Norfolk Southern Rathole Burnside and South. February 2002
Three days in one of the South railfan
heavens. I left home Sunday early in the morning to be in North Chattanooga
by sunrise. I pick up NS284 heading for Harriman under a beautiful blue
sky.
Roddy Siding, TN. Good start: NS 179 is the first of 2 trains that is meeting NS 284.
Oakdale, TN. After the Roddy meet, I never saw NS 284 again. So I head up the line.
NS 223 just swaped crews.
Oakdale, TN. CELX 10416, a 6 axle tank car on a southbound freight from across the
river with a 210 zoom, a handy tool on the rathole.
Camp Austin, Tn. After missing 2 southbounds at this location, I get NS I84 meeting
a southbound intermodal on the fly. So that is what a double main line
is for...
Cave Springs Road, KY. On Tuesday, snow flakes are in the forecast, so I get up early and
try to get the most out of the day. Monday had been a forgetable day as
far as traffic. However, on Tuesday under miserable conditions, I get 5
trains in less than an hour at this location. Good thing because, I was
not going to stay up on that bridge for very much longer. A maintenance
of train comes down and will later stop on the siding at Robbins.
Burnside, KY. On Sunday, I chase NS 920 ballast train from Oakdale all the way to
Burnside. Two Southern Pacific engines help with the load.
