Wheaton Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Depot - Wheaton, MO
N 36° 45.786 W 094° 03.259
15S E 405899 N 4069111
Restored Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad Depot in Wheaton, MO
Waymark Code: WMG507
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 01/13/2013
Views: 4
The following information was gleaned from the book
The North Arkansas Line by James R. Fair, Jr. Numbers in parenthesis are references to page numbers within that book.
This depot served the community of Wheaton from 1907 (57) until 1946 (235). An aerial photo of Wheaton (74) shows the rail lines and depot in Wheaton. The rail lines were pulled up in 1949 (244). The rail line departed from the Frisco line at Woodruff (now Wayne) north of Washburn, and continued northwest to Neosho; and eventually Joplin.
Another portion of the railroad that was constructed earlier, but lasted until later, was the portion from Seligman to Eureka Springs, AR; and eventually to Helena, AR. This was an oddity of the M&NA - that it was in two segments, with trackage rights on the Frisco between Seligman and Wayne to join the segments.
The privately maintained
National Register of Historic Places lists the Wheaton depot as Vacant at the time it was registered in 2000. Since then the depot has been
beautifully restored and is used as a museum. Please contact the museum for current hours of operation.
For people such as myself who like to look for vestiges of old rail lines, portions of the M&NA can be found in various places.
- In the ghost town of Wayne (formerly Woodruff), the road bed where this line departed from the Frisco was reused for FR1057.
- On MO-86/76 west of Exeter can be seen where the railroad crossed this highway between FR1045 and FR2182. The bridge abutments were present until they were removed after 2003.
- It can then be seen along MO-86/76 heading northwest through Ridgely and the curve southeast of Wheaton.
- North of Wheaton on MO-86 the trace can be seen coming from southeast (in line with the depot) to MO-86. On the other side of MO-86, farming has obliterated the traces of the road bed. Some traces can be seen further northwest from satellite imagery.
- At Fairview and at places along MO-86 northwest of Fairview traces can be seen as the line headed toward Stark City.
- At Stark City, continuing west on Mulberry Road, one can easily see the line heading toward the tiny hamlet of Monark Springs.
- At Monark Springs, the depot has been restored and a caboose is present on a short section of track.
- The line west from there is mostly on private land, but traces can be seen from satellite imagery.
- On MO-60 a slight trace can be seen just east of the junction of State Secondary Route HH.
- In the south, one can follow FR2285 south of Seligman through Butler Hollow to see sections of the old railroad bed. This is much easier to do during months when the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves.
- When entering Arkansas, the road is called CR232.
- Continuing on AR-187 toward Beaver, one can see traces of the railroad bed appear and disappear (where it has been farmed over).
- At Beaver one can visit the city park and see the M&NA bridge over the White River - the bridge was truncated but not torn out entirely.
- On the other side of the river one can backtrack on CR-66 to see where the railroad bed continues from the east side of the river.
- Continuing along AR-187 to AR-23 there are traces of the road bed as you continue toward Eureka Springs.
- Finally, just at a crossing of Leatherwood Creek on AR-23 the rails themselves can be seen off the east side of the road. They continue all the way into the south of Eureka Springs and the old depot there.