On Monday, August 24, 2009, Wallace Henderson and I caught Hopkinsville Elevator’s GP16 (1817) and NREX GP10 (8219) at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville. Piecing together some bits of information it appears that 1817 is in need of repairs and as 8219 is consigned to Hopkinsville it is likely that the GP10 is a loaner to Hopkinsville Elevator until 1817 can be repaired. Photos of the two locomotives are attached. Photos by Chuck Hinrichs
Main line-eastern: Conrail and Norfolk Southern on the east end of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne, & Chicago, 1988-2009
Program Preview:
The Pennsylvania Railroad’s four-track main line east from Pittsburgh is justifiably one of, if not the, most famous and photographed pieces of railroad in North America. Less well known, but just as fascinating, are the “Lines West” main lines from Pittsburgh to Chicago and St. Louis. In this program I’ll focus on the eastern end of the former, which was built as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago and became the PRR’s Eastern Division between Pittsburgh and Crestline, OH. We’ll examine this piece of the railroad beginning around giant Conway Yard northwest of Pittsburgh and extending to Alliance, OH, where (in NS’s routing of traffic) nearly all trains turn north towards Cleveland and the former NYC mainline.
The Pennsylvania Railroad’s four-track main line east from Pittsburgh is justifiably one of, if not the, most famous and photographed pieces of railroad in North America. Less well known, but just as fascinating, are the “Lines West” main lines from Pittsburgh to Chicago and St. Louis. In this program I’ll focus on the eastern end of the former, which was built as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago and became the PRR’s Eastern Division between Pittsburgh and Crestline, OH. We’ll examine this piece of the railroad beginning around giant Conway Yard northwest of Pittsburgh and extending to Alliance, OH, where (in NS’s routing of traffic) nearly all trains turn north towards Cleveland and the former NYC mainline.
These 60 miles of railroad, even in the modern era, give a wonderful sampling of the PRR west of Pittsburgh: physical plant ranging from heavy-duty four-track to the classic Lines West double-track; topography both hilly and flat; and more freight traffic on this segment than even in PRR days. The appeal of this stretch of the PRR has long been heightened for me by the fact that nearly all the remainder of the railroad west of Pittsburgh has been chopped to pieces, much of it reduced to semi-local operations or simply gone.
With an eye towards the history of the railroad, we’ll see lots of action from the last ten years of Conrail and NS of recent years- big trains in great scenic main line settings, with lots of PRR position light signals, in all seasons and weather. Anyone with an interest in the PRR and its successors, or who just enjoys contemporary big-time railroading, won’t be disappointed.
I headed out early Friday morning for Cincinnati and the 13th SUMMERAIL. I left my car at Jim Pearson’s in Richland (near Madisonville) and loaded my gear in his SUV. We followed the railroad north to Evansville Indiana and checked out the action at CSX’s yard and got some good shots to start the day. We continued on north to Princeton Indiana and caught both some CSX and NS action.
State highway 64 took us east and in proximity to the NS line. We managed to miss three trains on the way to Louisville and missed a couple more on the way through northern Kentucky to Covington just across the river from Cincinnati. We checked into the Courtyard Marriot right by the river and got a room with a balcony overlooking the elevated rail approach to the bridge over the Ohio River. We railfans are not too hard to please as long as we are close to the rail action.
As soon as we got our stuff unloaded we headed across the river for the traditional Friday night dinner at Camp Washington, a Cincinnati chili institution. The specialty of the house is Chili 5 way (chili, beans, onions, spaghetti and cheese), a salad and iced tea. Got to meet lots of old friends – I have been to 13 of the 14 SUMMERAL events. After dinner we headed for CUT (Cincinnati Union Terminal) for the traditional Friday night slide show (just slides and comments) and a visit to Tower A (the home of the Cincinnati Rail Club) and the former control tower when passenger trains were still in vogue. The slide show attendance has outgrown the Tower A space and the show is now in the CUT auditorium – much more comfortable. After the slide show Jim and I headed back across the river to get some night shots of downtown Cincinnati and then back to the hotel for a well deserved night’s rest.
Saturday and we were up early, sampled the hotels buffet breakfast and then headed south for a little train watching before the SUMMERAIL program get under way. We caught a couple of trains but missed several others. If we were watching CSX a NS train would thunder by and if we were trackside at NS the action was on CSX. We spent nearly an hour at the CSX/NS crossover and no action.
We got to CUT about noon with time to check out the railroadiana show before the main event got under way at 1:00 PM. The digital multimedia shows were superb, as usual with a lot of winter scenes and winter action featured. My favorite of the afternoon session was Mel Patrick’s show of the Rio Grande ‘California Zephyr’ as it headed west from Denver to Logan, Utah. The scenery was spectacular and the music a perfect compliment to the spectacular photography.
The dinner break found us back across the river in Covington and after checking other possibilities we settled for our favorite, Wertheims, for an excellent German dinner and a couple of glasses of Warsteiners. The evening shows were good but not quite as good as my morning favorites. We drove around downtown Cincinnati but didn’t find any photo ops so headed back across the river and the sack.
Sunday found us sleeping in a bit and then on the road for a railfanning trip back to western Kentucky. We found several good photo spots on the CSX Short Line just south of Covington and at both locations we were able to catch meets of southbound and northbound trains. We stayed ahead of a southbound train through Verona, Glencoe, Sparta and LaGrange and finally let him catch up with us at Anchorage just east of Louisville.
We followed the P&L south out of Louisville but no action. We did stop to see the old and decaying IC depot at Kosmodale. We then headed east to the CSX mainline but, again, no action. We did hear a train at Elizabethtown but never did find it. We followed US 62 west from Elizabethtown hoping against hope for some P&L action. We stopped in Central City for a bite to eat and, wouldn’t you know it, as we left Wendy’s we just saw the tail end of an eastbound P&L coal train. CSX was quiet from Nortonville to Earlington and we got to Jim’s place at a bit after 8:00 PM. Another trainless hour and I was back home after a great SUMMERAIL weekend.
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF RAILFANS ONLY
After an absence of 12 years, Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society announces the return of an Amtrak excursion train to Roanoke! On the weekend of November 7 and 8, riders will have the chance to ride the rails in our area once again.
In cooperation with Amtrak and Norfolk Southern, we will operate two round-trip excursions. On Saturday, November 7, 2009, bright and early at 8:00 am, our excursion train will depart the former N&W passenger station bound for Bluefield, West Virginia, climbing Christiansburg Mountain, rolling along the New River Valley before climbing the grade into Bluefield. After a layover of several hours to experience the local sights, sounds and food, passengers will board the train to return to Roanoke.
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, the same train will again head out, this time bound for Shenandoah, Virginia running through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. While laying over in Shenandoah, passenger can choose their meal, or see the local area before a return to Roanoke that afternoon.
Want to be a part of this historic event? We expect to have full information available in a few weeks, send a stamped, self-addressed business sized envelope to: Amtrak Excursions, Roanoke Chapter NRHS, P.O. Box 13222, Roanoke, VA 24032. Postal Service not quick enough? We’ll email out a PDF to all those on our mailing list just as soon as it is finalized for the printer, just send an email with “Amtrak Excursion” in the subject line and we’ll send the PDF.
Editor’s Note: Website for Roanoke Chapter:
http://www.nrhs.com/chapters/roanoke.htm
The Alpha and Omega! Matt Gentry took these shots of the Daylight 4449 and Hiawatha Observation on his trip to Michigan with his dad. They took over 800 photographs.
From our President Rich Hane
Those of you that made it to the July meeting were treated to some great treats by Steve Miller and a great program from Tim Moore on the history of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The photography was very good.
Jumping, perhaps into the future, I have been pleased to see that a number of railroads around the country are giving the new diesel genset engine a chance to prove if it has a place with some railroads. Bunge North America has purchased 4 of these and they will be used at their operations in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. Neptune Bulk Terminals will be using a pair of these in British Columbia, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis had a demonstrator on the property earlier this year. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority bought two in March and was even nice enough to put one in an engine house until the New England Railroad Club had a chance to look it over at their monthly meeting at the end of March. Others have been sold around the country but I have not seen a complete list. I know that the San Diego yards had some in operation.
These are made by National Railway Equipment and utilize an interesting concept for saving fuel. Basically, they use either one, two, or three smaller diesel prime movers each equipped with its own generator in each engine. These individual prime movers can be cut in as needed depending on the load on the engine. The engine has a sophisticated control system that maximizes fuel efficiency by running the engine at 700 horsepower, 1400 horsepower, or 2100 horsepower depending on the load, thus using only as many prime movers as necessary. And even Lionel has shown interest by announcing that they will offer a new scale sized and detailed model for O Gauge modelers. It sounds to me like National Railway Equipment has an interesting product that may fit in with a lot of railroads and save a bunch of oil.
I do hope to see your smiling faces at the next meeting at 7pm at The Center in beautiful downtown Madisonville on Monday, August 24th and don’t forget that I would appreciate anyone who would like to volunteer to fill out the year as Vice-President and/or to run as VP this fall.