The Arkansas & Missouri is known for several things: the Boston Mountains, former Frisco, scenic excursions, oddball equipment roster, ALCo haven... For a few, however, it also is the home for several former Conrail engines. A&M C420 58 is one of those former Conrail engines. I was able to hop off the excursion that day and explore the MoPac-Frisco interchange. Here, it's seen resting under the road bridge near the sand plant (a major customer) giving its crew some shade. At this time, 58 was paired with T6 14 (ex-NW 43) and C420 50 (ex-Essex Terminal 106, nee-LHR 22) as the Arkansas River switching trio.
It started life as Lehigh & Hudson River 29, before becoming Conrail 2077. There's a photo on this site by Roger Durfee of A&M 58 as D&H 401, which provides an excellent story of how this loco defied death and got to where it is now. If I can add to its story, this photo was taken two weeks before a major incident at the Arkansas River lift bridge that damaged 50 heavily. 14 suffered a damaged pilot and derailed truck, and 58 was relatively unharmed. Currently, it's paired with 14 again and another C420. If only sister 52 was so lucky...
