High Hoods, Camp Cars & Close Calls on the Louisville District

[E.M. Bell]

MofW  season is in full swing here in Ky this month.  Crews have been laying new rail, surfacing, and all other sorts of things on both the CNO&TP and Louisville District.  A Rail gang set up camp in Lawrenceburg, KY for over a week (with daytime curfews) to install new CWR. They had almost the entire yard at Lawrenceburg filled up with camp cars and support equipment. 

On Saturday evening (March 14th)  the entire gang was packed up and moved out, and I took advantage of that to get a few shots of the camp cars.  NS is about the only Class 1 RR left to house system track gangs in this rather archaic form of lodging, and I have never had the chance to shoot a lot of that stuff. I figured it would be worth a few frames.  It was also nice to see the NS 5134 tied up in the house track there, being used for the local T19. 

Earlier that day on the way back from a CNO&TP outing, I stopped in Harrodsburg, KY to shoot a 375 which I lucked into.  I set up just West of the US 127 crossing to shoot the train coming down the street, but got more than I bargained for. Even with Horns, Lights and Bells, several drivers decided to cheat death and dash out in front of the train....and sadly, at about the same time i was shooting this stuff, the horrific crossing incident was taking place in Louisville...just 50 miles to the West on the same line. 

The entire set can be found here  >>>> http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsls15

NS GP38-2 # 5134, power for local T19 at Lawrenceburg, KY


944 pulls out of the West leg of the wye at Lawrenceburg with a cut of Camp Cars.








Earlier in the day, Westbound 375 winds through the streets of Harrodsburg, KY


15mph train misses a truck by less than 50 feet.  This guy went around the stopped traffic, and never even glanced at the train


and a car follows him right across...the train even closer..

[thpbears]

Nice pics EM. It would be a sight to see how fast these two idiots got out of the hospital if able and got an attorney to sue when its clearly their ignorance.

[leroy]

E. M.... Great pictures.... I love the little GP38.... They are a great machine.... I wonder if the last MW car ya shot (...ole NW525694MW...) is a foreman's camp car and office... There were some.... It looks very interestin... Not the usual house trailer on flatcar type car...

Thanks for takin the time to shoot these scenes; even the ones of those who foolishly choose to cheat death... I never cease to be amazed at the foolish disregard for life that these folks seem to have....

leroy