Norfolk Southern Louisville/St. Louis line.

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Hello everyone. This is my first time to post and I hope I’m using the correct forum. I’m interested in the Norfolk Southern line that runs from Louisville west across Indiana to St. Louis. What would be the best day and time to catch some action on this line? It seems to be well maintained and has some interesting track features, i.e., some of the curves seem to be tight and with elevations to them. I followed this line along Indiana highway 64 towards Louisville and there seemed to be many good photo spots. Thanks for any information.

2

I can’t tell you much about current operations, but when I lived in Louisville (1978-1980) this was my favorite line to photograph. Chasing trains was a cinch and all train orders were issued over the radio, allowing you to really understand where the action was. Especially interesting was the Duncan Hill operation between New Albany and Duncan (Floyd’s Knobs area), with three and four-unit helpers based at New Albany; the interchange with LNAC at Corydon Jct., etc. Another highlight of my time there–the SR road foreman (based at Princeton or Huntingburg, can’t remember which) was Lloyd Dove, younger brother of the late Walter Dove, engineer of SR’s famous 4501 steam locomotive. SR was very friendly toward fans and Dove was equally eager to extend cab privledges (steam and diesel) to visiting fans. Oh, to turn back the clock…

3

welcome aboard GMack. I grew up in Southern Illinois and back in the 70’s knew a little bit about the line, but cant help you today. Princeton, In might be an interesting spot to go since the NS crosses the CSX…should be lots of trains.

back in the day, Southern ran about 14 trains daily. I would think it has grown since then, but I cant really say for sure.

ed

4

Thanks for the reply. Speaking of the Southern, my father worked MOW for them going on close to fifty years out of Meridian MS. He managed to wrangle a cab visit of the 4501 for me way back sometime in the early seventies. Its very possible that I met Walter Dove on that day. And you are right, the people of the SR were always happy to show a railfan around their world. Once again, thanks for your reply.

5

Thanks for the welcome aboard MP173. After looking over my maps I have to agree with you that Princeton IN would be a good location. Have heard that the CSX line has quite a lot of traffic.