Two days (and a little Heritage power) on the 2nd District of the CNO&TP

[E.M. Bell]

I headed out on the 2nd District of the CNO&TP last week on Two separate days to get rid of a little cabin fever and enjoy some trains with a few friends. 

Friday 02/05/16 was a very cold but mostly sunny day here in Central  Kentucky with a parade of Southbound trains in the afternoon.  As luck would have it, the Southbound piggy parade showed up in Danville, Ky about the same time in the afternoon, which meant a lot more running right behind them.  John Owens and myself spent the entire afternoon "trapped" in the valley between Danville and Southfork, not able to move very far between trains.....I love it when they run like that!  NS ran close to 20 trains in a little over 5 hours...just a typical busy day on the CNO&TP. 

On Sunday 02/07/16 I headed South Once again with Adam Wells, this time to try for a few shots of the SOUTHERN 8099 leading train 22A North.  Once again, we had a VERY busy Southbound  afternoon with a mix of Pig trains, coal and manifest that kept our attention focused.  Our main objective (Northbound 22A) got held up at several places waiting on all the other stuff to run, but we finally bagged a few shots of it late in the afternoon..   While CSX seems to by slowly dyeing    here in Kentucky, NS is as busy as ever! 

You can find the results from both days at this link, if you care to take a few minutes to check them all out....here are a few teasers.  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/2016eb

02/05/16

NS 375 (One the Left) waits for a rested crew to take it West to Louisville as Southbound 295 races by on  #1 track at North Wye, just North of Danville, KY


Southbound 113 comes by the mess of shiny new plastic and aluminum signals at Bowen, KY.  I sure miss the old signals....shots like this are just not the same now.. 


Southbound 229, The "Queen of the Fleet" and the hottest train on the CNO&TP races down the valley between Palm and McKinney, KY


NS I-15 (Eye-15  second section of 215) rumbles across the Green River Bridge near Southfork, KY


02/07/16

A few million years of limestone towers above Southbound 223 as the train climbs through the huge at cut at Kings Mountain, KY .  The almost Mile long tunnel that this cut bypassed bores through the hill just off the left....this place was HELL defined for train crews back in the days of steam..


SOUTHERN 8099 leads Northbound 22a under the new signals at Soutfork, KY


A pair of SD40-2s off the West Side yard job rest as 22A pulls out of West #3 at Danville, KY while making a large pickup. 

[NSSpike]

Some great pics here and even gets better on the link!! The 894 at the Green River Dip..  The whole drag in the shot.  My kind a train!!! Get them coal drags while you still can!!!