{{Short description|Defunct railroad in Arkansas}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox rail | railroad_name=Arkansas Midland Railroad| logo_filename=| logo_size=| gauge={{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}| old_gauge= {{track gauge|3ft6in}} and {{RailGauge|3ft|lk=on}} | marks=| locale=Arkansas| start_year=1853| end_year=1910| hq_city=Helena| length={{convert|77|mi|km}}| }} The '''Arkansas Midland Railroad''' (“Midland”), chartered in 1853, together with associated companies created a rail line eventually running from Helena, Arkansas to Clarendon, Arkansas, with a branch running from Glenwood to Woodsville, Arkansas. The route ended up as branches of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (“Iron Mountain”) in 1910.
==History== ===The beginnings=== The Midland was formed in 1853 by citizens of Helena, and was intended as a fairly straight ”air-line railroad” running from Helena west to Little Rock, Arkansas, about 115 miles.<ref name=Narrow>{{cite book |last=Hilton |first=George W.|date=1990 |title= American Narrow Gauge Railroads|publisher= Stanford University Press|pages=75–80,313–314|isbn=0-8047-2369-9}}</ref><ref name=NarrowEnc>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/narrow-gauge-railroads-5987/ |title=Narrow Gauge Railroads|publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref> Helena, on the Mississippi, was a prosperous river port, and Little Rock was the state capitol.<ref name=Helena>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/helena-west-helena-phillips-county-950/ |title=Helena-West Helena|publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref><ref name=LittleRock>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/little-rock-970/ |title= Little Rock (Pulaski County) |publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref> Prior to the Civil War, the line was graded from Helena to a point variously described as twelve miles short of Little Rock, or fifteen miles west of the White River; however, no trackage was built.<ref name=Narrow/>
===Arkansas Central Railway=== Following the chaos of the Civil War and its immediate aftermath, the '''Arkansas Central Railway''' was formed in 1871 specifically to obtain the graded right-of-way of the Midland.<ref name=Narrow/> The railroad projected adding a branch from Duncan to Clarendon, the latter being a prosperous river port on the White River and a future connection point for the Texas and St. Louis Railway (“T&SL”).<ref name=NarrowEnc/><ref name=Clarendon>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/clarendon-942/ |title= Clarendon (Monroe County) |publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref> The railroad also intended to add a branch from some point on its line to Pine Bluff.<ref name=Narrow/> The company actually built from Helena through Marvell, Pine City and Holly Grove to Duncan, as well as the “branch” from Duncan to Clarendon, essentially creating a 48-mile long mainline from Helena to Clarendon starting service in 1872.<ref name=Narrow/><ref name=NarrowEnc/><ref name=Holly>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/holly-grove-monroe-county-6133/ |title= Holly Grove (Monroe County) |publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref><ref name=Marvell/> Being constructed during the narrow-gauge railway movement in the U.S., the line was originally projected as a 3-foot gauge railroad, and toward that goal a 3-foot gauge locomotive was purchased.<ref name=Narrow/> However, management subsequently decided to build a 3 foot, 6 inch gauge line instead, which required different locomotives but still made the Arkansas Central the first narrow-gauge railway in Arkansas.<ref name=NarrowEnc/> In 1877, amid financial difficulties, the Arkansas Central Railway was sold through an intermediate buyer back to the Midland, which company was still in existence.<ref name=Narrow/><ref name=Marvell>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/marvell-phillips-county-951/ |title= Marvell (Phillips County) |publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref>
===Gauge changes=== The Midland converted its 3 foot, 6 inch gauge line to 3-foot gauge in 1883 in order to achieve gauge compatibility with the T&SL at Clarendon.<ref name=Narrow/> When the T&SL converted to standard-gauge in 1886, the Midland followed in 1887.<ref name=Narrow/>
===Brinkley, Helena and Indian Bay Railway=== Separately, the '''Brinkley, Helena and Indian Bay Railway''' was a 3-foot gauge line built in 1889 from a spur off the Midland trackage at Pine City to the town of Brinkley, Arkansas, which also had a connection to the T&SL as well as to the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad and what became the shortline White and Black River Valley Railway.<ref name=Narrow/><ref name=Guide>{{cite web|url= http://www.railroadcollectibles.com/brinkley-helena-and-indian-bay-railroad/ |title=Brinkley, Helena and Indian Bay Railroad Memorabilia Value Guide|publisher=RailroadCollectibles.com|accessdate=June 17, 2024}}</ref><ref name=Brinkley>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/brinkley-monroe-county-941/ |title= Brinkley (Monroe County) |publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref><ref name=ICC>{{cite web|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=F-tDAAAAIAAJ&q=WHITE+%26+BLACK+RIVER|title=White and Black River Valley Railway|year=1929 |publisher= Interstate Commerce Commission, January–March 1929, pp. 848-851; 1062-1066|accessdate=October 6, 2022}}</ref> The line was 24 miles in length, plus a 5-mile spur from Glenwood to Woodsville.<ref name=Narrow/> In 1891 the Midland bought that company.<ref name=NarrowEnc/> But it did not convert the line to its own standard-gauge until September 1900, and it continued to run the line as a separate railroad until 1909.<ref name=NarrowEnc/><ref name=Guide/>
===The Iron Mountain=== In 1901, control of the Midland was acquired by interests associated with railway "robber baron" Jay Gould, but the railway continued to be operated separately.<ref name=Narrow/> However, from early 1910, the trackage began being operated simply as two separate branches of the Iron Mountain.<ref name=Narrow/>
===Subsequent abandonments=== The portion of the old mainline to Clarendon from Holly Grove was eliminated in 1957.<ref name=Narrow/> In 1960, the entire Pine City-to-Brinkley branch was abandoned.<ref name=Narrow/> The mainline was shortened further in 1976 when the portion to Holly Grove from Marvell was dropped.<ref name=Narrow/> In 1979, the remainder of the original system was abandoned.<ref name=Narrow/>
==Railroads with similar names== This Arkansas Midland Railroad discussed above should not be confused with the Arkansas Midland Railroad created in 1992 and currently in operation.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.american-rails.com/arksshts.html |title=Arkansas Short Line Railroads|publisher=American-Rails.com|accessdate=June 17, 2024}}</ref> The Arkansas Central Railroad discussed above should not be confused with the Arkansas Central Railroad formed about 1897, which ran from a point near Fort Smith to Paris in Arkansas and was owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AuxDAAAAIAAJ |title= Valuation Docket No. 1006, Missouri Pacific Railroad Company et al.|date= 1932| publisher=Interstate Commerce Commission, March 22, 1933, pp. 249, 659-667|accessdate=June 17, 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Arkansas railroads}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arkansas Midland Railroad}} Category:Arkansas railroads Category:Defunct Arkansas railroads Category:3 ft gauge railways in the United States