November 13, 2019 – UP engineer Ed Dickens leans out the cab of Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy as it heads through the curve approaching Malvern, Arkansas, as it races north on the Little Rock Subdivision with it’s passenger train on UP’s Race Across the Southwest event.
Well, I struck out on my own on November 12, 2019 to chase the recently restored Union Pacific 4014 (Big Boy) steam locomotive between Hope and Little Rock Arkansas. It’s been running close to a year now and this is the closest it’s been to Madisonville, Ky so far and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to photograph the largest operating Steam Locomotive in the United States, if not the world! It was a great thrill to see and photograph this majestic locomotive and to feel it moving the ground as it breathed it’s fire and smoke along the way. To say it was a thrill is putting it mildly.
Events like this aren’t just for us old guys that love trains!! This is friend Doyle Massey and his kids at Prescott, AR! We’ve known each other for several years and almost always run into each other on these events!
I almost went to Chicago to photograph it earlier in the year, but I’m so glad I waited for it in November because the cold air made for a great show with all the steam from the hot exhaust of the locomotive as it made it’s way between Hope and Little Rock, Arkansas over two days!
I met several railfans who are friends on Facebook with me and also made some new friends along the way and some I had already meet in past trips! The railfan community in many ways is like my military community in the fact that it’s a good, close knit group that have like interests!
Below is a video I shot of it departing Prescott, Arkansas! For full effects, turn up your sound! Below the video are some of my favorite pictures from the chase. Click on the thumbnails to view the full picture!
Waiting on a train at the north wye, on the Buster Pike overpass, north of Danville, Ky on the NS CNO&TP First District, during a day of railfanning will fellow photographers, David Higdon Jr, Bryan Burton, Ryan Scott and a Facebookless, Bill Crecco! A great time by all and a great day of railfanning with friends!
I recently spent the day with four other railfans chasing the RJ Corman Lunch and Dinner train that runs out of Bardstown, Kentucky and also made our way over to Danville, Kentucky to catch a few trains on the Norfolk Southern line that runs through there and splits off to Louisville and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Usually when I go trackside to railfan it’s a solitary event, or at most one other person, but this trip was a bit different with the five of us. They included good friends and fellow railfan photographers, Ryan Scott from Indiana, Bryan Burton from Tennessee, David Higdon Jr. from Illinois and Bill Crecco, who we jokingly call “Facebookless Bill” because he doesn’t have a Facebook account, is also from Indiana.
I started my part of the trip at 4am in the morning where I drove to Henderson, Kentucky and met up with Ryan and Dave, so we could all carpool over to Bardstown together. As most who know me, that’s pretty early for me to be up these days, but it’s not bad as long is it’s only once in awhile! We arrived in Bardstown about 9am local time which gave us time to grab breakfast at Cracker Barrel and figure out or plan of attack for the two runs that day of the train. Bryan, from Tennessee had be up to Bardstown earlier in the month and had pretty much scoped out what he felt were the best spots and we all relied on his judgment, which didn’t disappoint as you can see from the pictures accompanying this post!
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A #1940 and 1941 pulls into Limestone Junction, Ky with a string of dining cars, on the RJC Bardstown Line. This is the turn around point for the train, where the engines run around their train before heading back to Bardstown. According to the RJC Dinner Train brochure, Limestone Springs Junction is located at MP: 24 and is the final attraction along the route. This old-English style depot is presently owned by the Jim Beam company, but in the past it reportedly housed numerous famous and wealthy passengers on the second floor of its overnight facilities. The depot also served as a filming location for the 1981 movie “Stripes” featuring Bill Murray and John Candy.RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A # 1940 leading, 1941 trailing and a string of dining cars, passes the Samuels Bourbon Rickhouses, which are used to store barrels of bourbon, on the RJC Bardstown Line at Deatsville, Kentucky. The Rickhouses store barrels of bourbon.
While we didn’t ride the lunch or dinner trains this trip, I had before when I worked for The Messenger Newspaper. Reporter Garth Gamblin and I did a series for many years called “Saturday Adventures” and the dinner train was one of the features we did for the Sunday Lifestyles page. The food and two hour trip were great back then and I’m sure nothing has changed since then.
It was a long day, but as you can see from the photographs above and the gallery below we all came away with great photographs and memories of a fun day trackside!
Norfolk Southern 1115 leads a northbound train past the north wye, in this view from the Buster Pike overpass at Danville, Ky.
NS 7630 leads a northbound Intermodal as it passes the old depot on the CNO&TP Second District at Danville, Kentucky.
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A # 1940 and a string of dinning cars, passes the Samuels Bourbon Rickhouses, which are used to store barrels of bourbon, on the RJC Bardstown Line at Deatsville, Kentucky.
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A #1940 and 1941 pulling a string of dining cars, rounds the curve heading past the Jim Beam Distillery, on the RJC Bardstown Line at Shepherdsville, Kentucky.
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A # 140 and a string of dinning cars, passes the old T.W.Samuels Bourbon buildings, on the RJC Bardstown Line at Deatsville, Kentucky.
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A #1940 and 1941 pulling a string of dining cars, passes the Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, Kentucky.
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A 1941 leading the way, heads back toward Bardstown, as it passes through the crossing at the Jim Beam Distillery.
RJ Corman’s (RJC) My Old Kentucky Dinner Train with FP7A # 1940, 1941 and a string of dinning cars, passes the old L&N Depot on the RJC Bardstown Line, at Deatsville, Kentucky.
RJ Corman 1941 and 1940 pull the evening My Old Kentucky Dinner train as it heads past one of the many rickhouses, used to store bourbon, as it heads into Bardstown, Kentucky on it’s return trip.
A southbound NS freight passes the old depot on the CNO&TP Second District at Danville, Kentucky.
Not our road trip but a plug for a new YouTube Channel!
My niece and April’s granddaughter Stephanie and her husband Justin have started a YouTube Channel called Life with the Stinsons! It’s all about their life with my newest great-great niece Sophia. Check it out and subscribe!!!
I have a core group of about 4 railfan friends; Ryan, Dave, Bill and Bryan, that I hit the road with. This weekend was the first time since a steam train trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga back in 2017, that we all five have been on a trip together and we had a great time despite the overcast, dreary and raining weather.
On Saturday March, 9th, 2019 the five of us made a trip to Nashville, Tennessee to see the movement of the NC&StL Steam locomotive at Union Station in downtown Nashville, Tennessee as part of it’s movement by CSX Transportation with it’s renumbered CSXT 576 unit.
After several hours on display the locomotive was then towed on its own wheels to the restoration facility at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum, where it will undergo and estimated two years of restoration. The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company operated in the southern United States in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville in December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.
The plan is to run 576 in excursion service out of Nashville once the repairs are complete. Below is a live video I did from Union Station.
This weekend my sister April and I made a quick trip to North Carolina to visit Sophia, my 15th great-great niece/nephew and her 15th great grandchild! It doesn’t seem possible that we have that many, but we are truly blessed beyond our belief that we do!
We have been meaning to make this trip ever since Sophia was born on New Year’s Eve, but we both have had this annoying cough that was going around and takes forever to get over! It took us both about 3 weeks or so! Didn’t want to give her or anyone else the cough!
We headed out on Friday morning, trying to keep ahead of the bad weather the forecasters said was coming our way and heading for the Carolina’s. Fortunately we were able to do just that going both ways, only running into a little rain on the return trip Sunday the 13th. The trip over took us about 10 hours with gas, food and photo stops occasionally along the way. Can’t make a trip without photo stops and of course this includes a train or two during the trip!
I guess we got checked into the hotel around 9pm or so and then headed on over to Jamie’s, Stephanie’s mom, and Sophia’s YaYa (YaYa is a popular Greek grandmother nickname and yes, I had to ask!) for our first visit with Stephanie and Justin’s daughter Sophia ! Of course neither of us were disappointed as she was awake, alert and beautiful!
Sis meets Sophia for the first time.Sophia, with YaYa and StephanieThe faces of Sophia
We had a great visit Friday night and then headed back over Saturday morning to continue visiting her and everyone else. Since Jamie was hosting a Kitchen Party for a bunch of ladies, just about all the guys escaped to other locations and I used the opportunity to find a few trains to photograph in Monroe and at the I-485 metro stop!
Monroe, NC
Monroe, NC
Pineville, NC
I got back to the house just as the party was breaking up and had enough time to meet and greet some of the folks I met and saw at Stephanie and Justin’s wedding. It was nice to catch up! We all sat around and nibbled on the foods they made during the kitchen party before everything broke up.
Afterwards we headed out with Stephanie and Sophia to meet up with Justin for dinner before heading back to our motel for the night. Poor guy had to work during our visit! (I remember those days and don’t miss them!!) We actually went to three different restaurants (all had long waiting lists) before we settled on waiting at a Texas Roadhouse for about 20 minutes to get a table. It was well worth the wait though as all our food was great and we had a great time of visiting before heading in for the night as we planned on leaving for home early Sunday morning.
Dad and Mom check on Sophia as we wait on our food.
Sunday morning we got away early so I could stop by the train yard at Charlotte, NC from a bridge on the north end that Wally had told me about. It was a great view and I was able to get several nice shots of rail action before we hit the road back to Kentucky.
On the way home I kept watching for a spot where I could stop in the mountains and get a shot of the river as it ran through them. I passed up a couple spots because it was raining fairly hard, but finally found a spot at Cosby, TN.
Pigeon River, Cosby, TN.
All in all it was a good trip, despite it being too short and we finally arrived safely back home at a decent hour without any really bad weather!
Right now our next planned long trip is to Chicago for a concert in March! Stay tuned!!
