Missouri and Northern Arkansas Railroad

Missouri and Northern Arkansas Railroad
MNA #1023, an EMD SD20
Reporting mark	MNA
Locale	Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri
Dates of operation	1992–present
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Length	527 miles (848 km)
Headquarters	Carthage, Missouri

The Missouri and Northern Arkansas Railroad (reporting mark MNA) is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Carthage, Missouri.

MNA operates approximately 527 miles (848 km)^[1] of line in Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri. Its main line extends 384.1 miles (plus 40 miles (64 km) of trackage rights on Union Pacific Railroad lines) from Kansas City, Missouri to Newport, Arkansas (MNA interchanges with Union Pacific at both points). MNA also interchanges with BNSF Railway at Lamar, Missouri, Carthage, Aurora, Springfield, and Joplin, Missouri, and with Kansas City Southern Railway at Joplin.

MNA also operates several miles of industrial trackage in the city of Springfield; this segment is disconnected from the rest of the MNA system and traffic is hauled via BNSF to and from the Aurora interchange.

MNA traffic generally consists of coal, grain, frozen foods, minerals, steel, chemicals, and asphalt.^[1] MNA operates unit coal trains to major power plants at Independence, AR and Montrose, MO. The railroad hauled around 111,000 carloads in 2008.^[1]

An excursion train (operated by other company) runs along portions of the route:

• The Branson Scenic Railway operates the "Ozark Zephyr" out of Branson, Missouri. Trains operate mostly south into Arkansas but occasionally north to Galena. The restored 1906 depot is next to Branson Landing in historic downtown Branson.

• The White River Scenic Railroad formerly operated an excursion train from Flippin, Arkansas to Calico Rock, Arkansas.

The line was initially chartered in 1883 and was part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad's mainline between Kansas City and Memphis, Tennessee. The MNA began operations on December 13th, 1992 and purchased the 102-mile (164 km) segment from Bergman to Guion, Arkansas from Union Pacific. Other operated segments are leased from the Union Pacific and BNSF Railroads. The Ft. Scott, KS to Nevada and Clinton, MO route was once part of the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad's mainline from Parsons, KS to Sedalia and St. Louis, MO. The track between Nevada, MO and Ft. Scott, KS is out of service.

MNA is owned by RailAmerica, a short-line railroad holding company, having been purchased in 2000.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "RailAmerica's Empire". Trains Magazine (Kalmbach Publishing). June 2010. 

External links

• Link to Union Pacific Website with MNA Details
• RailAmerica website
• MNA EMD GP40 Locomotive Photo