In this video, we're focusing on the LCL subdivision. It runs about 100 miles between Louisville and Covington.
Heading down I-71, I decided to stop off at Glencoe and check the signals. I saw a southbound high green.
I thought about getting set up and waiting, but I knew Worthville was just about 20 minutes away. I decided to chance it and head there to catch whatever was coming.
I like Worthville for a few reasons.
It's nice and open, so you can get a pretty good shot.
Plus, it has the L & N Railroad Bridge over the Kentucky River and if you've seen any of my other videos, you know I love shooting bridges.
It wasn't a long wait before the Q 353, a daily Chicago to Louisville train appeared.
I didn't think I was in for much with only a single engine on the head end but the train just kept coming.
Once the train was gone, I thought about heading straight to Louisville, but wondered if I could beat it to La Grange.
I thought, I'd been able to beat it here, let's try again and head to La Grange.
While driving, I caught the defect detector. It was 13,555 feet long.
As far as I remember, that's the longest train I've caught.
When I got to La Grange, the signal had good news for me with a clear signal.
I rushed to get everything set up, but it would be another half hour or so before 353 got here.
The Loram Rail Grinder was in the siding and looked to be getting its water tanks filled up.
A day after shooting this, I saw a few railfans post some pics of it in action, with sparks flying.
I wish I caught it in action, but it was nice just to see it in person.
The speed limit for the street running section through town is ten miles an hour. So,353 would have traffic stopped for quite some time.
CSX put down new tracks, ties and asphalt in the area last year or so. I've often wondered if the company is actively looking for another route that avoids the street running but a brief slowdown probably isn't worth the cost it would take to buy land, and relocate the tracks.
I've often wonder about speed limits, given the ever increasing length of trains. The 10 miles an hour is for the street running, but is there a marker that let's an engineer know when they've cleared a slow section like this? I noticed the speed increasing as the train continued on. If anyone can explain how engineers deal with these slow spots, I would greatly appreciate it.
Finding a spot to shoot Osborn Yard was more difficult than I expected.
I drove around trying to find any clear spots to set up some ground cameras but I never came across anything.
If you know of one, please do share.
Before heading down, I checked the airspace since it's right next to the airport to see if I could fly my drone.
Here's a quick note about how drone pilots are able to fly close to airports. Most of them use a system called LAANC. It allows drone operators to get permission from the FAA to fly in certain spots, up to certain altitudes. Luckily, what once took several months, has been automated and now happens in a few moments.
In the section I was, I could only fly to 200 feet.
The yard itself is more than 2.5 miles long.
I've read that the hump was shut down as part of E. Hunter Harrisons Precision Scheduled Railroading but could not find very much information on the yard.
I counted 50 tracks in the bowl but that was just looking at a zoomed in picture of the yard.
If you have any information, please comment below.
On my way home, I decided to stop by Glencoe once more and check the signals.
Sure enough, the same way I started my day, a southbound clear signal, was how I would finish it. This time though, I opted to stay put and get set up here.
A fellow railfan stopped by and we chatted for a bit.
We heard a horn off in the distance, so, I sent my drone to investigate.
It was another load of auto racks but it was going much slower than the allowed speed.
The engineer brought it to a stop just shy of the crossing.
I saw the conductor get in a truck with the road foreman and they went off to the end of the train out of sight.
The other railfan went up and asked what was going on. He said he was told it was an issue with a coupler.
I never did find out what it was, but it wasn't much longer and the train was ready to roll again.
I hope you enjoyed this trip to the LCL.
Let me know where you like to railfan so I can check it out. I'm always looking for new spots.
For our next trip were back on the Norfolk Southern main line.
We'll see a few more bridges and some interesting slugs and several KC Southern engines.
Until then, I hope you have a great day!