waldron to Forester, Arkansas to service a lumber mill there. But that line was removed soon after the closing of the mill in 1952. Consideration was given around 1980 to abandonment of the rest of the trackage, but instead the line was rehabilitated by mid-1983 in a project taking private and public funding and utilizing 43,540 crossties, 120,092 rail anchors, 92,035 tons of base aggregate, 29 new timber trestles, and 15 repaired trestles. In 1992, the Arkansas Western Railway was merged into the KCS. In subsequent history, the KCS leased the Heavener-to-Waldron line to

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) is a transportation company based in Pittsburg, Kansas, formed in 1983 by Charles R. Webb. Watco was composed of four divisions: transportation, mechanical, terminal and port services, and compliance. Watco is th ...

in 2005, and the trackage is being operated by the Arkansas Southern Railroad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arkansas Western Railway Kansas City Southern Railway Arkansas railroads Oklahoma railroads