Arkansas Scenic Train Rides (2026): A Complete Guide
Last revised: October 1, 2026
By: Adam Burns
Arkansas has one long ride and one short one. The Arkansas & Missouri Railroad carries passengers through the Boston Mountains on a working freight railroad, a full day from Springdale to Van Buren if you take the train with the layover. The Eureka Springs & North Arkansas is a few miles at the edge of a Victorian town, with a dinner train on its own nights.
Eureka Springs & North Arkansas 2-6-0 #1, Baldwin 1906 for the W. T. Carter Lumber & Building Company, and 2-6-0 #201, Alco 1906 as Moscow, Camden & San Augustine #200, at Eureka Springs in July 1984. Neither Mogul is on the property now. Mike Bledsoe photo. American-Rails.com collection.
Tourism and excursion destinations only. Intercity travel: Amtrak Texas Eagle at the Arkansas stations between Texarkana and Walnut Ridge.
Arkansas Train Rides at a Glance
| Railroad / attraction | Area | Notes | Site / deep dive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas & Missouri Railroad | Springdale, with trips to Van Buren or Winslow | 134-mile round trip is a full day; shorter Winslow turns are about 3 hours. Freight railroad; delays happen | amrailroad.com · (479) 725-4017 |
| Eureka Springs & North Arkansas | Eureka Springs | Short excursion behind SW1 #4742; dinner train on its own nights | esnarailway.com · Dinner guide |
| Fort Smith Trolley Museum | Fort Smith | Short streetcar ride when the museum is operating | Museum site |
Confirm the date. The A&M does not run every day. Compiled October 1, 2026.
State Rail History (Brief)
The Memphis & Little Rock was chartered January 10, 1853, to connect Hopefield, opposite Memphis, with Little Rock. The first train, in 1857, left behind the locomotive Little Rock with six bales of cotton. War and a lack of money left a gap in the middle. The state put $1.2 million into closing it, and the last rail went down on April 11, 1871, 133 miles. The company was poorly built, failed more than once, and eventually disappeared into larger roads.
What passengers ride now is a different railroad. In 1986 Burlington Northern sold the former St. Louis–San Francisco main line from Monett, Missouri, toward Paris, Texas. The Arkansas & Missouri took 133.6 miles, Monett to Fort Smith. That is the Boston Mountain grade, the trestles, and the Winslow Tunnel. Eureka Springs was a Frisco branch town. The Cotton Belt, the Missouri Pacific, and the Rock Island shaped the rest of the state. Mileage is much smaller now. The two tourist operations above are the public passenger trains.
Related: Railroad history · Tennessee · Texas · Mississippi.
Tourist Railroads & Excursions
Arkansas & Missouri Railroad
The A&M is a freight railroad that also runs a passenger train, in restored coaches from the 1920s through the 1950s. The ride to book if you have one day is Springdale to Van Buren: 134 miles round trip, about eight hours, leaving Springdale at 8:00 a.m. The train crosses the Boston Mountains, the valley trestles, and the Winslow Tunnel, about 1,700 feet, then lays over about three hours in Van Buren for lunch and Main Street. It is back in Springdale between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. if the freight railroad cooperates. It does not always cooperate. Build slack into a dinner reservation.
Shorter turns, Springdale to Winslow and Van Buren to Winslow, are about three hours and do not include the long town layover. The railroad posts specific Wednesdays and Saturdays rather than a daily train. The Holiday Express pajama train, about an hour between Springdale and Johnson, is a Christmas ticket, not this ride.
Springdale–Van Buren · Arkansas Christmas trains · A&M Holiday Express
Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway
The ESNA boards at 299 North Main Street. The public train is short, about four and a half miles round trip, along the old branch at the edge of town. Today’s power is EMD SW1 #4742, built in 1942 for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. The two Moguls in the photograph at the top of this page are not here. Excursion season in 2026 opened in April. The dinner train, in the same dining car, is a separate ticket from May on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Lunch is a third ticket. Wine is sold by the glass on the dinner. There is no wine-tasting train.
Eureka Springs dinner train · esnarailway.com · (479) 253-9623
Fort Smith Trolley Museum
The museum runs a streetcar on a short line in Fort Smith and keeps the city’s interurban equipment. It is the right stop if you are already downtown on an A&M layover day that includes Fort Smith, or if you want a twenty-minute ride rather than eight hours. Confirm that a car is scheduled. The museum is not a substitute for the mountain train.
Not a 2026 Excursion
The Arkansas Railroad Museum at Pine Bluff, in the old Cotton Belt shops, displays St. Louis Southwestern 4-8-4 #819. On September 22, 2026, the engine was moved outside for the first time in about thirty years so RDG Steam Services could look it over. That is an evaluation, not a return to steam, and not a ride. Hours have been listed more than one way. Call before you go. The news piece is Cotton Belt 819 moved outside.
Planning Tips
- One great day: A&M Springdale to Van Buren. Book the Saturday. Eat in Van Buren. Do not schedule a tight connection on the return.
- Half day: the Winslow turn, or ESNA plus the town of Eureka Springs.
- Eureka Springs evening: the dinner train. It is not the A&M, and it is not a 134-mile ride.
- Steam: neither of these railroads is selling a steam trip in 2026. For steam, look at Tennessee or the Texas State Railroad.
Seasonal & Related Reading
- National tourist trains hub · Arkansas Christmas trains · Arkansas dinner trains · Cotton Belt 819
- Neighbors: Tennessee · Mississippi · Louisiana · Texas
Always verify schedules on the operator’s website before you travel.
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