A cold, snowy afternoon on the Louisville District.

[E.M. Bell]

Starting this past Friday night, and on into the day on Saturday (12/04/10), Central Kentucky got our first good snowfall of the season (well..good for us anyway, you folks up North would laugh at it). The snow started late Friday night, and by sunrise on Saturday morning we had around 2 inches on the ground here at The JREB world HQ, and it was still coming down. Carm and myself hung around the house till late morning, giving the road crews time to do their thing, and basically just to feel it out and see what was going to transpire on the RR.

The Louisville District (Danville to Louisville KY) started to sound busy on the radio around 1100, so we put on the long johns,  dug the car out, packed up the cameras, and headed out. By this time, we had a little over 3 inches on the ground, but the snow had changed over to a varying mix of flurries, sleet, and then a heavy freezing fog. The mains roads where pretty good, but the country roads where still pretty much pure crap.

I am posting all of the good stuff here in this report, but if you would like to see larger versions of any of these images, they can be found here at this link.  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsls10

Our first shot of the day would be just down the road and over the hill at Vanarsdale, where we shot Eastbound 376 at the Agee farm.





376 would be meeting the 22A at Talmage, so we slipped and slid our way over to the West end of the siding there to get them. The West end of Talmage siding is one of those places that you just cant shoot on a sunny day, so the cloudy, dark day lent itself well to this shot. Here is 22A as they leave the siding, after meeting 376.



22A had a track authority to Waddy, where he would meet a 285, so we did our best to keep ahead of him and make it to Waddy. The further West we went, the worse the roads got, and we just beat him there.

22A at Waddy. 



After a 30 min wait, 285 finally showed up, and we shot them as they headed in the siding at West Waddy.





And a couple more of 285, almost at the East end of the siding. This was a good rolling meet for them, and they never had to stop moving (376 handled the switch at the West end for them)





From what we could tell on the radio, 285 would be meeting a pair of Westbounds at Talmage, but with the roads the way they where, we decided to just hand around instead of following him back. That gave us a good hours break, and time for me to treat Carmon to an actual, sit down lunch (and anyone that has ever been out with will tell you, that is a RARE treat)

By the time the first Westbound got to us, a lovely ice fog had formed, and was quickly covering everything in a nice layer of thin ice. The first Westbound turned out to be a 68R, which was a solid train of gons with steel slabs in them. This is either a new train, or a reroute of some sort, as I have never heard this one on the LS before. He was a heavy sucker, and down to just a walk on the steep hill up to Waddy.

NS 68R at East Waddy.





The last train we would see was the 112, with a paid of UP SD70m's.  I somehow managed to screw that shot up so bad that it couldnt even be fixed in RAW, but I wont cry over a blown shot of a pair of dirty birds..

[EdH]

E.M......
Great shots.  Thanks for braving the treacherous roads and for sharing the shots with us..
Love the story about the slab train.
Ed

[butch]

Sit down lunch, was that Taco Bell or Dairy Queen?   ;D

[billworsham]

...or maybe Krystals?

Sit down lunch, was that Taco Bell or Dairy Queen?   ;D

[E.M. Bell]

In this case, it was the Waddy Truck stop. Its not the location that matters, its the SIT DOWN and not be moving part that really counts..

To tell the truth, this has happened TWICE this year, once with good ol Butch along. I must be getting soft in my advanced age..

[lwjabo]

We did not get that much snow down in Georgia but have seen a few days that looked like that. I'm supprised that the Louisville Dist is still AB. Would have thought they would have updated it by now. Was a time not long ago when about all we saw was AB. Atlanta to Macon. Atlanta to Birmingham. Atlanta to Chattanooga all were AB.
The fist train as it went over the snow made it squirt out the sides. It was beautiful. Just as long as nothing went wrong. I hated walking in it and also frozen switches.

[butch]

And those hot dogs were good too!

[Ed Fury]

Can you provide more details on the photo locations in Waddy or is it easier to just use google earth to find the tracks and look for spots that way? Do the police bother people out there for watching trains? Louisville is getting too hot for me it seems I am being buzzed and dived bombed by police and railcops and everything else with a badge and a gun lately. I absolutely hate being made to feel like a criminal just because I want to watch a train roll down the tracks... I know that little store next to the tracks has a sun room to sit and watch from is there anyplace better then that? If I park out on some gravel road and a sheriff pulls up and gives me the "BOY WHATCHU DOIN' OUT CHEER?" speech one more time.. imma git myselfs in trubbles.

[E.M. Bell]

I dont blame you for wanting out of Louisville..I dont even like to drive through there I shoot the Louisville District  a whole heck of a lot from Danville all the way to East Tucker, but thats as far as I will voluntarily go (unless There are F-Units to be had)

I have never had any sort of problem at Waddy. I have been welcomed to sit on the front porch of the house (that used to be) across the road from the tracks at Turtle Tree Curve, Had many a pleasant conversation with the Waddy fire chief while shooting from the area around the firehouse, and had many a cold Ale-8 from the General Store at the West End while waiting on a train.  

The whole area along the siding offers many differing views from overhead to broadside to pacing. Lots of scenic curves, signals at each end, not to mention the steep grades on either side of the siding that has just about every train working hard.  Waddy is the spot where the tracks turn almost due West, and you can usually find good sun angles from "somewhere" at about any time of the day (although late afternoons are the best)

The main highway (Kings Highway) follows the tracks the entire length of the siding (on the South side) and a dead end road runs about half the length of the siding on the North Side (from the West end).  You can get there pretty quick off of I-64 if your chasing.

Once you get out of Louisville headed East, there are tons and tons of great locations to shoot from besides Waddy, and usually plenty of trains. It always surprises me how few folks shoot out this way..  

[Ed Fury]

Thanks for the helpful info. I'm going to try and head over to Waddy before the end of the year and scout around one afternoon. Then maybe spend a few days there this spring once it warms up some but before everything turns green.

[Matt L]

Starting this past Friday night, and on into the day on Saturday (12/04/10), Central Kentucky got our first good snowfall of the season (well..good for us anyway, you folks up North would laugh at it).

That's a dusting! 

Rochester (NY) has over 2 feet of snow and parts of the Buffalo area have nearly 4 feet of snow... on the ground.

[E.M. Bell]

Well Matt, thats why I added the disclaimer in there! I love snow, but yall can have anything more than 6 inches...heck, around here 3 inches is enough to cause widespread panic and mayhem..

[VirginiaSouthern]

I know I'm late to the party here, been crazy playing catch up since I got back from the sandbox. Anywho, this is an excellent series EB.  I like all of the shots, but especially the ones near the fencelines.

[E.M. Bell]

Thanks Tommy. I have had a grumpy redhead to deal with all day today, as the snow they had forecast for this morning didn't start to late this afternoon, which meant no shooting today..

[Matt L]

Well Matt, thats why I added the disclaimer in there! I love snow, but yall can have anything more than 6 inches...heck, around here 3 inches is enough to cause widespread panic and mayhem..

There are days when I'd like to give some of our snow to the rest of the country. We got hit pretty good last week and we're getting hit with more lake effect snow tonight. Even so, I did venture out in lake effect snow 8 days ago to catch this NKP survivor: http://www.jreb.org/ns/index.php?topic=7035.25