Two Hours at Kentucky Street

August 1, 2004, the first day of my retirement from the Illinois Central (I refuse to call it the CN), and what do I do? A little railfanning at Kentucky Street in Memphis. This is a photo essay of what I saw between 3 and 5 PM.

Line up at Kentucky Street

Just east of Brodway two empty BNSF coal trains sandwich RJY30 as it returns from the NS to the CN (IC).

Coal Trains Everywhere

The first arrival at Kentucky Street was a loaded BNSF coal train lead by a couple of GE AC4400CW's.

Coal train clears Kentucky Street

The coal train clears Kentucky Street with BNSF AC4400CW 5743 on the rear. The empty col train on the right has begun to move.

First empty coal leaves

Lead by BN(SF) SD70 9610, the first empty coal train heads for Arkansas.

UP Maintenance of Way Equipment

UP MW equipment which has been working on the Harahan Bridge across the Mississippi gets in the clear at Kentucky Avenue.

Inbound UP manifest freight

The M/W crew having cleared the track, this eastbound UP manifest freight arrives at Kentucky Street.

HLMX 6204

The third unit in the UP manifest was this Helm Leasing SD40.

Inbound BNSF Coal Train

Before the UP freight clears, a second loaded BNSF coal train heads east with SD70 9688.

Inbound BNSF Coal Train

The second coal train has two SD70's pushing. The rear end of the inbound UP freight is on the right

Second BNSF empty coal train departs

The inbound loaded coal train having cleared, the second empty coal train departs with BNSF 5660 in the lead

EPILOGUE

    Remember RJY30 which was sitting at Broadway at 3:00 PM? They were still there at 5:00PM, blocked by the   outbound transfer from the CN to the BNSF (RJY20, I think) which was occupying  on the CN's "Single Track" (spelled "Bottleneck") awaiting clearance from the BNSF dispatcher, which obviously was not going to happen until both the inbound BNSF coal trains cleared Broadway. RJY20  pulled out right behind the second coal train and had not cleared by 5:00 PM. RJY30 usually hogs at 6:30 PM. Hope they made it!