Month: March 2021

The Oriental Limited is slowly easing by No. 5012

March 16, 2021 Jim Pearson No Comments General Post

The Oriental Limited is slowly easing by No. 5012, having just exited the original Great Northern Cascade Tunnel in Washington State. Cameras were poised to record the last westbound train over the old snowshed route. But, instead of a happy group of tourists on the back platform of the observation car there was a solitary passenger bundled up against the chill.

This unhappy circumstance was remedied by replacing the lone passenger (by photo retouching) with Wenatchee’s Apple Festival Queen and her Ladies in Waiting before release to the press. The next westbound Oriental Limited will pass through the newly completed 7.79 miles tunnel, several hundred feet below. That tunnel opened on January 12, 1929.

The Oriental Limited was the Great Northern’s premium passenger train prior to introducing the streamlined Empire Builder in 1947. And you thought photo-shopping and spin-control was something new…!

Submitted by Gary Ostlund. – Pix’s by Lee Pickett, Index, WA ., as seen in Charles & Dorothy Woods book: Great Northern Railway a Pictorial Study

My favorite toy!

March 16, 2021 Jim Pearson No Comments Bill Corum

My favorite toy! Year 2000, 100th Anniversary Lionel train set. Santa Fe, 11 cars: four engines and 7 passenger cars. O-Gauge, 0-31 minimum radius, set length 165” (13’, 9”). Longest train set Lionel had ever made at the time. – Bill Corum

Photos by Ricky Bivins

March 16, 2021 Jim Pearson No Comments Photo Section, Rick Bivins

Ricky Bivins shot all but one of these from his home in Mortons Gap, KY

RJ Corman, EMD GP-38’s, Guthrie KY, November 7, 2020
North bound CSX at Mortons Gap, KY, December 5, 2020
Sunrise, December 6, 2020 Mortons Gap KY, South bound loaded coal train, CSX DPU (dispersed power unit).
North bound EMD GP-15 in tow as seen in Mortons Gap KY, December 30, 2020.

Mr. Roy Duncan, age 99, of Paducah passed away on February 2, 2021

March 16, 2021 Jim Pearson No Comments General Post

An employee of the L&N Railroad in Paducah, Roy was instrumental in fighting the abandonment of the L&N trackage between Paducah and Murray. In 1981, he incorporated the Western Kentucky Railroad Company in an attempt to purchase  the  line.  Although  negotiations were unsuccessful, his efforts delayed abandonment and gave time for Jack Dunigan to create the J&J Railroad from Hardin to Murray. – Submitted by Chris Dees

It Will Never Be Built… Chris Dees

March 16, 2021 Jim Pearson No Comments Chris Dees

Have you ever imagined “what might have been” if certain proposed railroad lines had
been built, or if routes had been slightly altered to go to City A versus City B? On-line and inperson
research at libraries can shed some very interesting stories of would-be rail barons
that failed to reach their dreams of pushing steel rails into America’s new frontier during the
1800s and 1900s. Even as late as 1965, Illinois Central’s Kentucky Division Track Profile
contained a proposed line from Providence to Dawson Springs.

An 1891 map of Kentucky’s then current and proposed rail lines available through the
Library of Congress’ website shows another railroad closer to the Pennyrile Region. This line,
the proposed Henderson & State Line Railroad, was to run from Henderson southeast toward
Bowling Green and Scottsville via Hartford. Mr. S.K. Sneed of Henderson was the H&SL’s
president and tried to obtain funding through bond issuances in Henderson in 1899 to
construct his railroad “from the foot of the L&N’s Ohio River bridge”. Unfortunately, the H&SL
had some stiff competition with the LH&StL between Henderson and Owensboro, and the
O&N between Owensboro and Russellville.

A March 28, 1899 Owensboro Messenger news article clearly stated “if the success of
the Henderson & State Line depends on aid from Henderson, it will never be built.”
Two map segments showing proposed Henderson & State Line Railroad (H&SL).

February 2021 Chapter Trains in the Snow Photo Contest Winners & Entries

March 16, 2021 Jim Pearson No Comments Chapter Photo Contest
1st Place West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS Trains in the Snow Contest winner – NS #22A has made the trip up from the south through the second snow storm where the snow was heavier and the cold air managed to make it stick. Here, #22A is in the siding for a meet with eastbound #23G at the Buechel, KY Depot on 2-17-2021 – Photo by Bill Grady
2nd Place West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS Trains in the Snow Contest winner – February 19, 2021: Southbound CSX N013 passes the Ex L&N Hopkinsville, Ky depot with a blanket on snow surrounding it as it heads south on the CSX Henderson Subdivision. – Photo by Cooper Smith
3rd Place West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS Trains in the Snow Contest winner – February 19, 2021: UP 4601 leads K403 south at the last light of day in Slaughters, KY as Q500?s DPU can be seen in the background. – Photo by Cooper Smith
NS #22A (dim headlight) has “dogged Lawed” in the siding at Buechel, KY on this cold day of 11 February 2021. The other train, NS #172 has pulled up next to 22A to pick up the crew and take them on to Louisville so everyone can get home. The focus on the bush shows that the Louisville area received about 1/4″ of Ice. – Photo by Bill Grady
CSX E303 ascends Barnsley Hill between Morton’s Gap and Earlington, KY, February 20, 2021, with nearly 100 empty coal hoppers. This is the ruling northbound grade on CSX’s Henderson Subdivision. ES44DC 5471 is under a Restricted Proceed signal (lunar) as it closely follows a “Tote” train. – Photo by Bill Thomas
SB CN ethanol train at Bobo Road, West Paducah, KY on February 20, 2021. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
CSX Q028 heads through Mortons Gap KY on the Henderson Subdivision on February 17, 2021. – Photo by Ricky Bivins