Saturday May 9, 2015 brought about the first photo contest of the West Kentucky NRHS. The only rules set forth by our judge, Jim Pearson, were that you have to be a member of the WKNHRS and that the photo had to be taken on May 9th, which also happened to be National Train Day, so there was a happy coincidence. At our May meeting the chapter decided that we will hold two of these contests a year and the next one will be in November 2015. Date has yet to be determined.
The winners were as follows: 1st – Jim Kemp. 2nd – there was a 2 way tie for 2nd between Rick Bivins and Matt Gentry. 3rd – Bill Grady. Honorable Mention belongs to Blair Terry. Click on each photo to see the full picture.
1st Place by Jim Kemp – Location: Near Lakeville, New York (Livonia, Avon, & Lakeville mainline, former Erie). View from the brakeman’s seat aboard LA&L Alco C425.
2nd Place Tie by Matt Gentry – In the late morning of May 9, 2015 Metrolink train #662 crosses over the Los Angeles River as it makes its way east and ultimately south towards Oceanside, CA. Lying in the background is the skyline of downtown Los Angeles in a less than common cloudy overcast day. The rail line in the foreground is the BNSF line that leaves Hobart Yard and turns south. This line turns into the Alameda Corridor.
2nd Place by Rick Bivins – NB at Mortons Gap, Ky just south of Cross Street.
3rd Place by Bill Grady – CSX Q029 is digging in on Elmwood Curve at M.P. 290 on the CSX Henderson Subdivision.
Honorable Mention by Blair Terry – Atkinson Yard Power, Madisonville, Ky
Other entries were:
Thomas Bryan – Slaughters, Ky. CSX Q688 leaves Slaughters after meeting Q595.
Bill Ferrell – Atkinson Yard Overpass, Madisonville, Ky
im Pearson watches a train go by the Hopkinsville Depot during the May meeting on May 18. – Jennifer Brown; Kentucky New Era
The May meeting in Hopkinsville went well and I hope all the members who attended had a good time. Our meeting was attended by Jennifer Brown one of the writers for the Kentucky New Era. Jennifer enjoyed the cookout and then covered the meeting and program by Wallace Henderson. I have some copies of the article from the newspaper for you to look at in our next meeting.
Wallace Henderson did a great job with the May program. Maybe some day in the fall we can make a road trip to the site in Nashville and have Wallace point out the highlights of the accident. Mrs. Brown seemed to be very impressed with the program. Thank you Wallace, you did an excellent job with your presentation.
Under new business in the May meeting I said I would have a rough copy of our proposed club membership card. This is something we can print out at home on any printer. I will give the membership an explanation on how it will work at this month’s meeting.
Jim Pearson did an excellent job chairing our first photo contest. We had a total of six entries and it was suggested that the club sponsor another contest this fall, when the leaves are turning colors. I think it would be a good idea if we take the pictures from the photo contest and print a, “2016 Western Kentucky Chapter” calendar. We can discuss the calendar in more detail as we get closer to October.
As a northbound train rolls north through Hopkinsville, Thomas Bryan observes outside the former L&N Depot. –Jennifer Brown; Kentucky New Era
If any chapter members are in the Parkway Plaza Mall in the future, stop by the white display cases across from Godfathers Pizza and look at our display. The mall has allowed us to use another case for display. We have the artifacts from Archeology Saturday on display in the second case along with pictures taken on the day of the event. The mall arranged it so both cases are side by side so it makes it easier on the eye.
Ricky Bivins has obtained a copy of our National Bylaws for review by the membership. The officers had a meeting on June 4th to discuss upcoming events and the bylaws. Wally had a copy of our chapter bylaws at the meeting for review. We decided to do a survey of the membership after National concludes their meeting in June. We may want to set up a committee in the future, for review of both National and local bylaws. We will cross that bridge when we come to it.
The June meeting will have refreshments by Steve Miller and the program will be presented by Blair Terry. We will also have a representative from an insurance company to tell us about needed liability insurance to cover the officers and chapter members. Hope to see you at the June 15th meeting and most important bring a prospect for membership.
June 2, 2015 – Thanks to a heads up post by fellow railfan and great photographer Tom Barrows of Evansville, IN, I was able to catch my second Norfolk Southern Heritage Unit today! – Jim Pearson
When I arrived at the overlook to the Sitran Coal Dock and Abengoa ethanol plant at West Franklin, IN, the weather was overcast and it looked like it was going to be fairly bad, but the sun finally came out just as the train was leaving with Illinois Terminal Heritage Unit 1072 in the lead.
The Illinois Terminal railroad along with many others was bought up by Norfork Southern years ago and NS has repainted about 20 of their engines in the paint schemes of many of those roads.
BNSF #6750 leads its stack train west towards Los Angeles through Fullerton CA as Santa Fe 3751 simmers in the background as it awaits permission to back out onto main #1 to head back towards Los Angeles after being on display at Fullerton Railroad Days. – Matt Gentry
No More Tears… Photographed on Memorial Day Weekend 2015, this GP40-2 has served CN, Grand Trunk, and started life as DT&I 409. Nowadays, this “HOG” serves the Heart of Georgia Railroad, and was parked at Vidalia, GA – the onion capitol of the world. – Chris Dees
Indiana Harbor Belt and Belt Railway of Chicago and Blue Island, IL Hot Spot
Producer
Machines of Iron
Format
DVD
Playing Time
1 hr.
Purchased From
Trainvideodepot.com
Date Purchased
5/14/13
Price Paid
$23.95
The IHB is the largest beltline railroad in the United States. It stretches forty miles from the NW suburbs of Chicago, IL, to Gary, IN, and has three major yards: the Michigan Avenue yard in East Chicago, IN, serving the steel industry; the Gibson Yard in Hammond, IN, switching auto racks exclusively; and the heart of the IHB, the Blue Island Hump Yard in Riverdale, IL, with 44 tracks where 1700 cars per day are humped.
Sixty percent of the IHB’s business consists of service to local customers in NW Indiana and Chicago, with half of that being steel-related. The other 40% is serving to connect other railroads.
The first 50 minutes of this video is dedicated to the IHB, leaving very little time for the Belt Railway of Chicago. Since the IHB is the largest beltline railway in the U.S., it is appropriate that so much of this video involved the telling of their story.
This is a very good video for anyone interested in the operation of a beltline railway. Yours truly will never understand why so many RR videos are produced without maps, and this one falls into that category. It would have been nice to see where we were at any given time in relation to Downtown Chicago and in relation to other locations covered in this video.
In summary, this is a very good in-depth look at the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad that could have been even better with the use of maps.
