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Prototype Railroading and a Freelance
Railroad
by Richard E. Lake
photos by Richard Schumacher
 Anyone who has read the
articles on modeling railroad yards in the Kibitzer
may have noticed references to the as yet unbuilt El
Dorado and El Reno. The eL and eL (the lower
case "e" is intentional but still under
discussion as a reporting mark) is a freelance model
railroad, located in Arkansas, that my wife and I are
building. This past August I spent 8 days and drove
about 2,000 miles in Arkansas looking at the prototype
and planning the eL and eL. With the Region’s
annual meeting taking place in Little Rock, this seems
like a good opportunity to share some information about
prototype railroading in Arkansas and how the prototype
is shaping and influencing the eL and eL.
Why Freelance?
 I grew up a railroad
"brat." My father worked for the Rock
Island Railroad all his life. He began as clerk to
the Superintendent in Kansas City and ended his career
as Assistant Superintendent for Safety and Operating
Rules in Chicago. He was a night trainmaster,
trainmaster, assistant superintendent and superintendent
in 8 different cities covering a period of about 9
years. I worked 5 summers for the Rock Island as
a section hand, locomotive fireman (diesel) and
switchman. With that background it would seem logical to
model the CRI&P. I love the Rock Island
but I don’t want to model it. I am not sufficiently
motivated to build a railroad that is absolutely
accurate and faithful to one particular road and one
particular division or segment of that road. Over the
years I have acquired a number of steam locomotives that
appealed to me, but no railroad ever owned and operated
all of those I have purchased. For example, there is a
2-6-6-2 that I bought years ago simply because it was
"neat" but the Rock Island never owned
one. At the same time I have acquired a lot of motive
power (much of it thanks to Proto 2000) and
rolling stock that is accurate for the Rock Island,
and I want to operate Rock Island trains on my
layout. Building a freelance layout will, in my opinion,
allow me to have the best of two worlds. I can justify
my odd purchases and run Rock Island equipment as
well.
Another reason for the freelance decision is my wife’s
involvement. I am fortunate to have someone to
"play trains" with but she has her interests
in the layout which are not always the same as mine. She
especially likes Victorian era structures, and 1890’s
rolling stock. One of the things we have had to work out
is a way to incorporate what she wants with what I want.
We think we have worked out a solution. The eL and eL
will have an excursion branch line (a la Durango to
Silverton) which will allow us to build a small town
with ornate structures and a depot, and it will operate
well-maintained equipment that is not appropriate for
the mainline operation of the eL and eL. In fact,
I have offered the excursion route a very affordable
long-term lease on the 2-6-6-2 to haul its best
passenger service.
I want a railroad that could have existed. I want it
to look like it should have existed and I want it to
have a strong Rock Island flavor. Also, I want a
railroad that is scenically interesting and offers lots
of potential for operation, hauling lots of different
commodities to justify lots of different types of
rolling stock, and covered with interesting structures.
I want a railroad with mountains. And finally, but very
important to me, I want a railroad that helps me to
remember my father’s time and mine working for the Rock
Island.
Why Arkansas?
 First, there are mountains. The eL
and eL will run through Caddo Gap and the Caddo
River valley which is in the heart of the Ouachita
Mountains. However mountains alone don’t justify its
creation. The more important reason is the mix of
industry that exists in Arkansas. El Dorado, the
southern terminus for the eL and eL is home to
Lion Oil, and the whole area is a major oil producer.
There are also two major chemical plants in El Dorado.
This justifies lots of tank car movements. Lumber and
paper is another major industry in the region (more tank
cars, pulpwood flats, wood chip cars, and boxcars loaded
with paper for the eL and eL to transport. (Wasn’t
it thoughtful of Walthers to decide to produce a
whole series of kits which will fit in perfectly?) Coal
and bauxite are mined so the eL and eL will need
hopper cars to serve those industries. They raise cattle
and grow fruit on a commercial scale, so stockyards, a
cannery, and associated industries will be needed along
with stock cars and reefers.
My next trip to Arkansas will have to include a visit
to Gentry, in northwestern Arkansas near the Oklahoma
border. I just read a news article which makes reference
to Gentry as an important fruit shipping point for
apples and strawberries. It also mentions Allen Canning
Co. as one of the largest independent canners in the U.
S. Gentry is well north of the route for the eL and
eL but that is one of the advantages of doing a
freelance. If Gentry offers some real modeling
potential, I will simply relocate the town. These
industries and products all exist along the proposed
route and there are other products from other regions of
Arkansas. In the north east they grow cotton, rice, and
other grains and with its link to the Rock Island
I am sure the eL and eL will get a share of those
commodities to move. I have mountains, a rich industry
mix and there is a logical place for the excursion line.
Near Mena, Arkansas, the northern end of the eL and
eL, is Rich Mountain and on top of the mountain is
Queen Wilhelmina State Park with a beautiful lodge which
I am sure Venita will eventually decide to take on as a
scratchbuilding project. Finally, Dad was trainmaster in
El Dorado, Arkansas, and I have some good memories of
that city. Taking all this into consideration, the eL
and eL is born.
Designing and Revising the Route
The original route for the eL and eL was to be
a north/south (drifting west) road from El Dorado to
Danville, Arkansas. El Dorado was a division point on
the Rock Island running south from Little Rock
into Louisiana and Danville was located on the east/west
Rock Island mainline from Memphis to El Reno.
 The concept
was that the eL and eL would serve as a more
direct route for the Rock Island moving freight
from Louisiana to the west. The Rock Island would
have track rights over the eL and eL and would in
turn grant track rights to the eL and eL for the
run to El Reno, Oklahoma. Everything west of Danville
would be hidden staging since I don’t have space to
build an empire. The eL and eL would interchange
with the Rock Island in El Dorado, Camden, and
Danville. That plan meant I could run Rock Island
through freights, an occasional RI passenger and
use the eL and eL to serve industries between El
Dorado and Danville. Also, this area of Arkansas
includes both the Ouachita and Ozark mountains which
means I get the mountains I wanted. The excursion route
could go to Hot Springs (providing another opportunity
to interchange with the RI or it could continue
north from Danville to Fort Smith and interchange with a
number of railroads. The routing decision at this point
was based on studying maps of the Rock Island’s
routes, highway maps and a topographic map of the
region. The route really appealed to me and I thought
this was going to be it. That is until I got the chance
to travel the route by car. At that point some things
had to change.
When I made the trip to Arkansas I discovered that
the Ouachita Mountains are the one and only range in the
United States which run east and west. Going south out
of Danville (towards El Dorado) the eL and eL
would have to climb over, or tunnel through, three
separate ridges of the Ouachitas. No company putting up
money to build a railroad would ever have authorized
that route. Climbing the ridges would mean horrendous
grades, and tunneling through three major ridges would
be massively expensive. Also, while the route offered
really nice scenery, there was no reason for a railroad
to exist. There were no mines, no industries, no towns
and very little agriculture. Explaining why a railroad
chose to cross three mountain ridges would be tough
enough but explaining why they did it without any
prospect for revenue would be impossible. This meant it
was time to look at the maps again and see what other
options existed. Over the course of the next two days I
drove two other possible routes for the eL and eL
holding firm to the original concept of a north/south
route closely connected to the Rock Island. And I
found a route that will work. In many ways it is even
better than the original plan. The new route runs from
El Dorado to Mena, Arkansas. Mena is on the Kansas
City Southern and has a really nice KCS depot
which has been fully restored by the town. The route
still runs through Camden, Reader, the Caddo Gap,
Glenwood and will terminate at Mena. It runs through the
Caddo River valley which means the grades are much
easier and the scenic opportunities are still good. It
also adds another interchange opportunity by adding the Kansas
City Southern into the picture.
If you are interested in more about freelance design
and prototype influences, I will be doing clinics on
this topic at both the Regional meet in Little Rock and
the NMRA National in Madison. Those clinics will also
explore things like the choices in motive power,
railroad structure standardization, color schemes, route
slogan, and lots of other issues that are all part of
the process of designing a freelance railroad that looks
and feels like it should have existed. The clinics will
also include slides that show some of the places and
industries that I have mentioned in this article.
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