One of CSX's Largest Yards: Flat-Track Switching in Russell, Kentucky

[@phuturephunk]

Man, I could watch sped up yard work all day long. Infinitely fascinating and your VO's, as usual are fantastic. Russell Yard was the Chesapeake and Ohio's primary Coal classification yard. Charged with routing the CnO's massive coal operations between east and west and up into the great lakes for ore dock operations. The Raceland shops were originally constructed to exclusively service the Chessie's massive hopper fleet. At its peak their inventory of coal hoppers crested at around 60,000 cars in service. Eventually they started working on other cars and the facility still repairs CSX's cars to this day. This whole area is pretty cool coincidence of geography. The CnO ran along this side of the Ohio River while the Norfolk and Western ran along the northern shore. I wanna say south of Ashland in Kenova, they had the ability to exchange cars with each other, but that may have been later in both rairoad's history. I bring it up due to your Norfolk and Western video from the other day at Portsmouth. The Scioto River valley allowed for a direct northern route from Portsmouth directly north into Columbus, so both railroads had mains that branched up the valley. This also ultimately allowed both of them to touch both Cincinnati and Cleveland easily.

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you for the great and detailed information. It was a great read.

[@simpsopl]

wasn't Russell one of the biggest, if not the biggest, yard on the C&O?

[@nkyrailfan]

Correct. When built, it was the largest rail yard owned by a single company.

[@chessiekid4018]

And noted to be the longest rail yard in the country. I think going through five Ky cities.

[@cincinnatirailroadclub]

@@chessiekid4018 correct. Started in Russell, went through West Russell, Worthington, Raceland, and ended in Wurtland. The hump yard was in Raceland near the car shops

[@BlackMan614]

With your time-elapsed video, you can tell why flat switching has overtaken the hump. Less manpower is obvious, but it is also faster with a large cut of cars and only a 2-man crew who can control the electronic switching via the dispatcher/radio. Great job!!

[@mumps59]

I love this, thanks for posting. Especially like it when a kick turns into a shove because the kick wasn't hard enough 😀.

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@joedidonato9465]

Those Army vehicles are not tanks but tank recovery vehicles, M88’s. They call them ‘Mud Dabbers’, nickname.

[@geoffreyyoung5419]

Great show this is quite the operation love this show keep it up

[@nkyrailfan]

I have a new video hopefully coming out on Friday. It will compare flat-track switching to yards that use a gravity hump. I hope you check it out.

[@EntertainmentWorldz]

super great video sir ❤❤😍😍

[@paulsturtz7638]

Fascinating, Thanks!

[@charleswoods9938]

Yes I would like to see this yard back in the L and N Days if you can do that if possible

[@simpsopl]

Russell was C&O, not L&N

[@MestFares95]

The largest rail yard ever 🔥🔥

[@samuelriedel7994]

Really Kool Kyrailfan good video and seeing my hometown that railyard was booming in 90s see all the Chessie Loco before csx come

[@ShiftSouthern1110]

I think I'd said something before, but if you ever make your way back towards conway, you should check out Mingo junction, canton yard, and youngstown, and if you want to go a little further north you can see conneaut. All of these yards are withing an hour of one another so you could knock out all 4 in a day trip. However, there's not as much there as the big yards but still lots of switching going on in them and locals working around them. You'd also see a lot of the wheeling and lake erie in Mingo. Park near the closest restaurant to all of the yards and you would be able to get your drone out there. Not a rail fan but I work out of these yards throughout the year along with Conway

[@nkyrailfan]

Thanks for the information. I will definitely plan on making a trip there this summer.

[@ShiftSouthern1110]

@nkyrailfan that's awesome! It's not crazy train capital or anything but there is a lot of old school conrail style railroading out there still. Also, buffalo is a good one to go to. I'd like to see that because I want to go to buffalo lol

[@charleswoods9938]

Hey There in that big Yard there I dont see any Auto Rack Train Cars in the Yard at all

[@nkyrailfan]

I can't think of any trains that would be sorted here that would have auto racks on them. This is mainly mixed merchandise and coal and grain.

[@treos17]

2291 doesnt have a prime mover. Theres a giant block of concrete in place of it. It still has dynamic capability so thats what the fan is for, for cooling the brake blister.

[@nkyrailfan]

Thanks for the great info. I really do appreciate it. I never gave much thought to what would happen in terms of attractive effort when you remove the prime mover and the weight along with it. Thanks for letting me know.

[@Stefan_Boerjesson]

The likely increased video speed makes it look like stone age shunting sending the cars away at high speed, hitting the other cars hard.

[@Charles-um5hd]

Road slug means the PRIME MOVER has been removed. Slugs just have traction motors in the trucks but no prime mover. The electric traction motors in the slug feed off the power provided by the mother unit through MU cable connections between the engines.

[@nkyrailfan]

Thanks for the great info. I do appreciate it.

[@welcomeherelena]

Hello!😊Have a nice weekend! How is it going? Great channel and nice videos.👍211👈

[@charleswoods9938]

Also if Possible is there any way can video and any L and N train car that is still out there that is if you can find any thats running around some where on the CSX Rail System if possible I know it could be hard to find any L and N Train Cars hey but there is allways a chance you might find one I know the Odds are finding any are not good but theres allways a chance

[@nkyrailfan]

If I come across one, I'll try and let you know where to find it.

[@charlesmckinney3560]

Enjoying your videos. What do you use for a scanner?

[@nkyrailfan]

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the videos. I currently have a Uniden BC75XLT scanner. It was the cheapest one I could find a few years ago, but I'm looking to upgrade because I feel like it's not doing a good job receiving the transmissions. I have a RR tuned antenna and put the scanner as high up as I can but it still doesn't pick up a very clear signal.

[@charlesmckinney3560]

@@nkyrailfan Thaks for the quick reply! From the video it sounded pretty clear. I grew up in South Shore, just across from Portsmouth. I couldn't help but think in both videos of the days gone by for the area. The number of families that the 2 railroads have provided for... I live near Lexington now and the traffic coming through here has slowed way down.

[@johnlawsonsr1589]

The road slug does not have an engine. These get power from an other unit (Called a master or mother unit. The masters provide power to the traction motors on the slugs). I had road slugs on a few of my trains when I worked from Indianapolis, IN to Crestline, Oh on the Indianapolis Line.

[@nkyrailfan]

Thank you for the good information. I do appreciate it.

[@johnlawsonsr1589]

@nkyrailfan I have an appointment in Ashlsnd on the 4th, know anyone that can take me rail fanning in the area?

[@nkyrailfan]

@johnlawsonsr1589 I wish I knew someone but unfortunately I do not. The Ashland Amtrak station would be a decent place to start You should see anything heading between there and Cincinnati. I'm not sure of any other spots though.

[@johnlawsonsr1589]

@nkyrailfan I did work the Amtrak trains 50 and 51 between Indianapolis and Chicago a few times when the Amtrak Station Master in Indy found out I was good on the CSXT extra board to be burrowed from CSXT a few times. Honestly, I preferred dealing with freight cars then screaming passengers wanting to know, "When are we going to get into Chicago". Told this lady once, you see me with my over night bag in hand then we are getting close"!! LOL

[@steffentreue1000]

😅😂😂🤣🤣🤣 auch ne Möglichkeit wenn die Berge weit weit weg sind . . . 😅😂🤣

[@davecashman8336]

I don’t like the look of cable-stay bridges, either.

[@danmathers141]

It looks like they need to kick some trains out of there.

[@ronhill5118]

Is this video before or after H. Harriman?

[@nkyrailfan]

This was shot after he was with CSX. I'm not sure when the hump was taken out of service in the yard though. I think it was closed in the 1990s, well before he took over.

[@areguapiri]

And NONE of them are passenger trains ☹️

[@nkyrailfan]

Ironically, this is the only yard that a passenger train (Amtrak Cardinal) rolls through in Kentucky.

[@danmathers141]

I'd like to see some captioning or narration.

[@keithmoore5306]

did they get Otis the drunk or Willy the wino to layout that one track?? as for bridges give me the old riveted iron girder box style bridges for both road and rail bridges! these cable jobs are retarded and ugly as a mother in law! those M88's are most likely headed to or from fort Knox to the Lima tank plant for overhaul going by the green camo the last i heard fort Hood had that diarrhea brown camo! the 10 plus engines is most likely a power positioning move that drag didn't need that many! that could be a road slug i've heard some are equipped with dynamic braking and it'd need a fan for that system! by the way those covered hoppers, would you happen to know what those circular openings on the ends are for?

[@bernivideo]

Nice video but too long and too many commercials.

[@shawnprivate5322]

All he's doin is working the train in the beginning picking up or dropping or moving

[@daericksimpson9244]

💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

[@davidsnyder2423]

Why are you emphasizing every sentence ?

[@barmaliy]

Please enable subtitles in different languages, including Ukrainian.

[@nkyrailfan]

Вітаю зі Сполучених Штатів і дякую за перегляд моїх відео. Я вірю, що KZbin автоматично перекладе англійські субтитри українською. Спочатку ввімкніть англійські субтитри. Потім клацніть значок «шестерінка» для налаштувань. Натисніть «субтитри». Потім виберіть «автоматичний переклад». Тоді ви можете вибрати українську. Сподіваюся, це допоможе. Гарного дня.

[@bryanlee5090]

Hey…I know that one voice!!!!