KCS A day in the KY hills, with a KCS surprise

I took Friday off from work and headed south into Kentucky -- I've been wanting to check out the High Bridge south of Lexington for awhile. The weather wasn't the greatest w/ lots of clouds, but heck a day off shooting trains beats working! The high bridge is awesome - I want to go back when the weather's nicer. 1st 2 shots are of a northbound NS w/ 2 CR bluebirds on the point:




Since the weather wasn't great, we decided to head south to check out Danville, KY. Heading over the line just north of High Bridge, we saw a train coming, and low and behold, it was this beauty!


So a chase was definitely in order...beeline South to Danville (5 miles north, then 15 south on curvy 2 lanes...will we make it?) We saw an intermodal on the way, running behind the KCS manifest, so were bummed when we got to Danville and saw that train in the fuel rack. The NS shuttles fuel trucks back and forth in Danville to refuel trains, kind of an interesting operation in itself.

 

We hung around Danville for awhile, and just as we were leaving, guess what slowly came into the north end of the yard...it must have taken a siding and let the stack train overtake it. Luck was on our side! This paint scheme is stunning in real life.


Getting underway after being fueled, from the overpass over the yard:


And heading south through the yard, meeting a northbound slowing for a crew change:


And finally, at speed through the burg of Moreland KY, and one of the few patches of sunlight we had all day:

 

The rest of the day wasn't quite as exciting. We headed back north through La Grange to hopefully catch some street running on the CSX, but all was quiet...so north we went back toward home in Cincinnati. We followed the old L&N "short line", and first found this northbound waiting for a signal at Worthville KY. The cow is admiring the fact that there are 3 different CSX paint schemes on the 3 units, I'm sure:


After the southbound came through, we caught him again at Glencoe:


He was slowing for another red signal, so we figured that another southbound was coming through, so back down to Sparta, to set up for a shot with the tobacco barns in the background. The dispatcher had them moving on this single track railroad, we barely had enough time to set up:


So, hoping for some better sun and some action at La Grange next time, but all in all not a bad day in the hollers of Kentucky .

 

N-I-C-E! I've been hoping to catch one of the KCS units around Dallas but haven't yet. Thanks for posting the pics!

 

Nice. I especially like the shots of the KCS unit. I too am hoping to see one in the flesh (or metal) one of these days.

 

Dave:

That may have been NS 143 that you were looking at. He usually has foreign power on the point most of the time. He probably had to wait at North Wye for the stack train--NS 215, a HOT Chicago-Jacksonville stack train that connects with the FEC--to crossover from one to two, then followed him in on the south main.

Danville Yard has been doing this type of fueling for several years; they can fuel up anywhere in the area--i.e. Stewarts Lane, Faulkner Rd, DV Tower(Old East/West Perryville St).

Great set of photos from my native Kentucky, Dave

 

Nice shots! You hit a soft spot for me as I run the Short Line a lot.

 

Great stuff Dave. Awesome catches. Haven't been to Danville in many years. Looks like not much has changed.

 

:tb-cool: :tb-cool: :tb-cool: :tb-cool:
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Saw several KCSdeM deliveries on two NS 309 trains a few weeks ago, then last night saw a couple Ferromex on 309. Didn't have the camera ready in either case.

 

How's 308ft sound to ya?:tb-shocked:

 

Thanks for the report. That KCS is one sharp lokie.