Touring the L&N Henderson Subdivision
Rick RideoutDescription
In this video, Allen Keller gives a tour of Rick Rideout’s L&N Henderson Subdivision. Starting in the Chicago St. Louis staging area, this brief tour follows a 721 daily piggyback train to Nashville. It first passes in front of Continental Grain Company and then Reitz High School where Rick Rideout met his wife, Vicky. The train heads into the north end of Howl Yard in Evansville. It is a large 30 feet yard with 12 through tracks and has the capacity to classify over 200 cars. The south end of Howl Yard features Gumdrop switch, whose interesting lore is told by Keller. The 721 clears the yard and approaches the Ohio River Bridge to Henderson, Kentucky. Following the Ohio River Bridge, the train crosses a plate girder bridge over Little Red River as it heads into Trenton.
In Trenton, Highway 41 passes over the main and the train approaches the yard at Guthrie, Kentucky. Here the L&N crosses the main along the Kentucky-Tennessee border and continues onto Springfield and finally to Portland, Tennessee. Portland is the last town where the Guthrie Local switches. The Greenbrier Grocery and General Store offers the main shopping location in the area. The 720 leaves a tunnel and approaches Nashville, offloading at the National Staging Yard and cargo being delivered the rest of the way by truck. The 768 Daily National Evansville Connection moves out – using 3 units to move a train of its size – and moves into Bakers Tunnel.
A tour of the subdivision begins at Harwood Passing siding and the Chicago St.Louis staging area. The Illinois Central also uses Harwood yard and crosses the L&N here. We're going to follow number 721, the daily piggyback train to Nashville. Two jeep 38s and a jeep 40 handle the head-end honors as we cross Old Henderson Road at grade. That's the Continental Grain Company in back. Reitz High School is where Rick met his wife, Vicky. This is the north end of Howell yard at Evansville. Howell is big, 30 actual feet from throat to throat. It has 12 through-tracks and can classify over 200 cars. At the south end of Howell yard is Gumdrop switch, named after a yard-worker who constantly ate gumdrops. One day, the story goes, he failed to throw this switch. A massive derailment was the result. Number 721 has cleared the yard limits and is on the approach to the Ohio River Bridge. On the other side is Henderson, Kentucky. This part of the railroad is undergoing major geological construction. By following closely to the walls, our pig train eventually enters Pembroke, Kentucky. A plate girder bridge gets us over the Little Red River and into Trenton. Highway 41 passes over the main at Trenton. Our jeeps approach the yard at Guthrie, Kentucky. Here at Guthrie, the L&N line from Bowling Green to Memphis crosses the main. Guthrie is located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. This is a spectacular crossing of the Red River. This new bridge was built after a train wreck severely weakened the old one. At Springfield, Tennessee, the jeeps thread their way through the street traffic. The four actual units are typical power on the four pig trains that run this route daily. Courtland, Tennessee is the last town that the Guthrie local switches. Our crew was unconcerned with the travails of a lowly switching crew and rolls by the co-op warehouse on schedule. The Greenbrier Grocery and General Store represents the shopping center of the area. Exiting Bakers Tunnel, number 721 encounters at 1.3% grade on the approach to Nashville. The pigs will be offloaded here at the Nashville staging yard and taken to their destinations by over-the-road trucks. There's more action in store for us here in Nashville. We get word that train 768, the daily Nashville-Evansville connection, is stretched and moving out. It takes three units to move a train this size up the grade at Amqui. This train is powered by all non-EMD units. On the point is an Alco C 630 number 1427, followed by an Alco C 430 number 5601 and a GU25 number 1623.
Very well done. An excellent layout and train. And an excellent narrated and edited video. Thank you.