Category: General Post
Posts that don’t fall under other categories
Obituary
David Alan Fraser, 73 of Clay, KY passed away Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at Baptist Health in Madisonville.
David was born in Earlington on June 20, 1946 to the late Emory and Reba Fraser.
He worked at York International where he was an industrial mechanic.
He was a member of the Redeeming Love General Baptist Church in Clay and also a member of Webster County Historical Society, West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, Civic Club in Earlington and the Earlington Volunteer Fire Department.
Survivors include his wife of 24 years Gayle, 1 son Sean O’Brien (Lisa) of Madisonville, 1 brother John Fraser of Earlington 2 granddaughters Avery and Abigail O’Brien, 1 niece Melanie Fraser and great-niece Avoe Fraser.
Private funeral services will be held. Burial will be in Fraser-Blackwell Cemetery
Memorial contributions can be made to Fraser-Blackwell Cemetery, c/o Ryan Hammack, 93 Old Clifty Road, Clay, KY 42404.
Online condolences can be made at https://www.vanoverfuneralhome.com/obituary/David-Fraser
Illinois Central Lanterns For Sale – Asking $100 each. Contact David Bratcher at 270-836-4973 – ¨ Price is negotiable!
If you have items for sale or looking for a particular item or items, Email me at billtrainthomas@gmail.com with the information and I will list it here.
Above: The Chicago-Miami Auto-Train circa 2006 exits Baker Tunnel on Steve’s N Scale layout October 15, 2019. .
Above: “Tote Boats” on Steve’s N Scale layout – October 15, 2019.
Earlier this year my wife and I visited the Fordsville, Ky train depot on a rainy day. Fordsville is about 46 miles east of Madisonville in Ohio county. The depot is across the street from City Hall downtown.
The first train to Fordsville on the newly built Owensboro and Fordsville Railroad was on October 1, 1889 and regular freight and passenger service started a week later. The round trip fare was 85 cents. The Illinois Central Railroad built a branch line from Horse Branch to Fordsville in 1893. The L&N Railroad bought the lines in 1905 and the present station was built in 1916.
As many as 6 passenger trains a day went between Horse Branch and Owensboro but passenger service was cut June 15, 1941. Freight service lasted until the late 1970s.
The depot has been nicely restored and contains a modest train museum. Call 270-929-5792 for current hours of operation. There is a nice diner a block away on the main road (Hwy 54). – Rich Hane
Are you a hold out for jumping into the social media circle? Afraid you’ll get unsolicited friend requests and suspicious messages from people you don’t know and may not want to know? Reluctant about getting your account hacked? Well, if you’re willing to change your password every 6 months or so you can avoid most of these demons.
The truth is, in my opinion, the advantages and benefits social media offers to rail fans and model railroads far outweigh the occasional frustrations experienced by many of us, myself included. Here are just a few examples of rail-related Facebook pages and/or groups:
Nashville Steam – a FB page dedicated to promoting the restoration of NC&StL steam locomotive 576. It is chocked full of pictures and current information about the restoration process. You can post questions and make comments on each post.
Illinois Central Railroad – A public FB page designed for former (and current it still says) employees of The Illinois Central – “A place for former and current employees of the Illinois Central Railroad to hang out and keep in touch.”
L&N Railroad Modelers – A public FB page for those modeling anything L&N.
Railroad Fools – I think the name of the public page speaks for itself. One of my favorites.
Railroad Oddball Locomotives and MOW Equipment – A closed group so you’ll have to click on the “Join Group” button and wait to be granted entrance. A unique site for unusual railroading equipment.
West Kentucky Chapter of The National Railway Historical Society – keep in touch with what your chapter mates are up to and post your own photos, comments, and ideas. Jim Pearson does a great job keeping the public page updated and looking good.
I hope these samples have encouraged you to give social media a try. If you do not have a computer, smart phone, or tablet, you can use your public library’s computers. Just ask the library staff for help.
Bill Thomas, editor
For my money, one of the best looking diesel locomotives to ever grace a 4’8.5” gauge track. The 42-year-old, 1977 built-for-Conrail EMD SD40-2 rolls south through Morton’s Gap, KY, September 12, 2019. – Photo by Morton’s Gap resident and our president, Ricky Bivins.
Railroads have long played a major role in the automobile industry, from the era of primitive converted wagons to today’s high-performance cars. Auto manufacturing is a key market segment for railroads, so train schedules have often been geared to production deadlines and needs. There will be at least one follow-up to this series.
The evolution of change in handling finished automobiles is seen here.
Twenty seven loads of “Big Inch” pipe from Kaiser Steel enroute to Wyoming.
So why the boxcars, fore and aft. Those empty cars are for crew protection in the event of a mishap along the way. Those heavy pipes would be like missiles in any kind of sudden stop. The buffer cars provide at least some level of personal protection.
This scene is just north of Sacramento very late in the steam era, September 1956. This Southern Pacific train will deliver the cargo to the Western Pacific at Marysville for onward shipment.
The use of buffer cars continues to this day. 100 plus car trains of crude oil, likewise lengthy trains of ethanol have buffer cars behind the power, you no longer see a caboose and the friendly wave from the crew. Buffer cars today are partially filled with sand to reduce the impact in the event of an accident.
The jury is still out as to the wisdom, efficiency, even the safety of shipping crude via rail or pipeline. My take is in favor of the rails, as the infrastructure allows flexibility in sources and destinations, on an existing transportation plant. No need to tear up the countryside and abuse the environment with underground pipe. Ethanol cannot be shipped via pipeline, so we’ll always that on the rails of barges.
Credits: photos by Richard E. Lohse as seen in Classic Trains – Spring 2018 Gary O. Ostlund
On July 27, 2019, Rick Bivins hooked up with Matt Gentry at his home in Champaign IL for a day of railfanning. The following pics are from that trip. First stop was the old CB&Q line from Chicago to Galesburg via the quad cities.
Earlier this month, May 10th, marked the 150th Anniversary of the Gold Spike ceremony at Promontory, Utah. I thought it appropriate to rerun this picture story from a few years ago.
The “Thank God it’s Friday” graphic is one of several intro’s for my slide shows to groups. It’s good for a laugh, however, the 1869 meeting of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific in Utah was somewhat similar. Rather than joining in such a slip-shod manner, they simply passed one another, and kept on going. Seems the two railroads were being reimbursed by the Government for work performed, by the mile. The joining of the rails at Promontory, about three miles around the bend in the picture, was the result of a negotiated settlement.
In the picture, you can easily see the railroad right-of-way on a fill. That is the work of the Central Pacific, charging eastward into the picture. But look closely to the left half of the picture. You can see two earthen bridgeheads with a gap in between. The distant one is easy to see, the other is in the foreground, lower left of the pix. The Union Pacific, working westward, filled the gap with a trestle, long since lost to the elements, salvage, or fire….. not sure.
If you go to Google Earth, you can see both landmarks by tracing the twin right’s-of-ways of both railroads eastward from the Gold Spike Monument site. In a little over three rail miles, or 2.8 the way the crow flies you will see clearly the filled curve, the bridgehead a little less obvious. (Hint: use the ruler in the tool bar, to gauge the distance.)
Credits: (Artwork, unk., can anyone out there ID the artist.?) Photo by Drake Hokanson as seen in TRAINS Mag June 2015
By Bill Thomas
In April 2005, Liam (age 5) is helping me set boundary stones.
I was fortunate to have Ron Johnson as a friend and neighbor. He freely loaned me his Kubota front-end loader to move dirt to the railroad area. I was careful to keep dirt away from the base of my big hickory tree. The depressed area around the tree is now covered with Vinca vines.
It’s been my pleasure over our 16 years here in Madisonville to share my backyard with friends, family, neighbors, and many others. – Bill
A selection of photos from our recent trackside gathering at Mortons Gap, Kentucky included photos of the two new CSX painted units. 911 for First Responders and 1776 for the Troops on their first run up the Henderson Subdivision.