Back to Russell, Kentucky

Last summer, I took a return trip to watch the trains in the Russell area.
Enjoy!
Russell slide show

It is October and I am in Byesville, Ohio with my parents waiting for the Byesville Scenic's steam excursion to come around the bend. It is a nice, warm afternoon and with the evening shadows approaching, here it comes, just down the track.

Here is Ohio Central Railroad's Pacific #1293, a 4-6-2, quietly approaching the street crossing. Everyone stops to watch the sight.

Here is the Pacific, stopped at the "end of the line" while the passenger's unload.

A close up of the front of the engine. The data plate on the side there will tell you that this engine was built in 1948. My dad was 31 years old then and I was six years into the future.

The tracks number 1293 stands on were once part of the PRR's line from Cleveland to Marietta. I don't know how much is left north of where I stood, but all that remains here is this short section from Cambridge, through Byesville and just a few miles south. There are no tracks to Marietta at all today, just CSX into the Harmar side of the town (west of the Muskingum River). According to the Byesville Scenic's web page (http://www.bsrw.org/)
most of the traffic on the "Marietta Branch" was coal, in the Byesville area. Once the coal was consumed, the railroad had no more interest in the area and so the slow decline began.
But today, it was unique to see this engine run again. Get out to see these old behemoths. As they get older and older, there will be a day when they cannot run again. Watch while you can!
To stand beside the engine and here the noises, its sounds like it is panting, wheezing and gurgling. Like it is alive. Quite different from the quiet running a/c engines of today!
Good job Byesville Scenic! Quite a show!

My nephew came up to visit, so I took him on a day trip to Russell Kentucky. Having been there just this past April, I'd thought he like to see the action. Before we got there, we saw a freight heading into Portsmouth (OH), so we stopped and took a photo of it heading into town.
Behind us and to the right is where the NW station used to be. It is now a county jail/sheriff office.


The car hadn't had time to cool off after we parked at Russell, when here comes the first freight we saw of the day. In the background is coal train just heading out of the yard. It was really roaring as it strained to get going!

Then we watched a yard engine working the yard. As you can see from these two photos, these engines need a little paint job! After awhile, we decided to head on over to Kenova and try to catch a NS and CSX crossover here. While we weren't successful with that idea, we did see a freight roar over the bridge to Ohio. It came up so fast and quiet I didn't have time to set up my photo or hardly get my camera going! And here I thought trains slowed down when they cross over bridges. Not this one! Whosh!

We waited for some more action, but hunger drove us on. After lunch we were heading back to Russell when we pulled over to visit this station/museum. Unfortunately, it was not open, but I did get the obligatory photographs of the station at Catlettsburg.


Here is the sign for the trains. I don't think any are coming. . .numbers 36 and 39 are long gone.

So ends another day of train chasing. More on the next post.

Out in the country in Eastern Ohio, in the hills and there it is, the coal mine I have been looking for.
Norfolk Southern Railroad has a rail head out here in country of Ohio. It comes from the Ohio River and ends here to pick up the coal from two coal mines (one clings to the hill side on right).




Ex-Conrail SD-40-2, NS#3331 waits for the hoppers to fill up. This is the front end of the long line of cars. I got there in time to see the last two cars filled.








NS #3377, still in its Conrail paint is attached to the end of the long train. As I stood to take its photo, I heard it rev up and slowly push cars "forward" under the loader.










Then the operator in the cab (look to the right of the sign) loads the coal into the car. There is a chute that fits right down over the car.










The last photo shows the mine sitting on that steep Ohio hillside.

Barnesville, a small town in the hills of eastern Ohio.
On my way to visit my parents, I stopped a took some photos of the old B&O station. Once upon a time this line came from Wheeling and went on to Cambridge, Zanesville, Newark and Columbus.
When I was in high school, the band came to play in the pumpkin festival and I remember walking up the street to look at the station. At that time, the tracks were still there, there was a siding and I suppose a train came through once in a while. Sometime between then and the 1990's the tracks came up. The station is a registered National Historic Structure (1985).
What is ironic is that just a few short miles away NS has a spur to two mines that are active.

Here is another view of the station. In the background you can see the tunnel used to pass the trains under downtown Barnesville. Today it is a nice graveled walkway.
Someday I'd like to return and walk the path for awhile. But not today, it is too cold!





Here is a closeup of the tunnel and the warning device just before it. If you are riding on top of a car, it warned you that you'd better duck! Quick get down!
I wonder if that also let the engineer know if a car was too tall for the tunnel? I don't know how he would know. Was there some kind of signal?
Well, I was out of time so it was time to leave. I is good to know that this part of Ohio's past has been preserved.

The sign tells all. An afternoon photo trip to Parkersburg to visit what is left of the B&O.
The day before the temperature was 80 and the skies clear, today it is 40 and cloudy! What a change!
This photograph was taken from Belpre, Ohio as I waited to cross the RT. 50 bridge to Parkersburg. (Click on the photos for larger views.)


These two views are taken where the station once stood. When I was just a little boy, I stood here with my parents waiting for the B&O to come from Clarksburg bringing my grandmother for a visit. I was so excited to see the huge train come. I guess that is where I became enthralled with railroads.
The first shot looks back towards the Ohio River and the second toward Clarksburg. My oh my, how time has changed things.


I remember the engine rolling in, the steam swirling around me, the bell ringing, the baggage cart rolling up. Of course, when you can go anywhere, anytime by car, why take a train? Even with the cost of gasoline, I could drive for less to Texas, than take Amtrak-and get there sooner. It isn't hard to figure out why passenger trains no longer come to Parkersburg. Economics.




Here is a view of the high yard. Many industrial sidings were along where. In another post I will illustrate some of these sidings.
Today, the line is severed just a short distance east and trains no longer come from Clarksburg; well they do, but by a round-about-way. There still are several cars sitting in the yard as illustrated by the next photograph.



Here is another view of the high yard. The track in the foreground is the connection between the low yard down by the river, and the high yard.







Here is the yard engine coming from the low yard, I guess it is the end of the day for this crew (it was around 5pm). In fact they did drive up to the high yard and dismount their engine just a few minutes later.






Here are some views of the massive bridge across the Ohio River. This bridge was finished in 1871 and was for a time the world's longest bridge. Railroads obviously built things to last, but did they know it would last for 126 years?



















Here is a mixed freight rolling into the low yard in the late afternoon. It stopped and with the help of some ground crew, began switching moves. I was running out of time and couldn't get a good angle for anymore photographs of the moves. Video would have been better anyway.


Some comments about the photographs. I took a lot of photos this week. One day the sun was too bright and today there wasn't enough. Cloudy days a best for outdoor shots, but not a heavy overcast-the day is just too grey!

Russell, Kentucky!







It's spring break and so off to Russell to take in the sights, railroad sights of course.
Photo #1 is at the station at Russell. The display of the C&O caboose is very nice. Be sure to take the time to look at the bricks in the sidewalk.




Photos #2 shows Russell Tower. The tower is now owned by the city and a sign announces that it being converted to a museum.
Behind me is the former station.







Photo #3 shows the remote control unit switching a freight in the yard. Engine number 1021 is an ex-B&O SWMT slug and is followed by GP39, number 4283. At first I didn't notice the box in the operator's hand (standing on the front of the slug). After waving to him, I started to wave to the "operator" in the cab and noticed that there wasn't anyone there! That's when I figured it out. This is the first remote controlled unit I have seen. I have read of them and also the controversy about their use. Now, it seems they are used (I saw another one later in the day).

Photos #4 show the next entry on the hit parade. A unit train hauling LPG tank cars. Not a job I would want to do, but this guy is hauling them! Hauling the cars are numbers 6488, a GP 40-2, followed by RDMT, number 2254.





Here they go, slowly into the yard.







The last photos from Russell is of GP 38-2, 2507 and SWMT 1040 passing by and finally a shot of Russell Tower.
My day in Russell went well. Met a couple of track workers. One had started on the C&O in 1969! Wow! Almost forty years! I find that common in reading and talking with workers on the railroad. Many work 40-50 years on the railroad. Again, check out those bricks by the caboose.

THE END OF THE LINE
I've often wondered, what happens to old cars when their time is up. Well, today I found out.
After a stop at the hobby store, I ventured by the I&O "yard" here in Lancaster, planning to take some more photos of the seemingly abandoned CSX covered hopper, filled with sand.
As I drove by, I saw that the car wasn't alone anymore. It was being cut up for scrap. Why?
According to the two men from Indiana, the car had derailed, the bottom had split and the railroad had decided to sell the car for scrap instead of repairing it.

Here are some photos of the process of the car.

The man with the torch (on the top of the car at the left of the photo) has cut a hole in the side of the car.







Here is all the sand from that hole in the side. The cutter told me there was still more inside! The sand was destined for the Anchor Hocking glass plant in town.










Ever wonder what the inside of a covered hopper looks like? Well, here is your chance. Take a look! At the top you can see the bottom of the hatch where the sand was poured in.











Here is one of the chutes that the sand would have been emptied out of the hopper through.










Looking behind the brake wheel, is the date of manufacture. It says 1966. The car is 41 years old! One of the workers told me that it seems that railroads will scrap cars when they get this old. With the wear and tear on the cars, the life is basically over. One car they cut up for scrap had just broken into two pieces as the train started off!



Here is the front truck. Look closely and you can see the damage from the derailment that started the downfall of this car. The wheels are full of dirt from the derailment.








It was time to go, so I said goodbye to the workers and started home. One asked me if I wanted some sand. No thanks! I replied and drove away.
Here is one more shot of the covered hopper. The next time I drive by, there probably will be only a pile of sand left.
So goes the life a of railroad car.

A Railroad Tour in Lancaster

Running around Lancaster the other day, visiting the hobby shop to get a few things for my model railroad, I decided to take a "tour" of my hometown and see what the local Indiana and Ohio (I&O) railroad was up to. It being Saturday, I didn't expect to see anything, but you never know!
So sit back and enjoy my little tour.
Once upon a time, Lancaster, like a lot of towns in Ohio was a town with two railroads, lots of track, a large yard, frequent trains that came from somewhere and went somewhere. And, as we all know, economy changes, times change and today, all Lancaster has is a short line that serves two industries, a glass plant and a cereal making plant. Let's see what is left.
First is the glass plant, here are two shots, one shows (top photo) the cars waiting at a siding near the plant (in the background). I've posted two shots, one distant and one close.

On the other side of the plant is another siding, this one descends into the plant. Here are a couple of cars waiting their turn. Some days this siding is full of cars, but not today!

After visiting the glass plant, I drove out to the plant's warehouse. Maybe I will catch the switcher pulling some boxcars out of the warehouse? Let's see. Nope, looks like no one is here either. Here is the switcher, a leased MP15AC (ex-TVFM)(via http://www.ole.net/~rcraig/MPR.html, The Diesil Shop).


To the left of the photo is the warehouse. The engine goes inside the building to retrieve its cars.
Now its turn to check out what is left of the yard downtown. Once upon a time, there were two railroads running through this area. Today, one is gone and the other has passed on (It was Hocking Valley Railroad, then C&O, now I&O). What will we find?

First we see what is left of a loading/unloading ramp. Someone has made it a home! (Right click on the image and open in another window to see who!)

Look here! Here is a CSX hopper, just sitting and it looks like it has been sitting, sitting and sitting here for a long, long time. Look at all that sand under the wheels! Did it leak out? Why is it sitting here?


Here is a full shot of the hopper. As you can see, its been here awhile. Does anyone remember me? Here is a view of the yard with the old C&O freight house in the background. It is now a FOP building.

Next photo is the cereal plant just outside of town. Here you see the grain cars waiting to be unloaded.
Well, we've come to the end of the line, so to speak. Where I stood to take the photo above, I just turned around and took the last photo below. This is the end of the line east from Lancaster. Once it went to another town and west to Cincinnati. But now no more.
Thanks for taking a tour with me!