The Searchlight Executioner at work on the CNO&TP in Kentucky

[E.M. Bell]

2014 has been a roller-coaster year on the CNO&TP in Kentucky and Tennessee.  On the positive side, we saw Southern Steam back on the mainline here in the Bluegrass state again for the first time since 1994, not to mention a lot of OCS and Heritage action.  All of that excitement has been great, but then on the other hand we have been watching the last of the GRS Model SC searchlight signals fall, which has been a slow, painful process to watch....and has overshadowed the good stuff.....for me..

So far this year, we have watched as the torch claimed those iconic signals at Revilo, Stearns, Whitley City, Woods, Southern States, Cumberland Chair, Norwood, Science Hill, Gradison....a steady and sorrowful progression to the North. The signals between Waynesburg and Danville had been holding on to life, but in the past month (and weeks) The signals at Waynesburg, Kings Mountain, and EVERYTHING between South Danville and SJ tower have been cut down and cast side....60  plus years of reliable service brought to a quick and undignified end and scrapped.  

For myself, and a few other who have grew up with the SC Signals, it has been hard to watch. We have made to many trips to get those "last" shots of these locations in the last few months, and will be making even more of those sad trips in the next few weeks as the reaper marches North. The look and feel of the CNO&TP is being changed forever.  You may say that it is not logical to develop an attachment to inanimate objects, but those objects were unique, reliable and had character. They screamed SOUTHERN like nothing else could, and when they are all gone, so will be the railroad I grew up with.  It is hard enough to go out and take what I know are the very last pictures of them when we find out what locations are next on the list.....I have yet to bring myself to go and watch them fall.  

This Saturday, a few of us will be making the trek down into TN again to get those last shots of the signals at Pemberton, Phillips and a few other places, because they will be gone come Monday. NEVER take for granted what is here today (or has been there for 60 years) because progress will catch up...progress will change things...progress sucks.  

Below are a few examples of those sad and depressing LAST shots, along with a few other assorted things. I have been concentrating so much on being trackside shooting this stuff the past 6 months that I have not made much effort at processing. I have been trying to wade through almost 1500 frames  and have added almost 70 new images to my 2nd District of the CNO&TP (with much more to come)... Be sure to follow this link and take a loot at them all if you have a chance >>>>  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/ns_cs_2014_eb

02/22/14 "That Deer in the Ditchlight look"  NS 264 encounters a pair of young deer in the cut at Jones Knob, Ky   Luckily for the deer, the train was creeping along at 25mph in the double track project area.


05/11/14 Northbound 174 comes under the signal bridge at Pemberton, Tn early on a Sunday morning. Later that day, a signal curfew would go into effect North of here to make time for more searchlights to be removed from service.


05/14/14  NS I7V (EYE 7 V) heads North near Elihu, KY with 15 former NS GP38-2's in tow. All of those units were being returned to the leasing company...behind a ratty looking CSX GE.


Now lets Fast-forward a month or so to June 14th.  Carmon & myself joined a couple of other friends to pay our last respect to the signals at Kings Mountain, Palm and Southfork...they would all be gone in 48 hours.  We also spent some time in Junction City with the early morning light....get those shots now, as you may not have another chance!

An early morning Northbound under the signal bridge at Junction City, KY. The new invaders can be seen looming in the background.  


"Putting on the Ritz" Searchlights and Top Hats at Junction City...it could be a world premiere.....but if it was, it would sadly be the coming out party for that mass of shiny new aluminum looming behind the old signals...looming like a ghoul if you ask me.


NS 2772 leads a Southbound out onto single track at Bowen, Ky last Saturday afternoon. . Just another shot from a place I have probably spent way to much time, but with the searchlights falling all around, One more shot couldn't be a bad thing. Note that bottom aspect on the Northbound signal..see that gasket shadowed in there?? That has been like that for as long as I can recall...if these signals end up being preserved, how cool would it be to keep that little detail??


"Last Time" This will probably be my final shot of a train under the GRS model SC searchlight signals at Geneva, KY....taken late this morning as 74J rolls a120 loads of coal South. Less than 24 hours from now (if things go to plan) these will be just a memory. Geneva is One of the places that we almost never shot at because of access issues....until train 215 tripped up on a sun kink here a couple of years ago and dumped a few dozen cars out into the field in the foreground , taking out all the tree's that blocked the view.


"A last goodbye" NS 40D (with the 3rd widecab D9 NS bought on the point) snakes through the junction switch and heels into the curve at Palm, KY at track speed early Saturday afternoon. I have shot this curve and the signals here just about every way a person could over the years, but unless something drastic changes in the next few days, this was probably the last train I will ever see under that iconic signal bridge.


"Staring down fate" Standing tall, heads high, eyes bright with no sign of fright. The Northbound Signal at Southfork KY bask in the morning sun protecting the entrance to double track, the only job they have ever had for close to 60 years....This would be the last Saturday they would see, come Sunday the executioners torch would claim another set of model SC searchlight signals, and Southfork would become just another look-alike control point...no longer unique, no longer Southern.


"Old Bones" Few other besides myself would find a view like this to be appealing.. looking up at the weather beaten, rusted old bones of the GRS Model SC Northbound signal at Southfork, KY. That epic example of American ingenuity has been standing there longer than most of us have been alive, reliably and safely guiding the endless flow of steel wheeled commerce without fanfare or fail. Now, the clock ticks a little faster, and soon these old bones will retire....a job well done and not forgotten.


A BNSF motor leads NS 229 under the signal bridge at Kings Mountain, KY. I was not thrilled about that power, but this was the last train (out of Hundreds...Thousands..) that I have shot here. Less than 24 hours after this was taken....those signals were gone..

[GP30Rider]

Nice photos there E.M.  Believe me when I say there are others out there who feel your pain with regards to the searchlights coming down.

[Full Service]

I was told all of that scrap stuff they are taking down is being traded in on the new stuff that is going up.

[GP30Rider]

They are refurbishing them and shipping them overseas where Congress, the FRA and PTC can't harm them.

[NSyorktown]

E.M. - Yep, sad to see the signals now "going / going / gone!".

So the pics are appreciated, visually recording the changes to the beloved line.

But it has been 11 months since I started this thread: http://www.jreb.org/ns/index.php?topic=14893.0

So, it's kinda amazing that the signals have taken this long (for NS) to change out.

Progress, sort of . . . . .

[E.M. Bell]

hey, no use in them rushing...they can go as slow as they want! 

[Bill Richardson]

    In some close views of signal lights, I noticed bullet dings on the "backboards" of those lights.  I hadn't noticed bullet dings before, but I suppose there is plenty of that.  Some people actually shoot at train signal lights.  Railroads probably have to replace shot-out lights now and then, or maybe frequently.  Busted lights might cause a train emergency I would think.  I wonder if that has happened?  Seems like people would have enough sense not to shoot train signal lights.

[lwjabo]

Must have been in the mid 70s where the CS had a derailment. It was before 1976. I went as a trainman on a work train where the old signal of Rogers was removed and it was sent north to Kentucky. The old McPherson siding north of Dallas Ga. had been extended and the signal was no longer used. The signal was pulled up from the ballast and put in gondolas. Seems we put the gons in the McPherson house track and a north bound picked them up. I must be going through my second child hood to remember this one?

[NSMoWandS]

    In some close views of signal lights, I noticed bullet dings on the "backboards" of those lights.  I hadn't noticed bullet dings before, but I suppose there is plenty of that.  Some people actually shoot at train signal lights.  Railroads probably have to replace shot-out lights now and then, or maybe frequently.  Busted lights might cause a train emergency I would think.  I wonder if that has happened?  Seems like people would have enough sense not to shoot train signal lights.

LOL! Enough sense? Good one. When Placards were first introduced... many of them were shot at. A nice red diamond on a black or white background. That's a great target!(NOT!!!) DE Dan