Into the heart of a Blizzard on the CNO&TP

[E.M. Bell]

A few days ago, I shared a few pictures taken on January 21st during Central Kentucky's first good snow of the year. That first round was just a teaser of what was to come just Three days later, and by the looks of it, set the pace for the rest of the winter. As I set here typing this, it has just started to sleet and snow again, and they say there might be 6 to 8 inches on the ground by morning..

The weather folks had been saying that Saturday Jan 25th was going to be a bad one, and they got it right. Carmon and I were already making plans to get out in it, and soon had John Owens and Tyler wanting to go as well.  Tyler decided to come spend that Friday night at our house (a wise decision) while John choose to drive here early that morning (I will let him tell you how that worked out)..  We woke up early and and the storm was in full force, with several inches of snow already on the ground and some bad wind.  After john finally got to the house, we packed up, put the Explorer in 4x4 and headed out.

By the time we got out to the main road it was snowing so hard it that it was all I could do to see. The trip South to Danville (KY) and the wye took well over an hour (normally a 25 min trip at most) and I dont think we ever saw the pavement the whole way. We spent the rest of the day fighting the bad roads, busting through the drifting snow and trying to stay alive while getting a few shots...and accomplished all of those goals thankfully!

You can everything I shot that day by going to this link, then choosing the 1st and 2nd District galleries http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/2014rail_emb

01/25/14

This is pretty much what we had in the way of road condition's. A nice layer of ice covered by snow, and in places drifts of 2 or 3 feet as the wind did its thing. This is Faulkner Road near Danville, on the way back to North Wye and SJ. Tower. 


The First train of the day was Northbound 282 with a UP GEVO on the point, seen here blasting through the snow at CP North Wye, near Danville KY


Carmon, Tyler and John at Junction City, KY.


Northbound 29W rattles across the ghost of the L&N and under the signals at Junction City, KY I have often said that I would like to have seen all of the things that have passed under (and between) the iconic model SC searchlight signals here. They have remained steadfast for close to 6 decades protecting the CNO&TP (and the L&N which once crossed at grade here) through summer heat, winter storms and countless changes in motive power and ownership. Now, the time has come for those icons to be the next thing to change, and this could well be the last snow they will see. The scene has already been ruined by all that shiny aluminum towering above...


By late morning, the storm had started to die down, and the sun popped out for awhile. We would fight the clouds the rest of the day (and the wind) as we bounced around the area. Sun does not mean the roads got better, and it was still nasty in a lot of places.

"Against the Grain" The rule book of perfect railroad photography strongly advises not to aim your camera towards the sun...back-lighting is bad they say. Northbound NS 276 has the rubber band wound up tight as they accelerate away from the yard at Danville KY, seen here passing under the searchlight signals at SJ Tower kicking up the snow as the train comes straight out of the sun..


Train 289 (on the left) sits at North Wye waiting to go West with a rebuilt SD40-2 leading as Southbound 229 rushes by on #1 track.  A SD40-2 with the "Admiral Cab" and a catfish...who knew railroading could be so nautical?? 


After 229 clears, 289 gets on the move at North Wye, ready to make a hard right hand turn and head West on the Louisville District.


Carmon and a nice little snow drift near Danville.. By the afternoon it was hard to tell just how much we had, as the wind had piled it up like this.


This is a shot I had been wanting to get for a long time.  The TD-90 local out of Danville is busy spotting up a load of LPG at the gas dealer in Moreland, KY.  With a pair of big GE's sporting a combined 8500 HP, they didn't have to much trouble batting a few cars around. That power had came into Danville the day before on 25A, and would go back North later that night leading train 200...in the meantime I guess it was handy for the local crew to use.


NS 9786, One of the few engines left with that full white face paint, leads the HOT 229 South around the curve at Palm, KY.


Late in the afternoon, another round of snow showed up, and created some awesome lighting condition's. In this view, Northbound TripleCrown 264 sprints through downtown Burgin KY under a blanket of dark clouds that was dumping even more snow just to our South.


One of the last shots of the day would be something we had waited on and watched out for all afternoon.   Thanks to our network of friends up North, we knew that the CNJ 1071 was out of Cincinnati leading a grain train South. After making a good trip across the 1st District, he would get held up around High Bridge for a couple of Northbounds. The sun was just minutes from being gone by the time the train came dragging up the hill out of the KY river valley at Burgin, KY

[Matt L]

Nice shots! That bring said, your blizzard would pass for a mere dusting here in NY. lol