Nostalgia & History > Cincinnati Railroads, Southern, 1977

1. Good old Southern. When you doubted the viability of Eastern roads in the 70s, there was always Southern. With motive power always in good repair, an immaculately maintained main line, and lots of trains, from my photographic perspective, it was the closest thing Cincy had to SP, UP, and Santa Fe. Working the Southern I frequently started out just across the Ohio River in Ludlow, Kentucky. Here a southbound manifest exits the massive bridge over the Ohio River, with another southbound waiting at the south end of Gest Street Yard above the Ohio riverbank.

2. "Hammerhead" was the phrase the late Jim Boyd coined to describe Southern motive power running long hood forward. Looking at SD45 #3108, the descriptive term seems appropriate.

3. GPs pushing on the rear of a Southern bay window caboose as the train begins climbing Erlanger Hill. Manned helpers...graffiti-free freight cars...cabooses...take me back to another time!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/12 02:21 by captrr.

---

---

---

4. Next to Ludlow, I probably shot at Walton, Kentucky, more than any other Northern Kentucky location. One of the many photo locations was just south of the skewed Southern bridge that carried it over the L&N's Short Line for Louisville which ran below.

5. I headed west for California on 23 May. My routing took me south on the Southern to the Tennesse border before turning west for the L&N and then the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. Light rain and overcast mixed with the cliffs above the bridge at Burnside to nearly obscure the southbound Southern freight crossing the Cumberland River.

6. As I headed south the weather got progressively worse. At Whitley City, Kentucky, a northbound manifest held the main for a southbound coal train. Although I paced the northbound train back to Burnside, the rain was so heavy I got only a marginal shot at the famous crossing, before turning west for California.

---

---

---

Excellent stuff as always on all 3 Capt