The Hot Springs Railroad ran between
Malvern, Arkansas and
Hot Springs.
It was sometimes called the "Diamond Jo Line" because of its developer and sole owner,
Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds
Joseph Reynolds (June 11, 1819 February 21, 1891) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Diamond Jo Line, a transportation company which operated steamboats on the upper Mississippi River. In his youth, while still living in upstate Ne ...
.
Construction of narrow-gauge tracks began in April 1875. Trains began operating on the 21-mile line a year later.
On October 16, 1889, it was converted from a
narrow-gauge railway to standard gauge in about three hours, after several months of preparation. The
Malvern brick roundhouse and turntable were modified for standard-gauge operation, and remained the principal
locomotive shop for the railroad.
Reynolds was a successful steamboat operator from
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. He gained the name "Diamond Jo" by marking his steamboats with the name "Jo" surrounded by a diamond. Reynolds was also known as the "Steamboat King."
Today, Hot Springs Railroad's tracks are owned and operated by
Arkansas Midland Railroad , a
Class III short-line railroad
:''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.''
A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that oper ...
headquartered in Malvern.
AKMD operates of line 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 O ...
consisting of seven disconnected branch lines. The AKMD branches were originally part of the Hot Springs Railroad, and later part of the Union Pacific Railroad. All branch lines connect (interchange traffic) with Union Pacific Railroad. AKMD also interchanges with BNSF in North Little Rock.
AKMD operates on from Malvern, through
Jones Mills, through Hot Springs and to
Mountain Pine
''Pinus mugo'', known as bog pine, creeping pine, dwarf mountain pine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, or Swiss mountain pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and S ...
.
References
External links
Link to Union Pacific Website with AKMD Details
Defunct Arkansas railroads
{{Arkansas-transport-stub