Category: Chris Dees

by Chris Dees

It’s August 1, 2022, and the email from Jim Pearson regarding the passing of long-time chapter member Chuck Hinrichs arrived in the early afternoon as I was returning from lunch. Today marked the start of another year with my current employer in the Milwaukee area, and Jim’s email brought back many comforting and happy memories of chapter meetings, train trips, and railfan adventures with Chuck that made me smile as the tears welled up inside. Bill Thomas has been requesting “how did you get into the hobby” stories for future newsletters, so I thought I would pass along a few remembrances of how Chuck got me interested in a wonderful aspect of the hobby – diesel locomotives.

My first introduction to Chuck occurred 10 years before I actually had a chance to meet him. Growing up in the far western part of Kentucky, Paducah was about the only true place I had ever “railfanned” by the time the February 1983 issue of Trains rolled onto the shelves of the local Readmore bookstore. Inside was the story of three Kentucky railfans – Jerry Mart, Timothy Baggett, and Chuck Hinrichs – detailing their July 29, 1982 visit to the Illinois Central Gulf in far southwest Kentucky during what was termed a “Slow Day in the Fulton Triangle”.

This article, documenting “when 27 trains ran and 22 didn’t”, was like opening pandora’s box for a then 12-year old railfan like myself. Fulton was only 52 miles away at the other end of the Jackson Purchase Parkway, and I begged Mom and Dad to drive down one Sunday after church to see the Illinois Central Gulf put on a show. It wouldn’t be the last time I went to Fulton, having spent many days just off Murray Street instead of studying at Murray State from 1989 to 1992. Chuck got the final frame of the 1983 article’s photo spread – a shot of northbound Birmingham-Chicago train BC-4 with ICG SD40 6000, GP35 2504, and GP30 2267 departing Fulton after making a set-out.

I discovered more of Chuck’s photography skills and his amazing knowledge of diesel locomotives through another magical place, The Hobby Shop in Hopkinsville. The Hobby Shop carried several railfan magazines that the local shop in Paducah did not: Pacific Rail News, CTC Board, and Extra 2200 South (aka “The Locomotive Newsmagazine”). Long before e-mail, Facebook and cell phone technology, Extra 2200 was THE magazine for learning about new locomotive orders, sales of locomotives to the plethora of new startup short line railroads, and just about anything diesel locomotive related (frame numbers, serial numbers, etc.). Chuck was a regular contributor to Extra 2200 South, and his knack for finding the rare, obscure, and one-of-a-kind locomotives was exceptionally detailed in several reports and photographs. A November 1989 photo at Princeton documented the brief time that former ICG GP38 9526 was patched up for up-and-coming locomotive rebuilder VMV Enterprises of Paducah.

In 1993, I finally met Chuck at the Thursday evening sessions at Don Clayton’s, and the monthly NRHS chapter meetings at the Madisonville depot. I remember Chuck being a very motivated and contributing member to the chapter, always ready to lend a hand, taking over editing of the monthly newsletter for a period of time, and representing the chapter during many director meetings on the national level. His knowledge of locomotives and the ongoing sales, swaps and new locomotive rebuilding was simply amazing in the pre-Internet era. Two railfan adventures with Chuck, one in the Centralia, Illinois area and one in the Lafayette, Indiana were epic adventures to say the least – a perusal of the chapter newsletter archives will forever be a testament to Chuck’s love of his fellow railfans and chapter members.

As I wrap up this tribute to Chuck, I have the chapter’s DVD “P&L – the first year” ready to go in the DVD for a walk down memory lane – it is narrated by Mr. Hinrichs himself, in that voice and demeanor only Chuck had. Even though it might have been a “Slow Day in the Fulton Triangle”, any time railfanning with friends sure makes for a great day of cherished memories. Rest in Peace.

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).

By Chris Dees, Chapter Member       

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.