Eastern Railroad Discussion > Talking Trash...trains, that is

Some may be familiar with the infamous "trash trains" from New Jersey to a landfill near Ashland, KY, the original train of hoppers in cuts of 20-25 used to come in on manifest trains to Russell before a new contract enacted a couple of years ago set the course for intermodal style containers on flat cars to be transported in unit trains to the landfill, located on the former C&O Lexington Subdivision.  A majority of the line from Winchester to Rush was abandoned in 1985 as part of cost cutting measures by newly formed CSX, while a 11 mile long section remained to service a steel plant & brickyard at the end of the line.  The brickyard shut down several years ago, and the owners of the landfill, Envirosolutions bought the property to allow trash by rail offloading.  The new contract and new trains meant major rehabilitation projects including ties and ribbon rail in curves were needed for the "Lex" as well as enlargenment of the two tunnels at Ashland and Princess, KY, bringing new life to a line once thought to have been gone forever. 

Fast forward another year or so, and following numerous complaints by the surrounding community of odors emitting from the landfill (pointed towards the trains, of course) forced the county court to shut the operation down in April of 2016.  When the announcement was made, two more trains were scheduled, with the last following a press conference for the official closure of the rail yard at the landfill.  Myself, as well as a few locals & out of town-ers were fortunate enough to catch one of the last trains to operate from the landfill.  It was an easy chase, as the entire line is excepted track and mostly parallels main roads into town.  The trains operated as a push-pull train, with one or two motors on the headend and one or two motors on the rear, both sets manned to allow better control of the train on the 1% grade at Summit, about the halfway point on the line.  Due to the late evening light, the shots are all of the pushers on the train.

#1: Train Y206-18 passes through Meads, KY, the bottom of the grade at Summit and at one time a passenger stop for the George Washington of the C&O days.  A short passing siding was also located here.  The sign at the private crossing to Gillum's Service & Repair indicates we are 7 and a half miles from the junction at NC Cabin in Russell.  In days past, this would have been milepost 526, indicating 526 miles from the railroad's terminus at Newport News, VA.

#2: The train rolls through a S-curve near Ironville, approx MP 524 on the original line.

#3: Through a break in the trees, the last light of the day shines on CSX 5403 as the final few cars are pushed through the tunnel at Ashland, passing underneath Ferguson Road in the Hillcrest area of town.  The curve has a very apparent lean, as the locomotive can be seen leaning heavily to the right.  The enlargened tunnel portal can easily be seen, one of numerous improvements to the line for this operation.

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#4: A pan shot of 5403 as the train passes into the shadows between NC Cabin and RU Cabin in Russell.  The train is finally over the Lex's speed limit of 10 miles per hour, but only for a short time as the train is approaching RU Cabin where the train will yard for a recrew & locomotive rearrangement.  The next day, the very last trash train would leave Coalton, with the gate being closed directly behind it.  With the trash traffic gone, the only thing remaining is some rust forming on the rails and an occasional as-needed run to Kentucky Electric Steel at the end of the line.

Bonus shot!

#5: 03/30/16, the pusher of the trash train passes under the C&O cantilever signal at CP AK Steel, the west end of the Ashland Works railyard.  At the time, this signal was the only remaining C&O signal on the entire mainline between Columbus and Richmond, & possibly beyond.  Many signals still perform their duties on the branch lines, but the heritage of the C&O has virtually vanished from the mainline. 

#6: 01/2015, the signal bridge at NC Cabin brackets the inbound trash train, crossing over onto the Lexington IT up ahead.  Since this photo has been taken, the signal bridge has been replaced, while the steel remains standing directly behind the new signal.

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Tough to see this facilty get shut down.  We built the rail yard for ESI here as well as the yard they built down in Capels, WV.  Fun times that allowed me to see a LOT of WV and KY.

TrackGuy

Great series of photos, #3 & #6 great shots

Neat shots and explanation. That helps me realize what I saw last September when I passed through.

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inCHI Wrote:
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> Neat shots and explanation. That helps me realize
> what I saw last September when I passed through.

That is it. It still runs but now to a landfill in northeast Ohio.

I spy a standard cab Dash 8 third out, the Dash 8's seemed to be the power of choice for these trains most of the time.  Shame the standard cabs are all gone, but such is progress

Thanks for posting.... Boy, wish I could ride over the Lex Sub again.....even only the 12 miles of it.....My last time was Eastbound on the George in Jan. 1970.....

Too bad they blamed the trains as just like the coal trains going by soon to enter the Columbia River Gorge they didnt do anything other than pass by or sit on a siding.  The only thing that bothered me was the fact that Spokane was transporting there trash to a landfill not in there county just like Seattle does. They bring it to eastern WA for burial oh and also OR on the other side of the river. No mess no stink like the commercial says.