Arkansas and Missouri Railroad

The Arkansas and Missouri Railroad runs scenic excursion trains through the Ozark countryside on vintage diesel locomotives pulling historic passenger cars. The route from Springdale heads south through the Boston Mountains to Van Buren, passing through some of the most dramatic valley and ridge scenery in the Ozarks.

The fall foliage season — October through mid-November — is the most popular time, when the hardwood forests turn gold and red along the entire route. The line operates weekend excursions during the season and themed trips at other times of year. The Boston Mountains section is the highlight: deep valleys, steep grades, and forested ridges that give a very different perspective on the landscape than any road in the area.

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The A&M Railroad's route through the Boston Mountains is one of the most engineered rail lines in the American South — the original builders had to construct dozens of trestles and blast through multiple ridges to get the line over terrain that repeatedly defeated stagecoach and early automobile travel. The Winslow Loop, where the track doubles back on itself to gain elevation, remains one of the few surviving examples of this technique in the United States.