Rj Corman Central Kentucky Lines

[alittlevanwerty]

On our way home from vacation I thought it would be a great idea to take a 3 hour detour to explore part of the Central Kentucky Lines. From reading the Corman website, they have a train that originates on CSX in Berea Ky at Logan aluminun. Though we did not catch the ingot train we spotted RJC # 206 tied down.

RJ Corman 206 in Berea Kentucky by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr
Following CSX north to Winchester and then taking the interstate west to Lexington due to lack of roads near the line we spotted a CSX coal drag and a local working but no other corman til Lexington. This is one of the first things we spotted arriving it town:

RJ Corman Railroad bridge in Lexington Kentucky by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr
Upon arriving at the main yard we saw the best railroad display ever!

RJ Corman caboose/SD45/SD45/caboose display Lexington Kentucky by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr

RJ Corman caboose/SD45/SD45/caboose display Lexington Kentucky by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr

RJ Corman caboose/SD45/SD45/caboose display Lexington Kentucky by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr
Though we didn't catch any moves outside the yard limits or take any video we got a good view of what was in the yard.

Rj Corman Railpower 1701 by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr

RJ Corman 3863 and 38?? by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr

RJ Corman Sand Trains by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr
Can anyone tell me where the sand trains run to and from? Any info on this yards times would be great! I plan on visiting again asap!

[AARR]

Always enjoy your pics vanwerty.

I recall reading a good article in Trains Mag from a while back about RJC. The ingot trains, at least back then, ran about twice a week in 55 car blocks.

The sand business, at least back then, amounted to about 3500 cars a year. It was from a Nugent plant. IIRC the gondola's acquired could be turned around almost every 24 hours which meant they averaged close to one revenue trip a day.

[bctrainfan]

Some very cool shots there, Vanwerty! You do gotta give some credit to Corman for how good there stuff looks!

[chriiis]

The sand is transloaded from barges on the Ohio in Louisville, not far east of I-65 and the ex-Big Four Bridge that's now a footbridge to Jeffersonville.

My memory is a bit dated, the sand ran as a turn? Left Louisville in the late morning, trading loads for empties in Lexington in the midafternoon?

Also on the west end was a morning local that petered out before Louisville, and the every other day aluminum ingot train. The tracks through Frankfort's quaint downtown run right out of the tunnel and straight down the middle of Broadway (it's cooler than LaGrange).

All manifest interchanged with CSX was on an evening turn from Lexington to Winchester, i'm not entirely sure whether it happens on the north side of Winchester, by the community college, or down in the Patio Yard within the Ravenna wye. There was also a bridged coal train that would come off CSX at Winchester, and get on NS in Lexington to head down to Brown.

There's also a local to Versailles and a switcher around Lexington who's largest account is the Smuckers Peanut Butter factory.


Transkentucky Transportation is nearby in Paris, too.

[alittlevanwerty]

Thanks for the help. Hopefully we will have an end of summer vacation and we can spend at least half a day there.

[59caddy]

Those cabooses might be for their 'My Old Kentucky Dinner Train.' But, there's every reason that they could use them for freight traffic, too.

What also impresses me is how they have their own fleet of rolling stock, as opposed to using other railroads' rolling stock and locomotives.