KCS 4859, RailAmerica SW14, and an Ozark Coal Train Chase! KCS Heavener Sub Part 2

A historic SW14 still in service, KCS Safety Unit 4859, and KCS trains tackling the Ozark Mountains on the Heavener Sub in the last year before the CPKC merger. Enjoy!

As soon as the CPKC merger was announced, I made plans to go film the Shreveport and Heavener Subs. On this trip, the weather didn't cooperate at Rich Mountain, so we focused on the Heavener Sub.

It runs from Heavener, OK to Pittsburg, KS, leaving the Ouachitas between Heavener Yard and Poteau. It rolls through the Arkansas River Valley, crossing the UP in Sallisaw. It then runs through the western part of the Ozark Mountains from Marble City, OK to Joplin, MO, crossing the BNSF in Neosho, MO. In Marble City, a historic SW14 interchanges with KCS, taking cars to and from the limestone quarry.

Part 1 featured mainline action between Heavener and Neosho. Part 2 features KCS 4859, a chase of a SB coal train through the Ozarks, and the Marble City switcher. Part 3 will have a KCS 4006 chase in Oklahoma and the BNSF-KCS junction at Neosho.

TIMESTAMPS
0:04 CTXKC at Undercliff Grill in Tipton Ford, MO with KCS 4859 leading!
2:03 WB BNSF Manifest at West Jeff / KCS-BNSF diamond in Neosho
6:06 NB KCS Empty Grain at the diamond
6:59 CKCSH crossing the Elk River between Lanagan and Noel
9:59 NB Empty Grain departs Noel after meeting CKCSH
12:49 CKCSH powers up the grade at Decatur, AR
16:33 CWEKC and CKCSH meet at Gentry
25:48 OPACPKC rolls into Watts to meet CKCSH
28:06 A RailAmerica switcher picks up cars for the limestone quarry in Marble City. Old trestle, old switcher, and a tell-tale!
31:13 Another CTXKC and CKCSH meet at Gans

The RailAmerica switcher was a former Illinois Central SW9 (IC 9455) built in 1951. It was rebuilt into a SW14 (IC 1412), and after its time on the IC was over, it went to the Ventura County Railroad in Oxnard, CA in 1993 (VCRR 1200). In the early 2000's it was painted in RailAmerica colors. In the 2010's it was sold to Anderson's Inc (AEX 100009), and somehow ended up in Northeast Oklahoma at the limestone quarry in Marble City.

Thanks for watching and Happy Empress Chasing!
Music- Grieg's Piano Concerto
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