First Time to Portsmouth, OH and the Norfolk Southern Yard

[@H17life]

Born in Portsmouth Ohio and been here all my life. No matter where you live (city or country) you hear the trains.. it's hard to sleep somewhere that doesn't have any. Great video

[@CHESSIE-FJR]

Great video and a nice catch of that auto parts box car in Chessie System paint too.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

At the Raceland shops during Chessie days, the Chessie had a retail store at the entrance to the yard. You could go in there and buy C&O/B&O branded stuff. jackets,hats, that sort of stuff. Of course this was decades before the internet/Amazon.

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

I remember this days well. Railfanning Russell during g the Chessie era was one of the best memories of my childhood.

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

Portsmouth yard is my dads favorite place to railfan.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

There used to be a walk bridge at the shops/hump that allowed parking on 1 side of the tracks, then employees would walk over the tracks to get to work. We hung out ON the bridge photoing the hump(C630s for power)and no one ever said a thing to us,,,EVER. There would be shift changes and they all walked by us as if we were not there. As late as 1982/83 C630s and T6s still worked the yard. Once, coming home from Virginia I stopped by here and a set of locos were moving about. They were a red C30-7, UP SD40-2 and a rare ATSF(on the N&W that is)SD40-2. I chased them, to where they got on their train and the train headed north. To my surprise, this was a Cincy train(headed my way)so I shot them at McDermott and Henley,Ohio. What a colorful sight this consist of locos were.

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

Man, I would love to see whatever you have from the Peavine!

[@aaronhuffman4852]

@@clearlycaribbeanreb2895I want to see the peavine come back but it’s highly unlikely!

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

@@aaronhuffman4852 Never gonna happen East of about MP 75ish.

[@aaronhuffman4852]

@@clearlycaribbeanreb2895 it would be very expensive to reconstruct the line and add sidings, signals and a new bridge across the Scioto River not mention maybe building on a new alignment in some areas.

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

@@aaronhuffman4852 Exactly. Vera Bridge is trashed as well as the mainline from Rushtown, McDermott, and Arion.

[@eottoe2001]

I like s-curves. Thanks for the video.

[@nkyrailfan]

They are pretty cool. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

[@DamionJTrains]

Very well put together video. Awesome video

[@nkyrailfan]

Thanks Damion, I really do appreciate it. I hope to get back to Portsmouth and do a more detailed look at the NS yard.

[@CSXNSTrainVideos]

Awesome Video! I have been there twice, and its a pretty cool place.

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you. It was a cool spot. I'd like to chase something out of it to Columbus or maybe the other way.

[@MrCameronsterling]

I enjoy these yard videos

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you, I do appreciate it.

[@albertvieira6635]

If you would like you can go to Fort Madison Iowa you'll have plenty of trains to the film are all three tracks now you checking out I'm sure you will like it take care and be safe job well done I like the idea of the Drone good addition keep up the good work A+ across the board job well done

[@nkyrailfan]

Thanks Albert, I do appreciate it. I just checked out Ft. Madison online. It looks like a great spot to railfan! Hopefully, I can make it there one day. If I do, I'll let you know. Have a great day!

[@charlesb3208]

you do good videos, i really enjoy them

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you Charles, I do appreciate that. Have a great day.

[@charlesb3208]

@@nkyrailfan your welcome. im up around hamilton ohio. retired railroad engr. i enjoy watching this stuff. keep up the great work, and thanks

[@sirensofneohio3979]

Is Portsmouth worth making a railfanning trip to?

[@nkyrailfan]

I guess it depends what you're looking for. When I've visited, there have been several trains coming through. So, you should see a good amount of action. However, it is slow moving. As for the yard, you can get a decent view of it, but you're still pretty far. I've enjoyed the two trips I made there. Sorry, I don't have a better answer for you.

[@csxguy3002]

U should set up a railcam there

[@nkyrailfan]

It does see a fair bit of action. I actually went back today and should have a new video with a little more of the yard coming out next week.

[@anthstrains2548]

How many trains go through here per day?

[@nkyrailfan]

I really don't know. It seemed fairly busy, so I would assume several a day.

[@IDKMali]

Good job on the video

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you very much. I do appreciate it.

[@tonypritchett1759]

I love the drone shots! Any idea where the inter modal train originates from?

[@nkyrailfan]

Sadly, I do not. I didn't catch the symbol at the time and I couldn't find anything that jumped out symbol-wise that would show where it's from and where it's going.

[@delawarecountyrailfan2204]

@@nkyrailfan Should be 233 from Norfolk VA to Chicago IL

[@delawarecountyrailfan2204]

@@nkyrailfan Oh and the second is either 236 (Columbus to Norfolk) or 234 (Chicago to Norfolk)

[@buckeyestaterailfan1062]

would you recommend going here?

[@nkyrailfan]

I would say it depends. I went there two days in a row and only saw trains on the second day. You can't get too close to the yard, but you do have a pretty decent sight line to the traffic leaving to go to Columbus. I would think it would be worth it to follow something south out of columbus to the yard and check it out. When I went, I came from Cincinnati and followed the Closed NS line just to see if there was anything unique left over from when it was an active line.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

@@nkyrailfan When the cincy line was active, I spotted a working banjo signal at Sardinia. The only other working banjo I ever saw was in Kenton,Ohio on the old EL main that was being used as an industrial siding. We tested the circuit and,,,,yup it worked. (1983)

[@chessiekid4018]

I see you were in Ashland ky too. CSX

[@nkyrailfan]

I actually started in Huntington and stopped by Ashland on the way back. I plan on going back to check out both spots again and hopefully catch a train or two in both locations.

[@rardiehl2302]

This extra long trains are shutting down the host city or time to long.

[@samuelriedel7994]

If u want some good train photos kenova Wv where Norfolk Southern meets csx from ky is really good locations

[@nkyrailfan]

I saw the NS bridge there as I was heading back from Huntington. I picked a slow day though, I didn't catch anything while there. I'll definitely be back this spring to and spend a whole day there. Any specific spots to watch would be greatly appreciated.

[@brianbooher7318]

Shame they shut down the Cincinnati district that branched off an crossed the river in portsmith .ns should open it back up..they say the bridge their in ports portsmith is why they shut it down did you get any pics of that bridge .it's somewhere in portsmith it called vera bridge

[@nkyrailfan]

I agree. It really is a shame they shut it down. I've driven the route and parts of it are very scenic. I'll get more pictures when I stop by Portsmouth again, but the only one I have is from the video and that's not very long. Have a great day Brian!

[@brianbooher7318]

@@nkyrailfan thanks for sharing your video with us

[@brandonhurley4135]

@@nkyrailfan by the way, the last 20 miles of this line the guy above was talking about, was donated to the state of ohio a year or two ago. i heard through the grapevine before NS donated the line to the state, they were gonna restore it as a backup line to mitigate traffic on the main line in portsmouth, but then covid hit and the project was basically up in smoke. i got no clue if they plan on restoring it, selling it to a shortline RR by auction, or making it into a rail trail. most of the equipment on the abandoned portion of the line, had power up until 2022.

[@nkyrailfan]

@brandonhurley4135 there was talk about it in the Cincinnati-area Railfan groups but I think it was just too costly to keep the line in stable condition. Plus, I'm sure NS wants to get as much use out of its Moorman Yard in Bellevue. If it diverted any traffic to Cincinnati, it would skip the company's $160 million investment. All that said, I would love to see the line fully reopen!

[@brandonhurley4135]

@@nkyrailfan yeah, they were more than likely going to go through with it, but then covid and quarantine hit, and shit got all out of whack with the railroad around here as a result of covid. if they did go through with it, if covid never happened, i would only forsee them restoring small sections at a time. there is some cool OLD school equipment on that line, especially at the otway crossing, as that had power up until 2022, even with all the overgrowth there. jaw tooth had a video of it in 2016 when NS ran a hi-rail truck down the abandoned section of the line to get a scrap value, and it was honestly in much better shape in 2016, than it is in now.