Nostalgia & History > Cincinnati Railroads, 1978

Horrible driving weather on I-80 in Wyoming and Nebraska delayed my arrival at home until Christmas Eve, 1978. With an upcoming Cincy-DC-New Orleans trip planned on Amtrak and Southern to ride the "Southern Crescent" one last time, I had very few days to railfan in the Queen City area in late December. I elected to focus on those things I felt might be gone, felled by "progress," in the upcoming years as I went first to New England, and then back to the West Coast for duty.

1, 2. Certain to be gone soon were the remnants of C&O's servicing facilities at Cheviot. Chicago-Cincy freights had been switched to a B&O routing via Hamilton, and Amtrak was gone in July. By the time I got to Cheviot in December the death knell had sounded for the coaling tower and standpipe, themselves echoes of an even earlier era of railroading in the Queen City.

3. Recognizing I still did not have a sunlit view of RH Tower and the track/1920s era signal bridge south of it, I set up to lens B&O GP35 #3545 leading a caboose hop past the tower.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/12 10:27 by captrr.

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4, 5. With a northbound DeCoursey Yard (L&N, Latonia, Kentucky) to Sharonville Yard (New York Central, Sharonville,Ohio) visible, I shifted to the north side of the signal bridge to lens one of my earliest images of a CONRAIL train in Cincinnati. On the point was one of those 13D Penn Central paint jobs which I detested, but there was a decently painted B23-7 unit amidst the motive power consist.

6. Coming up behind the transfer run was a fast moving Chessie System freight, led by GP40 #4199.

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7. When those two northbound movements had cleared, another Chessie System freight, led by GP40 #4197, crossed over behind RH Tower to gain the northbound main.

8. Certain to be on the endangered species list was the Stockyard Roundhouse and turntable. On another day I got a couple of shots of the depressing scene.

9. One good aspect of my visit to Stockyard was a Western Maryland F-unit being serviced. This was the only WM F-unit I ever photographed in Cincy.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/12 10:22 by captrr.

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10. Another view of WM F7 #7149.

11. The final day of photography in '79 was spent at L&N's DeCoursey Yard. I didn't really feel it was "endangered" at the time, but as events would eventually prove, it was. Here is an overall view looking north.

12. The motive power assembled at DeCoursey's servicing facility was always interesting, and I was a big fan of the DT&I GPs that frequented the area.

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13. Final slide of '78 was this close up view of DT&I GP38 #202 at DeCoursey.

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Awesome.

Fantastic Rick. Glad you had the foresight to make the effort to shoot all of the scenes you shot back then.

Kim Heusel

Since I was born north of here near Dayton in 1977 (lived in Lewisburg then moved to Beavercreek in 1980), I love looking at your series of photos. I have extremely vague memories of seeing a couple trains on the ex-NYC line that ran north out of Cincy (through Brookville, West Alexandria, etc) in my earliest years before they ripped that line out.

I've gotta chuckle at the turntable photo, with the busted railing - someone obviously had something parked really close to the edge of the pit and the operator didn't realize it until it was too late.

Please keep these coming!!!!!!

-Eric

Guys, thkx! I have more Cincy in the queue, but right now I'm in Binghamton, New York, in '86...and I've got B&LE, the Joint Line, and N&W's 'J' and 'A' coming up. I just scan batches in one area/time frame...and then shift to another. I'm also thinking about B&M around Rotterdam Junction...Maine Central/B&M in Portland...both in '79, and returning, again to Cajon and Tehachapi where I have lots more to do in the 80s. Then I read the article about oil production in North Dakota around Williston in the WSJ yesterday...which reminded me of the time my father and I shot the "Empire Builder" arriving in the mid-60s.

Much to do. So...stay tuned!