I have had this idea bouncing through my head for many years that I would like to model the Family Lines, around the early eigthies time period, in western Tennessee (I grew up in Jackson, Tn and I didn’t even know the L&N came through Jackson until recently!!!).
I need as much prototypical information I can get. I understand the line ran from roughly Nashville through Jackson, and terminating in Memphis.
Also I purchased an Atlas L&N GP40 yesterday. Most of the photo’s of L&N’s GP40’s had low hood mounted headlights, or dual mounted headlights. The model has cab mounted headlights, is this correct or a manufacturer mess up?
Zapp, you will need a copy of any NC&STL book you can find. The Old Windy has a long history I won’t repeat here. Yes, it connects Nashville to West TN via Bruceton. The NC&STL was controlled then merged into the L&N after WW2.
todays line has a lot of UP & CSX traffic connecting Nashville with Memphis & points west. There’s no passenger traffic. You could start with a google map trip of the line, then try to photo various sections, like the TN river bridge. Your first stop should be to get a photo of the YellowJacket 4-8-4 in Centennial Park, Nashville.
You may also find a book on later L&N 2nd or 3rd generation power. THe NC&STL ran steam thru WW2 then bought a lot of EMD F’s for mainline power.
Good morning zapp L&N’s control of the NC&StL actually began in 1880, when NC&StL’s president E.W. Cole tried to expand into KY. L&N acquired stock to gain control and in August 1957 the line was merged into the L&N. The NCS&tL added 4000 employees and 1043 miles of track in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennesee to the L&N, and direct connections from Naxhville to Atlanta and Memphis. The L&N owned 30 GP-40s #3000-3029 delivered between Oct. 66 and Sept. 67 http://www.fallenflags.org/ln/ln-3ng.html will take you to the L&N engine page and scroll about 3/4 of the way down you will find pictures of 18 of these units. A good source of info on L&N diesels and paint schemes is Louisville & Nashville Diesel Locomotives by Charles B. Castner, Ronald Flanary and Lee Gordon from TLC Publishing. In 1977 L&N units began to recieve the Family Lines paint scheme however the photo of 3026 taken in July 80 shows the unit in the all grey color.