Month: April 2022

Hook Line & Singer Railroad at Madisonville, Ky is now a fallen flag!

April 18, 2022 Bill Thomas No Comments Bill Thomas

by Bill Thomas, superintendent, Hook Line & Singer RR

The last derailment on the Hook Line & Singer RR sends the Board of Directors into finalizing the closing of the line. No livestock was injured. 

For nearly 17 years, the Hook Line & Singer Railroad has brought me hours of joy, relaxation, and for a few of those hours, a great deal of frustration and challenge.  It has been the gathering place for our chapter at times – where friendships were cultivated and precious memories made, evidenced by the picture bottom left.  With the recent move we’ve made to West Lake Street, Madisonville, the Hook Line will join the ranks of fallen flag lines as its rails and ties are removed leaving a lonely roadbed. Mother Nature will soon reclaim the real estate.

But with that comes the creation of a new line, yet to be named.  I guess it depends on the towns served and how much money each community along the line can raise to make an impact on the route.  So stay tuned over the next year or two for news about re-purposed rail being laid to new vistas and destinations.  Who knows, this may turn into a group project! – Bill Thomas, superintendent, Hook Line & Singer RR

Click on photos for a full view!

Ron Stubblefield’s Shay makes its way downgrade with a load of logs bound for the mill at Townsend, TN.
East Tennessee & Western North Carolina No. 12 fights the drifts in the Doe River valley with train 1, out of Boone.

Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, crossing the Chambers Creek lift-bridge near Steilacoom, Washington

April 2, 2022 Jim Pearson No Comments Gary O. Ostlund, Photo Section

   My records reveal that I’ve used this picture previously.   Clearly it is one of my favorites.    This is Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, crossing the Chambers Creek lift-bridge near Steilacoom, Washington.  South Puget Sound was my stomping grounds until  ’04,  and a recreational and railroad paradise.

  The train is northbound and follows the Sound for about 15 miles, facing great sunsets with the Olympic Mountains to the west.  After tunneling under Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park, it will skirt Commencement Bay for another 5 or 6 miles.

  This was a warm Summer evening out on the boat, and I had anchored, patiently awaiting a train, any train.   Afterward I overnighted a few miles south near the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.  Nature provides a nicely protected breakwater, with the double track railroad a hundred feet or so up the bank, and endless wildlife throughout.  A campfire on the beach with hot chocolate and marshmallows is in order.

   As luck would have it, rail traffic that evening was light, actually non-existant.  As I read my book and watched the daylight wane I felt certain that I was skunked. But low and behold, I heard whistling for the crossing at the ferry dock about a mile south.   Another look at the bridge, with the sun now down to about a half-finger on an outstretched arm, and fading fast.  Camera ready, here it comes clattering across the bridge.   Click.  It was then that I realized the sun was tightly packed between the train and the rail.    Is that dumb luck or what.?     Could I have planned it that way……?    Not likely.

            – Gary Ostlund

In light of our February program on Hueletts, Gary Ostlund had a timely entry

April 2, 2022 Jim Pearson No Comments Gary O. Ostlund

In light of our February program on Hueletts, Gary Ostlund had a timely entry for the PennyRail… (ed)

There were 77 Huletts in use on the Great Lakes. Not just the 4 PRR units at Cleveland.  The NYCRR owned 8 at Ashtabula, Joint ownership with the B&O for 2 at Toledo and didn’t own but had total use of the 1 at Buffalo.  The picture is NYCRR advertising.  – submitted by Gary Ostlund