Paul Cales

"Rails by Cales"

I was born in California so long ago I don’t remember it. Since then I have lived in Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, Montana and Oregon

. I thought I liked Oregon best until I came to Arkansas in 2002. I think I will stick with the Ozarks .

Life experience includes being a pastor, a teacher, prison drug counselor, a journalist and a printer . . . linotype operator, now commonly known as “dinosaur.” Among many other places I worked at The Denver Post, National Catholic Register, and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. I also published a county weekly for three years.

I retired in 1996 and spent six years in central Oregon. When I came to Carroll County, Arkansas I somehow lost my nostalgia for the other places and settled down.

These days I keep occupied as editor of The Bee Line, the quarterly publication of Clan Fergusson of North America; list administrator of three genealogy lists on Rootsweb.com and with e-mail contacts ranging from the Idaho panhandle to Mexico and Africa.

I have always loved railroads, especially the steam-powered days. I came to Eureka Springs several times before I moved here just to ride the rails the four miles from the station and back and was fortunate to ride the last time behind the steam engine.

I picked up a small book, "The Eureka Springs Railway," by Harvey G. Cragon (2005), published by Cragon Books, Dallas TX, at the Eureka Station. It pointed me in the right direction, so I got in the car and after numerous tries located most of the landmarks and photographed them. I have driven the route all the way to Seligman MO. I do not recommend the last part of the route after AR 187 turns south toward US 62 for a passenger car . . . there are low-water crossings and not a lot to see except for old stone culverts all along the way. The grade in that segment is largely gone.

I do not know if Cragon’s book is still available. I gave one copy to the rail museum in Harrison AR. Dr. Fair’s book is also out of print, but I managed to get two copies from Amazon.com and gave one of them to the Harrison museum. One other note of which I was not aware when I took the pictures: The Urbanette station building is now located in Green Forest near the ball park and has been opened as a community center. It is within a stone’s throw of the old right of way. The Green Forest station was lost in a tornado in the twenties, I am told.