Epic power for a Louisville District rail train

[E.M. Bell]

Thanks to a "heads up" from Adam Wells Thursday afternoon, I was able to catch what he called "epic" power, on a rail train working on the Louisville District.  For folks like us that have come to appreciate the finer things in life (like a pair of conventional cab EMD's working their guts out), it was indeed a good catch.

Rail train 96W had been working its way East all day, picking up used rail from the recent T&S project. Power was NS GP38-2 #5647, former NS 2917 / CR / PC 7741 and the recently rebuilt SD40E NS 6334, Former NS 5412 / CR 6721 SD50. The geep had been leading all day as the train worked West, but by the time I got off work and got to the tracks, they had ran around the train at Lawrenceburg KY, and where ready to make a fast trip to Harrodsburg to tie up for the night.

Once they had ran around and made a brake test, chatter on the radio indicate the crew had exactly 1.5 hours left before they dogged out.  The "long pass" track at Harrodsburg was the only place long enough to hold the train without causing problems, and they had to get it there. The dispatcher turned them out in front of the 23G, and with that SD40E leading, they made haste to get to Hogtown and clear up without delaying any money makers

I chased them from Lawrencburg to Harrodsburg, and got a few shots. They stopped at East Talmage for about 5 mins waiting on a good light, and when the engineer got his signal, they had less than 30 minutes to work...and had to get across a 10mph slow order and get the train put away. When they got a clear signal, you would have though that a passenger train was leaving, not a old rail train... By the time the power got to me, he had them in #8 throttle, and man did those EMD's sound awesome!

Thanks to Adam for the great info!  Here are a few shots from that evening.. Bigger, high res versions can be found at this link  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsls11eb

NS 96W at Lawrenceburg KY, passing the T19 local power.







Leaving East Talmage, with those EMD's really talking as they get the heavy train moving..wish I had brought the video camera!





and the 96W, passing through downtown Harrodsburg KY, with about 5 minutes left to clear up before the crew ran out of time.

[Batman]

good stuff !

[Kentucky & Indiana Terminal RR]

Great shots, especially east talmage, I've never been there but I like how that looks, and I bet it sounded just as epic!

[EdH]

E.M,
Great catch & fine photos... Epic Power indeed.  Loved the part about him hi-tailing it to the storage track before the hoglaw caught him.  That's always lots of fun.
I'm rather fond of EMD & the 2-stroke chant, having spent some time around the 567s waaayy back when.
Ed

[Matt L]

Nice shots, Emmett! Your next to last shot reminds me of a saying used by some local railfans- "whistling through the graveyard". 

[Ed Fury]

Where is this going to go in the morning Danville or Louisville?

[E.M. Bell]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Ed, I would expect them to work West, although I cant say how far. They have rail to pick up about the whole length of the district, and they left off last week around Alton and Avenstoke.