Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 at Ware, Illinois on Saturday, August 28th, 2021. – Photo by William Farrell
Category: Bill Farrell
October 2004, with a full moon high in the southeast sky. There were three CSX locomotives making their way south on the main line through northern Christian County. As the trio of C-40-8’s struggled to pull their heavy load of coal south the sound of their diesel engines crackled through the crisp night air.
As the heavy train approached the East Princeton Street (Highway 800) grade crossing in Crofton. The crossing gates reacted to the CSX coal drag with red flashing lights as the lead locomotive gave a loud blast on its deep throated horn. The sound of the horn broke the roar of the diesel engines as the train passed over the East Princeton Street crossing in the sleeping rural community.
It so happens that a local resident of Crofton got caught by the lumbering train as it made its way south to unload the cars filled with black diamonds. He later reported as he sat in his car as the coal drag passed by him, he noticed a dark human like figure clinging to the ladder on one of the coal hoppers. He later remarked, “it must have been a hobo heading south to a warmer climate for the winter”.
Then with a sudden leach and the sound of twisting, banging metal the hoppers started to react violently as the sound of the coal cars slamming into each other’s couplers. The long train automatically went into emergency as a dozen cars filled with coal started to be tossed around like some child’s toys. The black cars were heaved up into the air like the wind blowing so many autumn leaves into a pile. There were cars buried half way down into the earth, while other came to rest on top of one another. Cars were bent and twisted laying on their sides with pieces of rail sticking through them like a tooth picks in a sandwich. A large dark gray cloud covered the bent and twisted cars as they oozed their valuable contains on to the track side ballast. Before the derailed cars could come to rest, they managed to takeout the newly installed but not yet operational south bound signal lights along the right of way. The sound of the grinding metal coming to a sudden stop brought many of the residents out of their track side homes to see what all the noise was about. To their sleepy, tired eyes they saw the horrifying sight of a dozen coal hoppers piled up and twisted in the late October night air. This is something you live with when your home is close to a mainline track but you never think it will ever happen to you or your community. The next morning the residents who were able to go back to sleep got up to a flurrying of activity in their town. CSX personnel along with R.J. Corman emergency railroad services had arrived sometime during the early morning. The tracks had to be cleared of all the rubble and debris that was created during the derailment. The railroad would stand to lose over two million dollars a day for each day the line remained closed. Work crews started immediately clearing the right of way as the sun was coming up in the east. Inspection teams from CSX were on hand to see which hoppers might be salvaged from the twisted mass covering the once pristine rails.
As a road foreman and his team made their way around a bent and crushed hopper, which had spilled it’s contains, they noticed a shoe sticking out from under one of the coal hoppers. Immediately they started with shovels to free the person under the mountain of black rocks and bent steel. They were to late the car had fallen on a hobo’s body crushing him. They brought in a piece of heavy equipment and were able to lift the coal car high enough to pull the man’s lifeless body out from under the twisted, jagged metal. When all present looked at the limp corps, they couldn’t help but to notice the hobo had been decapitated in the wreckage earlier that night. The county coroner arrived, took one look at the mans mangled, headless, coal covered body and pronounced him as dead. The coroner then checks the hobo’s coal dust filled pockets for identification with none to be found. In a matter of seconds, the lifeless remains would become known as, “The Headless Hobo”. Shortly after the coroner was finished with his examination. Emergency services had the man’s body on a stretcher and in the back of a pickup truck for transportation to the Hopkinsville morgue.
The word of the headless hobo spread among the crews that were working the wreckage. Everyone was told to be on the lookout for the head of the unfortunate man that was hitching a ride south with CSX. Every man working on that derailment was very apprehensive about what might be around the next pile of spilled coal. No one wanted to come up on or discover the decapitated head from the hobo. The railroad crews worked several days restoring service to the mainline in order to get it open once more. It took close to six weeks before CSX could get all the broken and derailed coal cars completely clear from the right of way.
The derailment brought people from far away just to see how horrendous and violent the incident must have been for the few seconds it lasted. During the time span of clean up, different railroad crews were on sight but no one ever found the hobo’s head. Surely it must have been buried under one of those huge piles of coal and debris that was created by the derailment. Then crushed and pushed down into the rock and soil by wheels or tracks of heavy equipment working the site. Years later motorist on highway 41, CSX locomotive engineers and Crofton locals have reported a strange sighting in the area of the derailment. These sightings can only be seen at night in the fall of the year. It appears to be a fiery ball of molten steel about the size of a basketball racing down the tracks south of the Brown Street grade crossing in the area of the fatal derailment. Many CSX locomotive engineers and conductors have seen the ball of fire out run their speeding locomotives. Then all at once it jumps over to the siding and races back up the tracks from where it started. Many people have seen this phenomenon but no one can scientifically explain what is happening out on the tracks in this little rural community. If you reunited with his body”.
The moral of this tale is, “You Can Get Ahead with CSX”.
Chapter member Jim Pearson Captured the Tennessee Moonshine Sippin’ Excursion Train from the Tennessee Central Railway Museum (TCRX), which operates out of Nashville, TN on June 12th, 2021.
Dear WKC/NRHS Member,
During the July meeting of the Western Kentucky Chapter/NRHS we discussed the possibility of taking a rail excursion on the Tennessee Central Railroad this fall. When the committee met last week, it was decided to make October 30th the primary trip. Unfortunately, that excursion is almost completely booked.
Our second choice was the October 9th trip to Watertown and their “Fall One Mile Long Yard Sale”. This excursion is about ninety miles and six-and-a-half-hours round trip.
If we have 16 or more people sign up the club will get a group rate of 36.00 per person (ticket). If you have a friend that is not a member of our chapter but would like to attend please invite them. All ticket sales will be final and there will not be any refunds. Tickets are transferrable to another person. If we purchase enough tickets the Tennessee Central will put all of us on one car.
If you are interested, we need to know how many tickets to order for you. There will be a final calculating of the number of tickets at the Monday night meeting (Aug. 16th). If you cannot attend the meeting on Monday you can email me at wwfarrellky@gmail.com or call 270 839-4177.
William Farrell
I went out looking for a military train that was south bound and I ran out of light. I did manage to get a north bound mixed freight and a south bound coal train. – Photography by Bill Farrell
By Bill Farrell, Chapter Treasurer
On Thursday the 6th of February, Ricky Bivins and Bill Farrell drove to Crofton, Kentucky to make a presentation of two hundred dollars. These funds were presented to the Crofton City Council to be used for their War Memorial Park. If you have never been to this small community alongside of the CSX track in Northern Christian County at night, you should. This community is on the upswing with new businesses and civic improvements all along highway 41. The most noticeable is the new War Memorial Park which was completed about eighteen months ago. If you drive through at night you can’t miss it, clean, neat, and all lite up.
After we made the presentation of the check, we were invited to say a few words on behalf of our chapter and NRHS. Ricky did a great job of thanking their city council for all they do in allowing the chapter to have our annual picnic on Crofton City property each fall. One of the biggest assets we get is, the use of the restrooms in city hall. Mayor Danny Lacy and the entire city council were very appreciative of the check and made it known that the Western Kentucky Chapter members were always welcome to the City of Crofton.
An idea was brought forth to the members of their council that were present. The idea of a small railroad museum dedicated to the preservation of L&N and the CSX railroads. It was pointed out that the city of Crofton was in a prime location for a venue of this type. The fact that the city is divided by the main line of CSX makes it a perfect location for a museum and “railfanning”. We pointed out that I-169 is just three quarters of a mile from downtown Crofton. Spring, summer and fall would be perfect for tourism in this little North Christian community. The Western Kentucky Chapter members have enough L&N, and CSX artifacts that we could fill most any building they might want to use. Of course, any item used in the museum would be on loan by the owner. We offered our assistance in this effort if the city wanted to explore the possibilities in the future.
As a group we talked for about twenty-five or thirty minutes. All people present seemed very interested in a project of this nature. Ricky and myself pointed out the possibilities of obtaining money for such a project through local and federal grants. At one point I turned to Ricky and said “we have to leave; we are using up all their council meeting time”. Before leaving Mayor Lacy brought up an idea of having a structure erected that would resemble the old Crofton depot so people could sit and watch CSX rolling stock pass through their fair city.
As Ricky and I stepped out into the cold snow filled air, we too were excited about the possibilities for this small town. As we made our way through the parking lot, I couldn’t help notice the excitement in my comrade’s voice. I asked him would he be willing to work on such a project, of course the answer was, yes. As I turned my SUV south on highway 41, I couldn’t help to think about Mayor Lacey’s idea of building a permanent structure for people to sit under. Then it hit me, what about the old Sebree, Kentucky depot? What a perfect fit for Crofton, a station built by L&N brought back to life beside its former main line.
Just before Ricky and I departed for the evening I told him, “the ball is now in Crofton’s hands, let’s see what they do with it”.
Photos by Bill Farrell and & Blair Terry
The Northern type locomotive (4-8-4) was moved from Centennial Park in Nashville to the Nashville & Western Railroad Tracks about a mile northeast of the park. The locomotive and tender were loaded up Friday on flat beds for the move early Sunday morning. Picture 1 is of the 576 leaving Centennial Park, the flat bed is self-propelled. Photo 2 is of her tender minus it’s trucks. The trucks were taken on to the Nashville & Western RR earlier. Photo 3 was shot on Charlotte Pike, as the locomotive moved slowly toward it’s unloading point. Photo 4 is of Bill Farrell & Blair Terry as they followed the 576 down Charlotte Pike. Finally, photo 5 is a shot of both the locomotive and tender as they make a left turn off Charlotte on to 12th Ave. North.
Blair Terry – sitting in the engineer’s seat of the NC&StL locomotive 576. This was Nashville Steam Preservation Society’s annual fall open house on October 27, 2018, in Centennial Park. Nashville Steam Preservation Society has reached their goal of half a million dollars and will be moving the locomotive from Centennial Park to the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum facilities for the final restoration process.
Again at Crofton, Ky, CSX locomotive 2513 in the lead being assisted by an additional 5 CSX units in order to pull the 10,841 foot, 900 axle, 2 1/2 mile-long empty coal train. Statistics by Steve Miller. Photo by William Farrell
At Crofton (KY) a North bound mixed freight (is) pulled by Canadian Nation unit 8102 and assisted by Union Pacific 2513. The train lost its air and went into an emergency stop just North of Kelly, KY. (Photo by Bill Farrell)
We proud to announce the winners of the chapter’s first contest of the year! This year we’re doing the contest a little bit different by having the membership present for the meeting to judge the contest winners by selecting the photograph that they like the best. We had 7 entries in the January 2018 contest and after the first round of judging we had our first place winner by Bill Grady of Union Pacific power pulling a train at Jeffersontown, Ky. We also found we had a six way tie for second place!!! So, in order to break that we did a rejudge of the six images and came up with a two way tie, which we decided to let stand. The final tie for 2nd place was between Bill Farrell and Ricky Bivins.
Our next contest will be from March 1-15, 2018 with a Submission Deadline of March 22, 2018. This contest will be judged at the April 16th meeting.
Your entries, no more than two, should be emailed to Jim Pearson at jim@jimpearsonphotography.com
Below are the winning entries for January 2018
This is unbelievable, the past two years have passed so fast. At our next meeting, we will be electing a new President for 2017. I believe the new slate of officers will serve our organization well for the upcoming year. I would like to wish them well in their leadership going forward.
If you have not received an email from Steve Miller about the Christmas Party at his house, then you need to contact him very soon. He needs a head count and what you plan to bring as a covered dish. The get together is on Saturday December 3rd, any time after 1 o’clock pm. Steve and his wife have just recently added on to their house and we should have more than enough room for the party. If you are not sure where Steve resides it is 1420 Billy Goat Hill Road, Hopkinsville, KY. His phone number is 270 839-7936, please get in touch with him.
James Kemp will have a signup sheet for the Christmas show work schedule. I talked with him last week and he indicated we have several empty shifts. We need for our membership to turn out for this event and help make it a big success. Please contact James soon and get on the work schedule. The show will start on December 12, 2016, 6:00 pm.
Along with the Christmas show we are having a raffle for a Lionel Ready to Run Train Set with remote control. The set is the New York Central Early Bird freight, value– $390.00. By now you should have received an envelope with three raffle tickets. We are asking each member to sell the three ticket in order to cover our Liability Insurance Policy. The Raffle tickets are 5.00 dollars each and only 150 were printed. If you need additional tickets, please contact me. We will have tickets available for sale at the show in the Mall. If you are having a hard time selling the tickets bring them to your work shift at the Mall. You can tell anyone you sell a raffle ticket to that I (Bill Farrell) have a standing offer of 75.00 dollars to anyone who doesn’t want the train set (if they win the raffle). Once you have sold all your raffle tickets please get the right side of the ticket along with the money to; Bill Farrell or mail it to me at, P.O. Box 457, Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42241. We need to have all stubs in by December 23rd for the raffle.
Our photo contest is now paying off. Jim Pearson will have a sample of the calendar at the November 21st meeting. I think he will be taking orders so that the calendar can be printed before January 1st. If you are going to have a train calendar in your house or office, why not the Western Kentucky Chapter/NRHS. Of course, all the pictures were taken by members of our organization, now that’s cool. You might plan on purchasing more than one.
The slate of officers for 2017 are as followed; President Ricky Bivins, Vice President Steve Miller, Secretary Wally Watts, Treas. William Farrell, Chapter Rep. to NRHS Will Kling. We will open the floor for any other nominations just before the slate is presented. If there are no other nominations then we can accept the slate by acclamation.
Bill Farrell, President
We have several things to cover in this column, so let’s get started.
First, the club picnic went well and everyone who attended seemed to have a great time. The only down side was the heat and the flies. I now know why the club moved it to the second week in October. I don’t know if I want to cook or freeze. The membership will have to think about a date for next year’s picnic. The location is just great and I can’t think of another place along the main line that would better.
Next, we have just finished the last photo contest of the year. I hope everyone has enjoyed getting out and taking pictures of trains in action. Our plan is to take the top three pictures from each contest and develop a club calendar for 2017. This calendar will be available to the membership as well to individuals on line. Jim Pearson said we might make a little money on this project from the online sales. I hope all our club members plan on purchasing at least one calendar for the new year.
Third, in our September meeting we found out that the liability insurance policy had tripled in cost. I have been in touch with a company in Madisonville who is supposed to give us a new quote. With a little luck maybe we can get the cost of a new policy down to something the club can manage.
Finally, we have nominations for our 2017 club officers in the October meeting. We have many qualified individuals in the membership who could serve our organization well. Take a little time and think of someone that might do a good job as an officer of our organization. The positions we are nominating for are; President, Vice President, Sec/Treas. and Officer at Large.
Until the meeting– get out, enjoy the weather and chase a train. Oh, and when you see Bill Thomas tell him he is doing a great job with the “PennyRail” news letter.
Bill Farrell, President
The first thing I want to do is remind everyone that we will meet at; the County (Government Center) Court House (old post office), 56 North Main Street, Madisonville. (Sept. 19, 2016, 7:00 p.m.) Please park in the North side parking lot, there are about 40 parking places available, use the parking lot side to enter the building.
September, is our annual meeting where Jim and Thomas Bryan do their magic and put on a fish fry. If you have never had an opportunity to experience the food at this meeting you are missing something. It will be well worth the effort to attend. This month program will be provided by Wallace Henderson. I need to thank Jim Kemp and Blair Terry for last month snacks and program respectfully.
We have our annual club picnic this month on the 24th in Crofton, KY., at the Crofton City Hall. In the past we started gathering any time after 10:00 am. This has been a great club function and tradition over the past several years. I hope everyone can attend this function on September 24th. Last year we made a change in the food for the picnic. We had a grill for cooking hamburgers and hotdogs which went along with chips condiments and soft drink. We had a coffee can available for any club members who wanted to make a contribution toward the food. The second option, is if a member wishes to go downtown in Crofton and purchase lunch from a vendor they may certainly do so.
The modules are all finished with the exception of one corner. I have to still lay the roadbed track and wire the underside. All we have to do is put all the modules together and see where we need to make any adjustments. We can do that in my warehouse some Saturday morning and if everything goes well you can take your module with you for structures. We can also go over some very simple rules that govern the layout.
Please mark your calendar for October 8th Blair and myself are putting on a Railfanning event in Hopkinsville, at the former L & N Depot on 9th street. We will be setup by 10:00 am and snacks will be available for those with an appetite. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and CSX will run one train after another. If you have a lawn chair be sure to bring it the seating is limited close to the tracks.
Bill Farrell, President
Well, it has been hot this summer and it even got hotter last week. On Tuesday afternoon I received a call from Ricky Bivins. He asked me if I had read my emails for Tuesday. I reply with,” no”. Then he unloaded a ton of coal on me, with, we lost our meeting place in the Madisonville train depot. Yes, if you have not heard they started renovation on the building last week.
Ricky’s next question was, where are we going to meet for the August meeting? Well, that was another ton of coal dropped on me. Before I could even think Ricky said, we can meet at the airport. Well, with all that coal, now I at least had a shovel to start digging out. So, we will meet at the Madisonville Airport for the August meeting. I have placed time on the agenda for us as a club to discuss the future of where we will meet. I would like for the membership to give it some thought on a good place to meet.
By the time you receive the August issue of the “PennyRail” the third quarter photo contest will be over. I hope everyone had a chance to submit a photo to Jim Pearson. Our next club contest will take place in October from the 1st to the 8th. After the final judging of the pictures we plan on making up a club calendar which can be purchased at our December Christmas Party. Jim has also made reference to selling them online to other individuals who may be interested. Jim will tell us more about that later.
The Christmas Special, at the Parkway Plaza Mall is starting to pick up speed now. James Kemp who is serving as the chairperson will need everyone’s help for this to be a success. So when you get the call to help, please say yes, you will more than likely have fun. This will be an event you can show off to your family, friends and neighbors. This will be a free event to our community and people shopping at the mall.
We have several new items on the agenda this month, other than a new meeting place so please try to make an effort to attend, your input is very important.
Bill Farrell, President