Eastern Railroad Discussion > Road trip info request.

I'll be leaving on a  railfan excursion roughly along this route:

Collumbus, OH - Cincinnati, OH - Louisville, KY - Nashville, TN - Memphis, TN

And would be grateful for information regarding places where one might take
roster shots.  In particular, shortlines and industrials like engines at grain
elevators.

Would like to keep within +- 25 miles of the interstate.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert  K3HX

SouthEast of Springfield, OH is South Charleston. They have 2 different locomotives they use, a GP10? And an Alco Switcher near the grain elevator in town.

Lebannon, OH is the base for the Lebannon, Mason, and Monroe RR and has a GP9 and a NKP GP30 near the station in downtown.

La Grange, KY is minutes from the interstate, best street running anywhere, but the chances of you getting a train here almost immediately are slim.

That's my take.

Posted from Android

Hello Tim
 
In Louisville you can find the Paducah and Louisville, R.J.Corman, and the Louisville and Indiana Rail Corp running around town in addition to CSX and NS.
 
Paducah and Louisville is sometimes difficult to pin down.  They have a yard at 14th and Oak Streets.  I’ve been there some days and the yard is loaded with power and other times you can’t find a Diesel anywhere.  The north end of the yard is more open and easier to view the action.  You can also access the yard office from 12th Street or use 15th Street and some private drives.  You can see P&L, LIRC, and occasionally NS in the yard.  Easy parking at the north end of the yard and no one will bother you about being there.  Not a great neighborhood but not bad during daylight.  If I’m downtown around lunch time I often grab something from Ollie’s Trolley and drive over to the yard, park under a tree, and have lunch.
 
R.J.Corman runs about four trains a day through town.  Two loads and two empties.  They pick up loads of sand at the Port of Louisville, about 2 miles east of downtown.  Quite often there are three or four locomotives tied down maybe 150-250 feet from River Road.  No access problem as long as you don’t go too far off the road and back into the sand company. The sand company security questioned me once.  I told him that I was a railfan, just taking some train photos.  That was all that was said.  Occasionally you run into a Corman employee and they’ll chat with you.  Trains runs from there on CSX to HK tower and then to Lexington on the Old Road most evenings.  Usually, a little before that the ingot train runs from Lexington area to Osborn Yard (CSX.)  The empties run in the afternoon, usually.
 
LIRC is just across the river from Louisville but they cross the river to interchange with P&L.  It’s a little hard to find a good place to photograph them in the yard but their main to Indianapolis parallels US-31 for much of the route.   You can search the Jeffersonville (In.) area and they switch quite a few locations around town.  You can see the yard from I-65 but it’s probably not the best place to park and shoot.  There is some access on the east side of the yard if you don’t mind going on the private property of the industries next to the yard. 
 
If you have interest in any of these, let me know and I’ll try to send you some maps and more detailed info.  Let me know when you’ll be in town and maybe we can have lunch or something.   
 
73’s  John
 

Let me add a couple thoughts, while in Louisville you might consider going past the airport. CSX has a yard right along side the field and sometimes Corman is in that same location. Even though you're after trains while driving around the airport you'll have a chance to photograph several UPS aircraft. In one shot alone I have 5 747's.

If you're going south on I-65 to TN drop off the Interstate at Elizabethtown and make your way to Cecilia where P&L has a yard operation. At that spot I photographed two special liveried P&L engines for for UK and the other for UL. Also there is an IC liveried caboose and the operating signal lights make for neat color photos of same on their mast.

Right in the same area is the Kentucky Railroad Museum where you can probably catch a BL-2 in Monon livery and if you're lucky it will be running. There are several other interesting things at KRM including L&N 152 if the inspection has been finished. KRM is southeast of Elizabethtown at New Haven, KY.

As you resume your journey on I-65 be sure to get off at Bowling Green and see a cosmetically restored L&N E-8 along with two or three L&N passenger cars. They're at the depot and look like the day they came out of the factory.

DaleR


 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/16 16:32 by dbrcnw.