The Pennyrail Online Edition

Having been track side more lately, what building a house in Mortons Gap, I have seen a few interesting things go by on CSX. My new house under construction is right in Mortons Gap at Walnut & Railroad Streets. This is right by the old L&N Mainline just a few yards south of Morton Junction or South Mortons as it is called. This is where the line from downtown Madisonville joins back in with the line around town by the Parkway Plaza Mall. I spend a lot of time here now as I am building the house myself.

CSX provides me with several excuses to take a break every time I am here. In so doing I “witness” quite a few odd things on the railroad. Perhaps odd is not the correct word to use but it will do. I have seen a lot of lease power mixed with CSX’s stable of locomotives. Some of these are in lease company colors while several wear their former owner’s paint. Most that are still in their previous owner paint have had a rectangle decal or painted box applied over the former road number and a new number applied. Most do not match the faded paint or are a different color all together. Most that are still in former railroad paint will have the railroad name painted over and the lease name or usually just the initials painted or decal applied. Some are very well done while others are crude and hurriedly applied. I guess a locomotive is not earning revenue sitting in a paint shop.

A model railroader could use this to his advantage. There are so many ready to run locomotives on the market in all scales that could have a decal applied right over the road name and still be appropriate, even if the old name is legible beneath the new name. And that lease name could be anything or any one for that mater.

The same goes for rail cars. I have not taken time to count but it seems about one in three cars have had the owner marking changed at some point. I am sure some of these are the result of mergers in the finance world as most cars are owned by a trust company and leased to a corporation or railroad. Some are old and have been rebuilt and sold to new owners thus a change in nomenclature. One interesting note is old fallen flag railroads that have had their name re-applied to freight cars. CSX ended up with the paper assets of the old New York Central Railroad. A lot of CSX cars are lettered NYC or NYCX. Norfolk Southern has the Pennsylvania Railroad holdings thus a lot of cars are around with PRR on them. It seems odd to see a brand new rail car with NYC markings.

And of course it seams as though foreign railroad motive power shows up on just about every other train. This is my favorite, to see a UP or BNSF units on a train, NS too but very few others. I have yet to see an ICRR or KCS locomotive on the line. I am sure it has happened but not while I am watching. I do see a lot more “old” CSX locomotives than I would have thought. There are still a lot of SD-40-2 units on the railroad. I remember about twenty or so years ago several guys went to eastern Kentucky to seek out the then new SD-50’s. These units were only in the coal fields of Eastern Kentucky. Then they started to make their way over the railroad and could be seen here quite often. Now they seem to be rare. GE’s are every where it seems but EMD MP15’s must be in use everywhere too. I see these little guys in consist with their big brothers every so often. They are always last in consist and in tow. But I see them going both ways seemingly on regular bases.

Odd freight cars show up too. Do not look away from a seemingly boring train, you will miss something or see a strange sight after it has past you, leaving you to want for more info. I have seen strange flatcar loads, farm machinery being my favorite. Odd specialty cars such as tank cars for strange gases seem to be odd shaped things or overly large. One recent sighting was a low slung, quite long flat car with two four wheel trucks under each end. The lettering was very small making it impossible to read and get a look at the car too. The bogie was a casting and unusual it seems. It was not a D.O.D. car for military loads and was empty. What was it and who owns it?

I have seen dangerous sights too though not too many. Shifted loads on flat cars. Dangling straps and plastic streamers are common. I have not seen any riders…yet, but I am sure they are there somewhere. And of course there is the ever present graffiti on cars. Some of those guys do have talent just wrongly applied.

The next time you are track side watching trains or watching for a train take a look at the road bed. Chances are you will find something that was or is supposed to be on a car or even a locomotive. Case in point. Do not get too close to the track when a train is approaching. You could end up with an unpleasant surprise.

So, if you need something else to keep up with in this hobby, start a list or a photo album of “odds” on the railroads. Could be a fun hobby with a hobby.

March of 1986 was a moment of great expectation for me. Madisonville KY at that time had a Honda Motorcycle store on East Center St. For several months I had been going to Madisonville Honda to make payments on my new, not yet ridden motorcycle, a Honda VF 500F Interceptor. I opted for the smaller 500cc motorcycle as opposed to the much larger (read that as faster) VF 1100 F. I new I would come closer to killing myself on the “big” bike than I would on a smaller one. This really does not make any sense…a crash at 80 mph is deadly regardless the size motorcycle. However, my reasoning was sound: the 1100cc bike would “do” 180mph off the show room floor, faster if one pulls the leads from the rpm limiter. As for the 500cc bike, well only 135mph!!!

It was 27 degrees when I pick up the bike and rode it home…cold. The salesman said if I change the oil every 1000 miles and leave the rpm limiter hooked up, it would last forever. I did, some weeks during the summers I changed the oil twice, I rode it that much.

The little bike was quick, nimble and a blast to ride. I was often times riding in and out of the dashed lines of a two way road…at 80 mph, any faster and I could not cut each line. And of course the back wheel was on the ground a lot more than the front. Soon I tired of “just tooling” around town and began to make a few long trips. One was on hwy 62 from Nortonville to Louisville KY. I made it as far east as Leitchfield KY when I came upon a derailed IC/P&L train at the viaduct just east of town. I stopped to photograph and soon realized it was late. I needed to get home. It was about dark when I hit the West Kentucky Parkway westbound. For once I was not prepared. I always had a few tools, camera and a jacket in my tank bag. That day I left the jacket behind for some reason. Needless to say after the sun went down it was cool, very cool and I do not like to be cold. Well my theory was: the sooner I get home the sooner I will be warm again. From the Leitchfield exit to the Dawson Springs exit…27 minutes.

I have many stories such as that trip to tell but the one to tell is the great Nebraska trip.

In 1989 I was still working for Cimarron Coal Company in their parts department as a parts chaser. A great job it was. I had a new Ford one ton truck every two years and I drove around town picking up parts for the coal company. My hours were 4:00 AM to 12:00 noon on day shift, 12:00 noon to 8:00 PM on nights. I rotated shifts every two weeks. Now those are some great hours. The best part was ever other two weeks I worked off at noon on Friday, and returned at noon on Monday.

It was on one of these long weekends in 1989 that I decided to go to Nebraska and see my buddy Kelly Martin. I have written about Kelly before, we met on a Frisco 1522 trip in 1988. He lived in Kearny NE and I visited him several times. Well I set out for Nebraska with Kearney as my destination. After one rides long enough his butt becomes numb as does his brain! At Kearney I find Kelly is not home and I wasn’t about to just “sit”. I headed west on U.S. 30. Hwy 30 across Nebraska is the railroader’s dream as most of the highway parallels the Union Pacific Mainline from Columbus NE to Cheyenne Wyoming. After leaving Kearney I began to build an idea in my head. (Danger signs for sure). I calculated how much time I had before I had to be at work, how far I had ridden, and at what time I would have to turn around. With this formula in my head I decided I could make it to Cheyenne. Well best made plans be as they are I forgot to include the intake of fuel, food and the obligatory calls of nature. Thirty minutes before my turn around time I was in Chappell Nebraska 126 miles east of my goal of Cheyenne, at a road side picnic table watching UP trains go by. At the magic thirty minute mark I turned east to retrace my steps. More times and figures in my head. If I ride fast enough on U.S. 30 which again is a two lane road, I will get home and stay off the I-80 four lane. The goal of all this, I will see more trains. If I get behind I can jump over on to the parallel I-80 and “go”.

Then it happened, possibly the dumbest idea to date, (very little sleep and a very tired butt/brain did not help this). If I do this not only will I make up time, but I will be able to stay on U.S. 30 the whole way to Lincoln NE. Lincoln is where Highway 30 turns north east and I-80 continues due east to Omaha NE. At Lincoln I would have change roads and start my southerly trek to Kansas City. This idea was: to ride 100mph for 100 miles.

I did just that. I had to slow down for a few towns but as soon as I was on the “other side” I pulled the wick back on the bike and right to 100mph again. I honestly do not remember much else of that trip. I did stop at a DQ in Ogallala NE for a bite to eat. I remember watching for the Cozad NE. passenger station and the big grain elevator with COZAD spelled out across the bins, but little else. I did make it to work and I proved to my coworkers once again: when I get on a motorcycle, I get a bad case of “Super Stupid”. Unlike a few friends and acquaintances, I managed to see a lot of what I wanted to see, trains AND stay alive.