Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Worthington, KY: CSX/C&O Russell Yard, long "Urban Tunnel"

Satellite

Satellite

This photo shows that today's locomotive shop was literally a backshop to the roundhouse.
Rick Fleischer posted
C&O roundhouse at Russell, Ky. at center right.
Dennis DeBruler commented on Rick's post
It looks like the turntable was being rotated as the satellite passed over.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...


The yard had two coaling towers. And Rick's photo above confirms that the smokestack was by the roundhouse.
Joe Fishbein posted
Lots of power, old and new, at the yard in Russell, KY on 8/2/1982. My photo.
Bryan Russel shared
Chessie had a huge yard and shops complex at Russell, Ky. CSX still has a large presence there.
Jonathan Chad Hensley: That building on the left is still standing, and is currently being used as the crew room for road crews.
Dennis DeBruler: Jonathan Chad Hensley Thanks. That helps me visualize the location of the two coaling towers.
https://www.google.com/.../@38.5382655,-82.../data=!3m1!1e3
The smokestack in the right background was southwest of the turntable and west of the locomotive shop.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
 
Whit Wardell posted
Russell, KY with a western visitor. 1989.

Satellite
I became aware of this yard when Josh Freeman posted a video of driving under the yard. Note the "portals" at the top and bottom of the satellite image on the right. The north road is Stewart Avenue and the south road is Pond Run Road. Josh estimated that it was about a quarter mile long, but the Goggle Map scale indicates it is about a 1000 feet long. But according to Josh's narration, it has the additional creepy factor of being skinny.

My first experience with what struck me as a tunnel in a city (an urban tunnel) was 16th Street under a BRC Yard. It scales out to be about 300 feet.

Then I encountered the 500-foot underpass of Austin Blvd. under Cicero Yard.

Bridges & Tunnels indicates that this 1-lane Raceland-Worthington underpass was built in 1949. It also says that two 2-lane underpasses were built in 1957. But I have not been able to find them.
3D Satellite
[When CSX closes a hump yard, do they do "flatswitching" on the old hump hill? Flat switching should be done in a bowl, not a one-way hill.]
A mackb4 comment:
Russell yard that runs along US23 and the Ohio River at one time was the world's largest single owned railroad yard in the world.It ran from Russell,thru Raceland all the way to Wurtland Ky. .
It at one time had a hump yard that set in front of the Raceland car shops,which in themselves are two enormously large buildings.
There was a coal hump and yard that was on the backside of the yard ,close to the river.
Then a large switching yard that faces US23.
Behind that yard sets the Russell Locomotive Shop.There used to be an old wooden roundhouse and coal tepple.Now there's the "house" which is the large inside engine service facility,and turntable and large ready track.
Four divisions come into Russell.The Northern to Columbus.The Huntington to Hinton,WVa. .The Big Sandy to Elkhorn City (Pike Co. Ky).An the Cinncy Division,to Cinncinatti.
 CSX closed the locomotive shop in 2019 and laid off 113 workers. [wvmetronews]

Ted Gregory posted a link about the Raceland Car Shops

The Raceland Car Shops are on the west end of the yard.
3D Satellite

Logan Detwiler posted
CSX EMD SD60Ms, SD70MACs, SD50-2s, SD40-2s, and an assortment of other GE and EMD-built locomotives sit in storage at CSX Transportation’s Russell, Ky. Yard near Wurtland, Ky., in July 2017. credit to Chase Gunoe
James Lee: I spy an Ace and some gensets.

Wow. It used to have two roundhouses. That would explain why it had two coaling towers.
EarthExplorer: Mar 20, 1952 @ 36,000, AR1UT0000040116

Ted Gregory posted
So sad
Not much left of this place.
It wasn't that long ago, within the last 20 years, I was there, the hump was working, car shops and loco shops were busy, and there were trains everywhere...
Virgil Fitzpatrick: This is now a Progress Rail facility.
Ted Gregory: The car shop only not the yard right Virgil?

17:18 video: "CSX's Massive Russell Yard from the air, plus stops in Augusta and Maysville, Kentucky"  Russell Yard starts at 7:57.

1 comment:

  1. I lived in Worthington all of my teenage years. during the 1950's the railroads were booming, especially here. For my first 2 years at Raceland High School, I walked the tunnels under the rail yards. At one time there was a 50+ track coal yard and also a 50+ track manifest yard. As a teenager, I work at the little Y that was located by the coal hump. Kopper's had a (railroad tie treatment plant across the street from the Y.

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