The Northern type locomotive (4-8-4) was moved from Centennial Park in Nashville to the Nashville & Western Railroad Tracks about a mile northeast of the park. The locomotive and tender were loaded up Friday on flat beds for the move early Sunday morning. Picture 1 is of the 576 leaving Centennial Park, the flat bed is self-propelled. Photo 2 is of her tender minus it’s trucks. The trucks were taken on to the Nashville & Western RR earlier. Photo 3 was shot on Charlotte Pike, as the locomotive moved slowly toward it’s unloading point. Photo 4 is of Bill Farrell & Blair Terry as they followed the 576 down Charlotte Pike. Finally, photo 5 is a shot of both the locomotive and tender as they make a left turn off Charlotte on to 12th Ave. North.
Many of you in the Madisonville area might recall the Western Kentucky Railway, created in 1995 to take over operation of the remnants of the former Tradewater Railway. With reporting marks of WKRL, the Western Kentucky Railway owned lines from Providence to a junction at Blackford, from Blackford north to Waverly, and the line from Blackford south to Princeton. Most of the north-south line, once the main line of the Ohio Valley Railway (an Illinois Central Railroad predecessor) was abandoned in 1995 and 1996, leaving only the piece between Blackford and Dekoven . The Fredonia Valley Railroad later acquired the section from Princeton to Fredonia and it is still in operation today. The rest of the line was abandoned in 2010 and removed from Providence to Wheatcroft and the surrounding mines.
However, there was an earlier rail company by the name of Western Kentucky Railroad Company, and the way I found out about it has a lot of the similar excitement and drama of History Channel’s Curse of Oak Island television series.
I grew up in Marshall County, Kentucky, and although today’s railfans would easily recognize the Paducah & Louisville (formerly Illinois Central Kentucky Division) mainline in the northern part of the county, most are unaware of a small branch line of the Louisville & Nashville that crossed the county on a diagonal from Paducah, through the county seat of Benton, to Hardin and down to Murray. Originally the mainline of the Paducah, Tennessee & Alabama Railroad, the railroad line was transferred a couple of times before becoming the Paducah Branch of the L&N.
The 38-mile line north of Hardin to Paducah was abandoned by L&N in 1982, and a research project this past fall of 2018 resulted in a huge amount of railroad history I was never aware of, including one event that just left me scratching my head with the words “Really ???” echoing back through 35+ years.
I started with some internet searches, and soon found that the Marshall County Library had scanned the complete collections of all county newspapers since the 1880s available on-line to card-carrying members. A quick call to the main branch explaining my Marshall County roots and interest in railroad history got me the necessary credentials and access to a wealth of information. If you haven’t tried this type of research, it can be amazing and provide you with many new adventures as a member of the NRHS.
Like many abandonments of the early 1980s, local businesses and government officials fought the abandonment quite heavily, including the formation of the Purchase Area Rail Support Association, or PARSA. Consolidated Aluminum, Marshall County Soil Improvement Association, Kashway Building Materials, Treas Lumber Company, and Hardin Grain Elevator worked with L&N, fought with L&N, and tried numerous ways to preserve rail service to Benton and Hardin. On April 1, 1981, several L&N employees and railroad investors formed the Western Kentucky Railroad Company, headquartered in Paducah, in an attempt to purchase the track and form a short line railroad company. Although the attempt was unsuccessful due to not being able to agree on a reasonable price, the efforts of PARSA and WKRC did extend the life of the L&N in Marshall County, and eventually resulted in Jack Dunigan, owner of the Hardin Grain Elevator, purchasing a shorter segment from Hardin to Murray that became the J&J Railroad. In the early 1990s, the J&J Railroad was sold to Hardin Southern, who provided tourist railroad service on the line before it was abandoned in the early 2000’s.
One search revealed probably the most interesting newspaper article I have found to date regarding this railroad line, the January 1980 derailment of a 77-car coal train at Benton, Kentucky. That’s right, 77-cars of coal going up the old Paducah Branch to its final destination of TVA’s Shawnee Steam Plant. Since the L&N had part ownership of the Paducah & Illinois Railroad, it could directly service TVA. But what’s more interesting is the fact that by this time, the L&N “Memphis Line” between Guthrie, Clarksville, and Paris would have been severed at the Tennessee River bridge in Danville, Tennessee. The routing would have been via Nashville, New Johnsonville, and Bruceton. And a search of The Paducah Sun shows a clear photo not of L&N hoppers, but Norfolk & Western coal hoppers at the derailment site. Whether this was an interchanged train from N&W, an L&N detour from a more direct route via Madisonville and the ICG Kentucky Division, or what, I have yet to find out. Certainly a good mystery.
Greetings fellow NRHS Western Kentucky Chapter members. And welcome to January, 2019. My oh my what are year 2018 was. Looking back we had the Christmas show at the mall, breakfast with Santa, an excellent Christmas dinner at the Miller residence, a picnic and rail fan day at Crofton, a railfan day in Hopkinsville, a meeting in Hopkinsville, a track side day in Morton’s Gap not to mention numerous meetings, impromptu get-togethers and programs a plenty. I feel 2019 will be even better. As you are aware, we did not have a business meeting in December however, we did have the aforementioned dinner at the Miller residence, a very successful breakfast with Santa and a successful Christmas show at the mall. Bill Farrell will have a report on the earnings from those events. Not to mention the raffle which netted us additional monies as the winner did not take the train set. We did however have a meeting in November. Which also brought about elections of officers for 2019. There were no changes in officers as all were voted in by a single vote of acclamation. To which I say thank you. Hopefully I can serve as President as need be. 2018 also brought on a few new members. It is nice to think that we can continue to grow in this age of electronics and instant gratification. As for growing in 2019, I have always said, if a member has an idea bring it forward. We will entertain all thoughts of growth and events as well. If there is something you would like for the Chapter to do, sponsor it. And it will be done! As is customary in January, the president which is I, will have the program and refreshments. My program will be a 1984 VHS video of Chesapeake and Ohio 4-8-4 number is 614 pulling coal trains in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. Along with the video we will have a guest speaker. If you recall a few years ago my oldest stepson Brian Davis who works for CSX as a conductor gave us a talk. Brian is on call meeting night and if he is not on the railroad he will be at the meeting to give us a follow-up to that program. That is tentative provided he is available at the time. They extended forecast for meeting night is clear and cold. Keep in mind should we have inclement weather I will cancel the meeting. No need for anyone to get out slip and fall or worse. Otherwise I hope to see you Monday, January 21, 2019. Bring a friend as all are welcome.
Our Chapter’s 2019 Calendar is now available online for purchase. It contains the winning photos from our membership from our photo contests this year. Follow the link to purchase one and support our chapter! They are $14.00 each and just in time for Christmas! You may purchase copies here: http://www.lulu.com/…/2019-w…/calendar/product-23880274.html
October 13, 2018 – From Today’s railfan event at Hopkinsville. We had I’d say between 10-15 people show up. Only saw 2 trains as the flooding down south has things backed up. Jim Pearson
Keith Kittenger and his grandson Tanner wait for a train trackside at Hopkinsville, Ky during the chapters railfan outing.
The shiny new Budd-built commuter cars are being loaded aboard a ship destined to Brazil. Brazilian railroads have both broad-gauge and standard-gauge. These cars appear to be standard, meaning 4 foot – 8-1/2 inches between the rails. In 1957 Brazil had the eighth-longest rail transport network in the world.
The Budd Company produced a wide variety of passenger equipment including the popular dome cars that AMTRAK retired. Personally, I liked to be able to see forward, over the top of the train as it careened across the country, even after dark.
Why the arrow, you ask.? The arrow is pointing to the rear mast. Large ships of the 20th Century were built with the pilot house and creature comforts, amidships. Most had two masts forward and a single astern. Notice the upper portion of the single mast astern is blackened. This was typical, as was the forward masts and bow of ocean-going ships painted white with a large band from the most forward point back to the first step along the gunwales, (the top edge of the side of a boat).
The reason for the blackened rear mast and the bright white forward was to provide a vivid image from afar during daylight hours. It’s a big ocean out there, and your eyes can play tricks on you. It’s extremely important for the helmsman to know precisely the attitude of any nearby traffic. From the bridge of your ship when you could see the white bow and super-structure, you knew the far-off ship was facing you. In hours of darkness red, green navigation lights provide the visual.
Large ships built today usually place the pilot house and all amenities positioned at the stern. Some of the reasons: from the stern the Captain has a better feel of control, particularly when docking, and the propulsion source is near the propeller, eliminating a lengthy drive shaft and housing that could affect the lading capacity. Photographer unknown
Cincinnati Railway Company, and Indiana & Ohio Railway on October 13, 2018. 5704, recently restored to her original livery, is the oldest operating example of EMD’s iconic diesel locomotive. Chris Dees
Today we all begin “Standard Time.” Actually, it started early this morning at 2AM when we were all supposed get up and move the clock back one-hour, gaining an extra hour of sleep. To my knowledge, no one got up at 2AM.
Railroads have always functioned by the clock. All operating personnel, enginemen, conductors, brakemen, dispatchers, maintenance of way folks, and others all need to function precisely, on the same time. Over the years railroads spent a fortune assuring every pocket watch worn by a railroader was accurate, to the second. Watch repairmen were under contract to provide this service. Rail management despised Daylight Savings Time as it meant changing their passenger schedules, among other things. (Only farmers were less happy with DST)
Railroaders timepieces, timetable, and special instructions kept trains from running into each other. This was in the days prior to the computer screen now in view of the engineer and conductor as they glide along their way. They can now communicate in real time with the dispatcher, coordinating meets, and change strategies in order to expedite their cargo.
S. Railroads did the country a great service in 1883 when, on their own, no governmental involvement, established our four time-zones. Fifty-Six standards of time were folded into the four zones we set time by today. Only minor tweaking has altered the original map, mostly to enhance economic zones. Photo by the late Richard Steinheimer.
Blair Terry – sitting in the engineer’s seat of the NC&StL locomotive 576. This was Nashville Steam Preservation Society’s annual fall open house on October 27, 2018, in Centennial Park. Nashville Steam Preservation Society has reached their goal of half a million dollars and will be moving the locomotive from Centennial Park to the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum facilities for the final restoration process.
Holy Train Night. November 6, 2018. Wally, Jim and Rich contemplate the next move on Rick’s Valley Steel Lines O Gauge train layout. Several trains can be seen.
Greetings fellow National Railway Historical Society, Western Kentucky Chapter members and welcome to November! It would seem winter came on without a fall. As did summer without a spring. Personally, I like the cooler weather. I have more time for things other than mowing, work etc.!
As you know, November brings about election time. Not on a national level mind you, but rather on our Chapter level! The November meeting will showcase the election process for the 2019 officers of our Chapter. No new nominations were made in October, however, we will call for nominations from the floor during the November meeting. If you know of someone whom you would like as an officer, nominate them. One can even nominate them self if so desired. So show up and be heard, and be counted.
Last month’s meeting was quite informative as one can see from the minutes. Refreshments were spot on and Bill Farrell’s program was excellent. I enjoy when a member presents a program of personal interest and with a personal touch. I especially enjoyed the model of the train station that still stands in Matawan, New Jersey. Ironically, I was searching the web a few days after the program for more information on the station when I ran across photographs of the model itself while still in the hands of the builder before being sent to Bill! A great program indeed Bill.
Don’t forget the Christmas party on December 1 which is a Saturday and will be held at Steve Miller’s house in Hopkinsville. Meet time is 3 PM, eat time is 4 PM with trains in the basement following. Also, the Christmas show officially begins the day after on the second as a set up and trial run day. Bill Farrell will have more information and remind us of the schedule. And let’s not forget breakfast with Santa! Again Bill will have more information meeting night.
A little FYI for the members, I now have an official Innovation Station badge! Meaning, I can open the building without having to have the locks programmed by the administration. Of course this is not something we will abuse. Any events at Innovation Station other than our monthly meetings will have to be cleared with management team prior to scheduling. With this knowledge, be advised, we will have to enter through the basement door. The upstairs doors will not remain unlocked during our meeting. Likewise, should any unforeseen event prevent me from arriving on meeting night, we will not have access to the building! Hopefully this will not happen.
Once again meeting night will also be election night. Make this your Chapter by casting a vote. Bring a friend and come prepared to be amazed! Well, at least entertained with like-minded individuals. See you there. Ricky
1st Place, West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society photo contest for September 2018 by Matt Gentry. It’s Railroad Days in Monticello, IL! During the weekend of September 15th and 16th, Monticello Railroad Museum held its annual Railroad Days providing rail entertainment for all to enjoy. From 3 different trains running between the museum grounds to the east and depot in town, to speeders and to G gauge live steam trains there is something for everyone. Seen here is Southern 2-8-0 steam locomotive #401 pulling the first excursion of the day back to the museum. Sunny skies made for an excellent day taking various photographs of the operations.
2nd Place, West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society photo contest for September 2018 by Bill Farrell. Norfolk and Southern 2603 heading up a mixed freight with help from Burlington Northern, Santa Fe 9811 and Canadian National 2179. Crossing the Kankakee River on an early 1900’s concrete bridge, in Kankakee, Il.
2nd Place, West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society photo contest for September 2018 by Bill Farrell. Norfolk and Southern 2603 heading up a mixed freight with help from Burlington Northern, Santa Fe 9811 and Canadian National 2179. Crossing the Kankakee River on an early 1900’s concrete bridge, in Kankakee, Il.
3rd, West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society photo contest for September 2018 Keith Kittenger. L&NHS convention 9-22-2018 “On the way to Lebanon Tn.
