Coming Next

[landnrailroader]

I have had a number of requests for the L&N Mainline sub., i.e. Louisville to Nashville and so I am working on that now, expecting to release it as incomplete around the end of the year. I'll be away from my PC for two weeks, Sept. volunteering as a docent on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, and then a Kelly Tour out of Savannah in late Oct.. that includes 3 short rail segments that are not on my mileage list except that I have been over the route of the Blue Ridge Train (Staunton, VA west & return) but it was at night on a C&O train more than 50 years ago. The most complex part of the mainline sub. will be recreating the Green R. bridge at Munfordville, KY but I have a sketch of it, acquired before I retired.

Some explanation of names, in case confusion occurs. In the beginning, about 1850 or so, this line was referred as the Louisville & Nashville main stem. There was also the Bardstown branch and the Lebanon branch, and later the Memphis line. The Glasgow RR appears as a branch but was really a independent company that depended on the L&N for crews and equipment and then was later owned by the L&N, now CSX. Even in the 1940s/50s when I was a budding railfan and my uncle was a engineer on the line, he referred to it as the L&N Main Stem, 1st & 2nd subdivisions. The break was Bowling Green, KY, really Memphis Jct. Then it was also called the Louisville Division, 1st & 2nd subs. Under SCL Family lines it was the Louisville Division, "000" line. And under CSX it is the Mainline Sub. and I am not sure what division it is part of. Mileposts all the way from Louisville to Mobile and I think also New Orleans have the "000" prefix. Lines off of that have prefixes like "00H" for the Henderson Sub. (formerly division) between Evansville & Nashville (Amqui Jct.). While the "000" line goes through Nashville downtown and was the passenger line, through freight trains turned off at Maplewood, north of downtown and followed the "0BA" line to Radnor Yard and beyond to Brentwood. As a part of this and at least 3 other lines, if I remain upright long enough, I will include the Nashville Terminal which has tracks as accurate as I could make them and most major roads & streets. Radnor Yard is "faked in". There is a personal story about Radnor.

In 1992 or so, a very fine man, now deceased, was made Chief Engr. M/W at CSX and he found out that I could do pie charts etc. on a CAD system so he asked if I could shade in parts of a major yard that they were going to do maintenance on. For example, there might be 56 tracks in the classification "bowl" and he wanted to take them out of service for repair, 7 at a time, so 7x8 = 56. He said he wanted to do Radnor, and did did I need a map to go by. "No sir, I watched them build that yard back in 1954". My mother collected antiques and her favorite dealer lived about 1/2 block west of a bridge over nearly the top of the hump. His name was Jerry too and we attended the same church for some 18 years until he passed a few years ago. His wife still attends and gets a hug every week from me and my wife.

There will be a bungalow at every active road crossing, and control point. There will also be the currently correct signage at every passively protected crossing. All mileposts will be present.

Jerry

[landnrailroader]

Friends,

Installing roads and bungalows at active protection crossing continues. We have reached Muldaugh's Hill which is the southbound ruling grade of about 1.3% where the L&N climbs out of essentially the Ohio River valley. The next town is Elizabethtown which is evidently inhabited by our Monon colleague. My Uncle was a engineer on this division, now subdivision and around 1954, the State of Kentucky was building the Kentucky Turnpike in this area which was to be a toll road from Louisville south. At the time Kentucky and Tennessee were politically connected fairly well and so I expect that the TN highway department was looking at a connection at the state line on to Nashville. However, this all was eventually completed as a part of Eisehouer's abominationi, the Interstate system. My Uncle would traverse this area several times a week, one way or the other and he told me-- "Jerry, I am looking at the END OF THE PASSENGER TRAIN". How 1954PROF.jpg right he was. No passenger trains have passed here since 1979. So the image shows the @#$%^& highway and the railroad in the area of where they parallel each other for about 4 miles. Then the railroad continues on it's original line, revised in 1917 or so to eliminate a tunnel, while the highway turns more southeast up another creek's valley.

Jerry

[Rick-MONON]

Oh yeah, let me know when its being released, TY Jerry

[landnrailroader]

Friends,

It is 186 miles from Louisville to Nashville and in the simulation under contstruction there is also the Bardstown Branch (R. J. Corman now) and a little of the Lebanon Branch (Kentucky Railway Museum). There is a huge plethora of roads, highways etc. and in olden times US-31W was within sight of the line most of the way and now for about 1/2 the way, I-65 is also in sight. I have elected to do this sim. in the modern era because that is what I have in the way of track charts for the most part. So for those that add more details, for example signals, the line is TCS all the way and signals now are "darth vader" long hood type. Travis Ebner has done all the signals needed except for the back to back intermediate signals that are seen a lot. In single track, these may be seen on either side of the track, but in double track, then will be outside of both tracks. The line's signals were upgraded from automatic block to TCS around 1954. I have a 31 order telling C&E #99 (Conductor & Engineer, Train 99) about a cut over near Smiths Grove, KY. At the time my uncle was the engineer, and #99 was the Pan American.

Most of the towns are small but Elizabethtown, Bowling Green, and Franklin, KY are fairly large as are Portland and Gallatin, TN. I will have a church in the right place to mark the location of 1st Baptist Gallatin where one of my high school buddys, a year younger than me, attends and where we called our pastor from in 2015. My friend sent me a message like, "dang it you stole our pastor" and I replied, "yep, can't have him back either but you are welcome to visit". The image is of Glendale, KY located a few miles south of Elizabethtown. One of the crossings in town is just off the bottom of the image and one can be seen. Both of these have automatic signal protection but now a close check shows that just about anything that crosses the track, has some kind of warning device. One seen a lot is a crossbuck with a Yield sign under it. Travis has that one in his bag of stuff. I created another from my parts and some of his textures that has a stop sign on top, a look both ways sign below, and a blue plate below that. Actually all of these various things should have the blue plate. Text on it is too small to read in ORTS but it is the crossing inventory # and a phone number to call in case of emergency. The view looks south.

Jerry GLENDALEKY.jpg

[landnrailroader]

Friends,

Proceeding south, we have passed the small villages of Sonora, Upton, Glendale, Bonnieville and the larger village of Munfordfille. All except Munfordville are fairly well built out as far as streets etc. because most of the town is to the east of the railroad and pretty much out of sight of a passing train. Then we come to the village of Rowletts, again quite small. Next are 3 towns in a short distance whose claim to fame for all 3 is some connection to Mammoth Cave Natl. Park. It is an interesting place and in the long ago it was served by a branch from Park City that used a small locomotive and coach. It looked more like a steam hauled trolley. The first of these is Horse Cave, KY and the attached image is what a drone would see from a point just south of town and east of the railroad. On Google Earth it looks like nice 90 degree angles at the street crossings but when you digitize them from the earth view they come out 3-5 degree more or less from square, so I placed them according to the digitizing but if future detailer wants to make them square then there is main road, US-31W more or less northwest/southeast and another highway more or less 90 degrees to that which could be used as fiducials.

This area of Kentucky is sacred ground to me. My mother was born in Columbia, KY about 50 miles to the southeast and at an early age her family moved to Glasgow. My grandfather was one of the best blacksmiths in KY and in the late 1800s that was a prestigious job. But he also was said to "hold his liquor well". He abandoned the family in 1911, when my mother was 3 years old and for a time, the family continued to live in Glasgow. My uncle had started his career with the L&N at age 18 (lied and said he was 21) in 1907 and by 2011 he held enough seniority to bid in nearly any freight or branch run he wanted, so in 1911 he bid in the fireman's job on the Glasgow branch. This was a railroad that was owned by the city of Glasgow and the town had it built in order to provide them with a connection to the L&N main at Park City, but equipment and crews were provided by the L&N. In this way he was able to care for the family, being the oldest son. (two sons, 5 daughters). Later he helped my grandmother establish a boarding house for railroad men (mostly) in Nashville and that was around 1920. A farm boy came up from Murfreesboro and was told that he ought to take meals at Mrs. Eubank's boarding house and besides, she has an attractive daughter. So on a winter day in 1925 my parents were married at 1st Baptist Church of Nashville. There were two miscarriages or still born birth and then me. 2 years before me a sister was still born, so I know that I have a sister waiting for me, since 1937, in Heaven. My grandmother passed in 1954 and the property was sold etc. and after that my Uncle stayed with us during his away from home times. He retired in 1958 with 51 years, and passed in 1978 at age 90. My mother passed in May 1996 so my parents were married just short of 71 years.

The simulation I am doing includes the Glasgow Branch.

Jerry HORSE_CAVE.jpg

[landnrailroader]

Colleagues,

I often remember my Uncle J. Harry Eubank (aka Oil Can Willy) because he had a more profound effect on me than either of my parents. My father would have dumped every railroad in the land in the nearest toilet if could have. That came from an incident around 1930 when he was a shipping clerk with a auto parts firm in Nashville and was supposed to deliver some items to the L&N freight house by closure, 5 PM, and these would go in the baggage car of a SB train as priority freight to be delivered at Lewisburg, TN, 60 miles or so south of Nashville. But there was a traffic accident that he was not involved in but it delayed his arrival to the freight house just as the doors were closed. It could have cost him his job and this was during the depression. However, it didn't and he went on to own his own auto parts warehouse but he would NEVER ship or receive by rail. At the moment I have completed the street grid for Smiths Grove, KY and what is interesting here is that it is near the middle of a long stretch of mostly tangent track and what curves there are, are 1 degree or so, mostly less. It was one of the two aeas Uncle Harry referred to as a "RUNNING GROUND". There were no speed recorders on steam locomotives and he claimed that he often had his K-5 (4-6-2) or L-1 (4-8-2) near 100mph when a train was running late. He was not reckless, and this operation was normal. Late trains got the railroad bad press so to speak and an engineer that could consistently make up a little time was prized. Park City, a few miles north has a very short tunnel with rock portals. It was said that there was a cemetary over the top and the owners would not allow a cut to be made here. I see no evidence now of such but the tunnel remains. It is on near level tangent and could be seen from the depot at Park City.

Every 6 weeks or so, my mother just had to go visit Aunt Violet whose husband owned a HVAC company in Glasgow. So we got on #8 at about 7am, the all stops local, said to stop at every pig patch. Around 11am and 110 miles later we got off at Park City and boarded the branch train to Glasgow. In the minds eye, I look north and see that tunnel, even today.

Jerry

[landnrailroader]

I have continued on south. Smiths Grove, then Oakland, and then it gets complicated. Bowling Green, KY is the largest city on the line and now boasts a GM assembly plant where among other vehicles, Corvettes are made. This plant is not rail served, but a lot more are. Then after crossing the Barren River (near top of the screen view) the railroad comes to the town proper, where there are several protected crossings in succession plus under and over passes as well. Then there is a wye and the west leg of that wye (actually a branch main line) is now operated by R. J. Corman. I haven't planned to do the Old Road from Winchester through Frankfort to a junction just north of Louisville on the Shortline but I do plan to do the Shortline, and I have tracks done for the CC Sub. between Corbin & Cinncinati. This is important because around 10 years ago, R. J. Corman started serving a metals firm in Russelville, KY by bringing aluminum ingots to them. Then that firm (or another) opened a recycling facility near Richmond, KY where old aluminum cans, think soft drinks, beer, etc. are collected and melted down to produce those ingots. R. J. Corman was granted rights on the line, Richmond to Winchester, and Winchester to Louisville. At Louisville, CSX picks up the train, Corman units and all and takes it Memphis Jct., just south of Bowling Green and gives it back to R.J.Corman. Those of you that like activities might want to think about this situation a while. In the image, the checkerboard is downtown BowlingGreen. I limited the streets to what would be visible from a passing train and took great care to get the crossings at the correct azimuth angle. It turned out to be nearly impossible to line every joint up precisely and so I got many of them just "close". In a few days, I will set this aside for a week and travel to the promised land of the narrow gauge, the San Juan Mountains of NM & Colorado, where I have docent runs scheduled 9/23, 9/25 & 9/27. I have atrophied vocal fold which is part of getting old for some of us, and I guess I am old at 87. Docents have to yak, yak and the PA system on the open air car is just so good, so this may be my last trip. I would urge all of you to add the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic to your bucket list and if you go, I recommend the Victorian B&B in Chama, whose owner once managed the C&TS and is a RAILFAN.

Jerry BGREEN.jpg