y Chuck Hinrichs
The Henderson Sub foamers got word that a CSX Directors Special was due through the area on Halloween. Word was spread that the special was northbound from Nashville with an estimated arrival in Hopkinsville at about 10am. I took up a position at South Casky (John Rivers Road) and was immediately greeted with a southbound intermodal followed in just a few minutes by another southbound stack train. That meant that the passenger special was likely still quite a ways south of town. This was emphasized by another train passing South Casky, a northbound manifest. Word filtered down that the Special was just pulling into Nashville and would be up here early in the afternoon.
Heading back home I caught a southbound grain train at North Casky. Jim Pearson was in the area so we met at my house and he took a few moments to correct a problem with my computer. We grabbed a quick bite at Arby’s and headed back to South Casky. We didn’t have long to wait and the Special with a pair of F40s on the point and 9 cars in the consist whipped by the signals at track speed.
Jim shot some video and I got some digital images. Jim took off in a cloud of dust to try to get ahead of the trains as it hustled on north. I tried to catch the special but by the time I got to North Latham he was on the way up the hill to South Kelly. Not a bad day however. A pair of intermodals, a manifest and a grain train as well as the CSX Directors Special.
Digital images by Chuck Hinrichs and Jim Pearson
