The chapter held it’s first National Train Day celebration at the Morton’s Gap Park Saturday, May 10, 9am to 2pm, and recorded 32 members and guests. Thanks to president Matt Klahn and Sherry for the food prep and serving. There were good vibes going around and down the track. – By Bill Thomas
A photo of the photographer!
One of several trains from the day
Some of the crowd
Chef Matt grills up some New York hotdogs and Italian sausage!
AMTRAK’S Hoosier State, racing towards Indianapolis splits the semaphores. Nearly all of America’s semaphore signals are gone. They had motors and mechanical moving parts, the bane of management. Newer models have LEDs and other gizmo’s and are driven by computer chip technology. So capture those digital images soon folks. This line is the former MONON, officially named the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad, how dull. No wonder they used the Potawatomi Indian word meaning “tote” or “swift running.” The Monon rails connected Chicago with Indianapolis, and Michigan City and Louisville, forming a big “X.” The City of Monon marks the “X.” Indiana claimed the railroad as its own, calling it the Hoosier Line. Someone even coined a poem:
Up and Down the Monon everything is fine, cause that root’n, toot’n Monon, she’s a Hoosier Line!
What I miss about the semaphores is that as a railfan trekking around the country you could see the position of the semaphore from adjacent highways. The color indicator was not pertinent. If they were pointing toward the sky, tracks were clear. If one was horizontal there was traffic nearby, either coming or going. (Now maybe one of you can tell me why one semaphore is pointed, and the other squared ?? Really, I don’t know.). Gary Ostlund.
The graphic below was the rear cover of a timetable on the Northern Pacific Railway in 1942. It caught my eye while perusing through my collection of magazines. We lived in Butte for four years in the late 60s and early 70s. An extremely interesting place, loaded with history. Few realize that back in the second half of the 19th Century, Butte was an equal to San Francisco in importance, competing for its rightful share of trade and commerce, even traveling entertainment venues. Take the quiz, first covering up the answers.
September 13th ( Eastern Standard Time) Bluegrass Scenic Railroad 175 Beasley Rd, Versailles, KY 40383 11:00 am – Coach $15, 1st Class $20, Hobo (Open air) $20, cab rides $75. Lunch and explore museum. 4:00 pm – Rail Explorers
4 seater pedal (w/electric assist). $45.00 per person, about 2 hours. Feel free to bring snacks, drinks, blankets, small cooler. There were only 6 4-seater vehicles available, 5 already reserved so act quickly. Payment is due upon reserving space (or chat with Cathy about making payments). Questions? Call/Text Cathy Saley 727-686-6374.
March 2025 West Ky Chapter of the NRHS Photo Contest – 1st Place – CSX Locomotive 153 on the lead of a mixed northbound freight at the Old Madisonville Road crossing south of Crofton, Kentucky, on March 7th, 2025. – Photo by William FarrellMarch 2025 West Ky Chapter of the NRHS Photo Contest – 2nd Place – KRL Caboose brings up the rear on a southbound train at Mortons Gap, Ky on March 2nd, 2025. – Photo by Rick Bivins
Other Entries
March 2025 West Ky Chapter of the NRHS Photo Contest – a Union Pacific Locomoting heads up a southbound freight train at Mortons Gap, Ky on March 2nd, 2025. – Photo by Rick Bivins
Mark your calendars for the 2025 L&NHS convention!
It will be held the first week in October–October 2, 3, and 4–in Chattanooga. Details, including how to register, will be in the June issue of the L&N Magazine and on the L&NHS website: lnrr.org
Note: Upon searching for The Illinois Central Historical Society, I found no viable links or reference to an active website. I did locate a private group called The Illinois Central Railroad Heritage Association on Facebook.
Many of my pictures and stories come from my magazine archives. Thumbing through the editorial comment section of the October 1951 TRAINS & Travel (before the name change to TRAINS) I came across today’s story line. I said to myself, “classic David P. Morgan….” whereupon I went to the masthead and low & behold, Morgan was listed, but only as one of four associate editors under Editorial Director Linn Westcott and Editor Willard V. Anderson. Not sure what to conclude, but prefer to think his fingerprints are all over this story. To those of you old enough to have experienced our beloved long time TRAINS Editor, David P. Morgan and the steam era, this will jog memories. You simply had to be there to fully appreciate…….. Railroading by Ear.
A dozen years or more ago, when the diesel was still a precocious doodlebug, someone said the internal combustion locomotive would at least make less noise than a steam engine. Listening now to the sounds that float on the night air, we wonder if we haven’t only traded one sound for another. And the new sound is about as interesting as the boring drone of a DC-6 at 5000 feet.
The steam locomotive can play upon its exhaust nozzle in any major or minor key. Remember the sharp, window-rattling staccato of the high-pressure Hiawatha engines as they hit the curve at Grand Avenue, picking up from the junction slowdown? And remember the way an overloaded Mikado every now and then would lose its footing on the grade up out of town and shatter the quiet with a sudden cacophony?
Indeed, as we come more and more to live in a diesel desert, the sound of the steam locomotive will be missed almost as much as those other sensations, the smell of steam and hot valve oil and bituminous smoke, and the sight of flashing valve motion and side rods. It will be hard even for modern efficiency and bright Duco finishes to recompense for the waltz-time beat of a three cylinder Union Pacific 4-12-2 or the syncopated rhythm of an articulated, now in step, now out of step. And when will a diesel ever equal the purring of a lightly loaded engine loping along with the Johnson bar up close to center?
BTW: DPM’s brother “Len” was to airplanes, what DPM was to railroads. Go to Google: Len Morgan.
credits: Pix & story verbatim – TRAINS & Travel, Oct 1951
Saturday May 10, 2025 is National Train Day. We will be in Mortons Gap again this year. Your host is Rick Bivins, and this year Matthew Klahn, club president, and Sherry Smith have offered to provide the food: Hot Dogs, Italian Sausage, Macaroni Salad, Tomatoes and Cucumbers Salad, Chips and brownies. All we ask is a donation for the food and that you bring your own drinks for the day. Bathrooms will be available at the fire house. All are invited for a great time. Please RSVP Matthew Klahn for a food count, 270-421-6222 (call or text).
11:00 am EST – Coach $15, 1st Class $20, Hobo (Open air) $20, cab rides $75. Lunch and explore museum.
4:00 pm EST – Rail Explorers – 4 seater pedal (w/electric assist). $45.00 per person, about 2 hours. Feel free to bring snacks, drinks, blankets, small cooler. There were only 6 4-seater vehicles available, 5 already reserved so act quickly. Payment is due upon reserving space (or chat with Cathy about making payments). Questions? Call/Text Cathy Saley 727-686-6374.
“A sad sight at the Northern Pacific’s South Tacoma Reclamation yard in the spring of 1957: headlights from scrapped engines. Recognizable are lights from venerable Ten-Wheelers (1376 , 1387), husky Mikes (1700’s 1800’s and 1900’s) and of course, a Z-8, No. 5130.” That’s a direct quote in the Railway Post Office feature (letters to the Editor) in TRAINS Magazine in August 1958 from a Mr. H. A. Durfy of Seattle. The heyday of steam was over and other than a few donations to city parks, the bean counters dictated that they be scrapped.
The Northern Pacific had a headlight style of its own on its steam locomotives. What you see here is the typical arrangement on NP steam; the headlight, engine numbers squared on the sides, and the number facing forward above in a wedged design. Would I like to have one of these on my wall of treasures in my “Man Cave..?” You bet. -Gary Ostlund Photo credit: H. A. Durfy
1st Place – It had been cloudy all morning and Norfolk Southern 4471 is leading westbound train #168 down Buechel Hill when at the last few seconds, the sun popped out bringing the snow on the trees to life. Buechel, KY 1-6-2025. Photo by Bill Grady2bd Place – Union Pacific 7273 leads a southbound at Mortons Gap, Kentucky on the CSX Henderson Subdivision on January 22nd, 2025. Photo by Ricky Bivins
Non Winners
RJ Corman locomotives 3803 and 3815 setting at idle in the RJ Corman distribution facility in Rockfield, Kentucky on January 19, 2025, Photo by William FarrellWith 10+ inches of snow, Norfolk Southern #219 is eastbound with 9880 leading with a Slow Order of 25 mph through the switches at Buechel, KY on 1-6-2025. Photo by Bill GradyFollowing a lunar signal at Hospital Drive, CSX Henderson Sub northbound local squeaks onto the wye leg of the Morganfield Branch lead to Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, KY, Friday, January 31, 2025. The sky has cleared after a night of rain which prompted several hi-rail trips through town. Had the TTX box had a fresh coat of paint, it would have stood nicely in contrast to the blue sky and the rather drab mid-winter surroundings. Shot by Bill Thomas.BNSF 8080 leads a southbound at Mortons Gap, Kentucky on the CSX Henderson Subdivision on January 31st, 2025. Photo by Ricky Bivins
Saturday May 10 is National Train Day. We will be in Mortons Gap again this year. Your host is Rick Bivins, and this year Matthew Klahn, club president, and Sherry Smith have offered to provide the food: Hot Dogs, Italian Sausage, Macaroni Salad, Tomatoes and Cucumbers Salad, Chips and brownies. All we ask is a donation for the food and that you bring your own drinks for the day. Bathrooms will be available at the fire house. All are invited for a great time. Please RSVP Matthew Klahn for a food count, 270-421-6222 (call or text).
Members Keith Kittinger, Rick Bivins, Steve Miller, and Will Kling visited the HO layout of Mark Nolan, near Nashville, TN, last month for an operating session. Mark models the Illinois Central on his 3-level layout. Thanks to Will King for the photos.
The railroads were big on paperwork. This story is taken from the book: “Blow the Whistle Softly” an anthology by the late Ruth Eckes, a friend of mine in Federal Way, Washington. She published a series of six books, all short stories by railroaders from all around the country. Ruth graduated from HS in 1944, went to the Northern Pacific Railway telegraph-operators school in Jamestown, ND. Her first assignment as a full-fledged telegrapher was at Kanaskat, Washington, way up in the Cascade Mountains. There was an outhouse, no running water or electricity. Ruth was 17 years old. Ten Blackbirds, by Bill Harshfield – Maple Valley, Washington.
Accident reports to “railroad brass” sometimes required “word pictures” to get the point across to them. The following section foreman story is an example: A section foreman, while going to work one morning, derailed his track motor car causing quite a lot of damage to the “speeder.”* He made out the required customary accident reports in detail explaining the cause, any injuries – if any, the amount damage, what could have been done to prevent the accident, etc. He then sent it to the superintendent’s office. By return mail he received a very caustic note telling him his report was entirely too long, and for him to fill out a new, much shorter one. This he did, and here was his report: “Ten blackbirds were sitting on the rail, nine flew away. One was a rock”.
* speeder is another name for motor car, a picture (above) I took of Roger Sackett of Renton, Washington. In 1987, we took a ride on his Speeder on the former Milwaukee Road in the Snoqualmie Pass area. The majority of the former Milwaukee right-of-way is now a deluxe hiking and biking trail. Today you can trek safely from Seattle to the Idaho border, with occasional breaks. These “Speeders” as they were called, have not been used by the railroads for many years, and their disposal created a whole new railfan hobby.
In this case, Sackett purchased this unit from a scrapper. It had no engine but otherwise was in good condition. He mounted a Briggs & Stratton with some creative bicycle type chain drive and Wahlah. Those handles sticking out from the front, slide to the rear and made it possible for a worker to lift the unit off the rails from the front or rear. The short wheel-base creates a very low center-of-gravity, and with little effort you can wheel-barrow the Speeder away from the track for a passing train. The railroads had designated places for such removal, called “Set-offs,” where wooden planks permanently secured to the ties, between the rails, to create a relatively even surface and a platform of sorts extended away from the active rails. Or you could use a highway crossing like we did numerous times. Roger is using a come-along to literally drag the Speeder around the errant log.
The Milwaukee line across the Cascades had been closed since 1980. We successfully got the speeder past this obstruction, only to find another around the next curve. Hah. We turned around and went back and beyond where we “set-on.” And enjoyed the day. Speeder enthusiasts have their own organization called NARCOA, (North American Rail Car Operators Association). You can barely see the baseplate of a scissors jack under the rig. He can wind it down and do a U-turn, anywhere.
On December 21st the Western Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in conjunction with Golden Ticket Theaters held a community event for the children of Madisonville, Kentucky. All children 12 years old and under were allowed into the theater free for a special showing of the Christmas classic movie, “The Polar Express”.
With the cooperation of the Hopkins County School system all second graders in the county received a ticket to the movie for December 21. In the information that was sent home from school was the date and time of the shows. The show was open to any child with or without a ticket. Just like in the movie the children were asked to wear their pajamas to the theater. In fact, the theater manager encouraged her staff to wear their pajamas to work that evening.
Our chapter has several members that have strange resemblance to some of the chapters in the movie. We were able to provide a Santa Claus, conductor, engineer, firemen, and a great looking waiter. We had a hobo but unfortunately the covid bug had him at home. Oh, I almost forgot and one large elf. The chapter had two Polar Express back drops hanging in the theater lobby. Parent of the children were encouraged to take pictures of their child with one or all the characters provided by our chapter. That seemed to be a big hit with the parents and the children who were attending. The truth is I think the chapter members who were dressed in costume had more fun than the people attending the show. Two of the wives of members baked cookies and in between shows we partied in the lobby of the theater.
After the movie was over and as the children exited the show, they were offered an inch and a half sleigh bell if they believed. At this point each child had an opportunity to sit with Santa and talk briefly. This became another photo opt. for the parents, in fact some of the parents got to sit with the big man in red too.
The manager of the Golden Ticket Theater (Madisonville) said the event was a success and would like to do this event again next year. Some of the chapter members have already started planning on how to improve the event and make it better for December of 2025.