Ghosts On The Lebanon Branch

[Drew1125]

Made a trip down to Nelson County the other day, & decided to stop & take some pics in New Haven, Ky.
This was once the site of a small yard on the L&N's Lebanon Branch. It is now the site of the Ky Railway Museum, & consequenly, is also a graveyard for a lot of old equipment.
This is a picture of L&N E6 #770...it was the only one of these once proud locomotives to survive the scrap yard.

 

[Drew1125]

Here's one of what was commonly known in the south as a "Jim Crow" car...seperate areas for blacks & whites with a baggage compartment in the middle.
This car was refurbished in 1962 at the South Louisville Shops, & toured the country as part of the consist pulled by the General, a Civil War era locomotive, which now resides in Chattanooga, Tn.
They've put a tarp over the old coach to keep it from rotting away completely.

 

[Drew1125]

Here's an old heavyweight combine that's still in pretty decent shape...

 

[Drew1125]

Here's an L&N coach

 

[Drew1125]

...and here's the picture...

 

[Drew1125]

Here's what's left of an old "woodie"...

 

[Drew1125]

Here's what's left of a streetcar from the old Louisville Interurban Lines.

 

[Drew1125]

...and here's an old center-cab that used to switch cars at Louisville's Naval Ordinance Station.

 

[Drew1125]

...and here's part of an old L&N work train...

 

[Drew1125]

The end of the line...The Lebanon Branch once ran all the way from the main stem at Lebanon Junction to Corbin, Ky on the KY Div.
Now the tracks end just beyond the curve...

 

[roryglasgow]

Thanks for sharing these pics, Charlie! It's a shame that all that old equipment is just wasting away... I wish I could go back in time and see it all running "for real." I really missed out having been born so late...

 

[Drew1125]

Yeah, Rory, I missed out on the steam era, being born in 1960...
I guess I should mention that this is not the entire museum, this is just the "back lot".
The museum's pride & joy is L&N #152, a K5 Pacific, restored to its original glory, & pulling excursion trains. (the day I was there, she was not available for photos) They are also in the process of restoring a huge C&O steamer, which I believe is a 2-8-2...
The museum is supported by private donations, & a voluteer work force, so there's just a limit to how much can be done.
I mentioned to one of the guys there that it would be great to see that old E6 pulling passenger cars again, & he said, "Well, if I had $300,000, we could have her up & running in a few weeks."
This is what's sad to me because I do remember those streamliners thundering along at 70, or 80 miles an hour, & it breaks my heart to see the last of its kind wasting away in a patch of weeds.

 

[sumpter250]

Charlie,
Thanks for the pics, New Haven is a bit af a trip from northern Illinois, but could be done over a weekend. That C&O steamer? If the number is 1160-1209, that would be a K2 light 2-8-2. I would be very interested in seeing that. I have a pair of the Athearn light mikes that I want to kitbash into K2s, and need detail shots of the tender frame, to scratch vanderbuilt tenders. Didn't know there were any C&O steam locos that close to me, with the exceptionof the H8 at the Ford museum.
Pete

 

[Drew1125]

Hi Pete!
Maybe I can do you one better than that...
They wouldn't let me get any closer than this...I had to shoot through a chain link fence...
I think this is a 2-8-4...?
Is there such an animal?

 

[roryglasgow]

The 2-8-4 Berkshire. According to www.steamlocomotive.com, the 2-8-4 was also known as Kanawha (C&O) and Lima (Boston & Maine, Illinois Central). There was even a single 2-8-4T Berkshire used by the Wellington & Manawtau Railway in New Zealand.

Ain't the Net great?

 

[Gregg Mahlkov]

Kanawhas

The steam locomotive is indeed a 2-8-4, which C&O classed a "Kanawha", while others referred to that wheel arrangement as a "Berkshire", It is class K4, No. 2716, and was loaned to the Southern Railway and operated as part of its steam program in the 1980's. It always did belong to KRM, though. Before it merged with N&W and got to use 611 and 1218, SOU used C&O, T&P, and CP steamers to augment its meager roster of two 2-8-0's and one 2-8-2, with the 2-8-2 actually belonging to TVRM.

 

[Matthyro]

Great pictures Charlie. The old rule of "use them or lose them" certainly applies. If you are ever up this way, there is a Radial Railway museum not far from here on the highway to Guelph Ontario that has a collection of interurban cars, street cars and some old passenger equipment as well as a caboose or two and some old boxcars. The museum owns some old right of way that the interurbans used and offer rides through the forest on various equipment. They have a couple of sheds where cars are being reborn. They need volunteers and next year I think I will get involved. Too many trips planned this summer otherwise I would be there now.

 

[Woodie]

"OLD" Woodie, indeed!!

Originally posted by Charlie
Here's what's left of an old "woodie"...

"I beg your pardon!!!................ I'm NOT as old as that!...... I'm older!!!"

 

[Drew1125]

Wrong "Woodie"

Sorry, Woodie...
You know I wasn't talking about you!
In fact, there's every indication that you're in much better shape than that "woodie"!
After all, you are still rolling down the line!

 

[sumpter250]

Charlie,
Thanks for the pic. Of all the rigid frame locos, the 2-8-4, "Berkshire", "Kanawha", is my favorite. I have a Bachman,that needs to have new drivers,(they used too small a driver because of the oversize flanges) and some detail work. It will be a Kanawha when it is done. The bachman drivers will have the flanges turned to scale, and be used on a Long Island H10,2-8-0.
I'll have to set aside a weekend and venture down that way, to check out the museum.
Pete