Dilapidation

When my wife and I are in our wanderlust modes, we tend to follow back roads just to see where they take us. One such exploration, a few months ago, led us down a gritty, pothole-marked road to an even grittier industrial park.

We jot notes to remind us of these little jaunts when they spark our, or my, interest. In the case of this recent one, our notes said the industrial park was the Jones Mill Industrial Park and among the tenants of the park was the Arkansas Midland Railroad.

I took a few photos of the place, but the one scene I remember most did not find its way into the camera. The scene in my  mind is the road leading into the park, with dilapidated buildings on both sides of the road and, toward the far end of the park ahead of us, a creep dark path into a place we decided not to go. It looked too much like a movie set in which bad people were laying in wait to ambush and kill unsuspecting visitors.

That aside, what really captured my interest was the Arkansas Midland Railroad (also known as AKMD). I knew nothing of it. My notes, which I came upon this morning, prompted me to investigate. I found that the AKMD had been one component, called Pinsly Arkansas, of Pinsly Railroad Company (of Westfield, Massachusetts). Pinsly Arkansas was headquarted in Jones Mill Industrial Park. Genesee & Wyoming announced in November 2014 that it had agreed to acquire Pinsly Arkansas and that the deal was expected to be completed in January 2015. AKMD comprises 138 miles of track, including seven non-contiguous lines, all of which connect with Union Pacific Railroad. The sale price: $40 million. I haven’t determined whether the sale went through as announced; I’m interested, but not sufficiently so to do more grunt work on the matter.

I own a calculator, though, which enabled me to calculate that the price amounted to $289,855.07 per mile of track. The price does not include the land in the Jones Industrial Park, though, which I learned is owned by Hot Spring County and leased to industrial tenants. From the looks of it, I’d say Hot Spring County doesn’t do a lot of upkeep to the place.

And that’s what I have to say this morning. The photos below may add interest to what is probably not of interest to anyone but me.

This place has seen better days.

The road leading to Jones Mill Industrial Park

This building once served as a depot, perhaps?

I wanted to venture inside, but decided against it.