The stretch of railroad involved is between highway 53 (Exit 63 from Interstate 30) and the Sticky Road, where both Sticky Road and the track pass under Interstate 30. The Gurdon Light is a "spook light" seen on the railroad tracks near the town of Gurdon, Arkansas. Gurdon is located south of Interstate Highway 30 in the south western part of Arkansas, near Arkadelphia, south of Hot Springs. The Gurdon light has been seen frequently on the tracks since the 1930s. The TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" did a story on it. All five of us came back that night. We did see a strange light or two in the distance. We were at the west end of the third trestle (429.9 miles I suppose) looking west (This picture was taken from that spot in the day.) We don't know what it was. Mostly it was near the horizon just above the tracks. (Simulated picture.) We would see a glow, then a light for a moment, then it would be gone. As you can see from the picture, only the top of the hill and the sky beyond are visible. I went back with a telescope in early June to make sure that traffic on Interstate 30, is not visible from there. Produced by Garr Lystad lystad@iglobal.net (http://www.iglobal.net/lystad/curiosity-shop/gurdon-trips.html#MAP)
This is a transect along the railroad track from its eastern end at route 53 (1) to its western end at Highway 30 (33) based on a mosaic of MapQuest topographic maps. The distance from 1 to 33 where the highway is located is 32x200 = 6.4 kilometers over which the terrain rises only 100 feet. This means that the horizon looking west is turned up by an angle of 57.5 x 30/6400 = 57.5/200 = 1/3 degree.
Copyright (C) 2001
Dr. Sten Odenwald