Halloween Heritage on the NS Louisville District (N&W 8103)

[E.M. Bell]

As usual, I am playing catch up on editing and posting things, but I digress! 

On Halloween morning 10/31/15 , N&W 8103 was the leader on Eastbound 167 out of Louisville.  Adam Wells and myself decided to brave the clouds and rain to run out and grab a few shots.  We beat the train to Waddy, Ky by about 10 minutes, and followed him East across the Louisville District to Talmage.  Despite the (usual) crappy weather, we came away with a few keepers and killed a couple of hours in the process.  The 8103 has not spent a lot of time in the Bluegrass State, so it seemed like a worthwhile thing to do!

You can find the big versions of these, plus lots (and lots and lots) more at this link>>>>>>   http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsheritageocs2015

10/31/15   

The heavy 167 was down to a walk as the train clawed its way up the steep West Slope of Waddy hill on wet rail.  Waddy (KY) is the highest point on the Louisville District, with heavy grades on either side. 
 

A little bit of Fall color remains in the trees as the train tops  over Waddy hill and is starting the steep downhill slide to the Benson Creek watershed at Avenstoke, Ky. The engineer is going from #8 throttle to a lot of Dynamic brake and maybe even a little air as the they start around Turtle Tree Curve (and the bridge we shot off of in the image above is just out of sight to the left!)


After passing through my hometown of Lawrenceburg, KY,   train 167 is climbing out of the Salt River Bottom near Mcbrayer.