Louisville, KY: CGB Grain Elevator and Lafarge Cement

Grain Elevator: (Satellite)

Lafarge Cement: (Satellite)

The grain elevator has been on the west side of the PAL/IC Oak Street Yard for a long time. Lafarge Cement is a relatively recent facility.

J.B. Rail Photog added
03/18/2022 - A pair of Paducah and Louisville Railway GP38-2s 1998 and 2131 being used by a yard crew to shuffle around cars at their yard in Louisville, KY.
Dennis DeBruler

Thanks for including interesting things in the background such as grain elevators, bridges, coal mines, etc. I was not aware that Louisville had this big elevator until I saw this photo.

https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Jim Pearson Photography posted
Newly painted and refurbished Canadian Pacific 5798 sits tied down in the Paducah and Louisville Railway Yard in Louisville, Kentucky on April 15th, 2023. The markings under the cab window are SD40-2 DRF-30. Not sure where it was rebuilt and what was done to it however, with the recent merger between the CP and KCS, the road name on this newly painted unit is now incorrect!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic 3 Classic Drone, RAW, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/3200 sec, ISO 280.
Dennis DeBruler: The grain elevator is what caught my eye.

While confirming that Lafarge turned quite a bit of the railyard into their distribution center, I noticed that Vg Read & Sons has built on what appeared to be a residential area because of the churches and Zane Street on this map. As I have discussed in the railyard notes, the curve in the parking lot reflects the location of the old roundhouse.

1955 Louisville West Quad @ 1:24,000

It appears that all of the churches east of the railyard are gone, but those west of the yard are still intact.

Satellite

The latest topo map that is available still shows all of the churches. 

1998 Louisville West Quad @ 1:24,000

1998 is recent enough that I can use Global Earth to research the changes. Sure enough, the three city blocks between 12th Street and the railyard used to be residential. As expected, the roundhouse is gone, but the land has yet to be repurposed as a parking lot. They have removed tracks in an attempt to run an intermodal yard. 

Global Earth, Mar 1992

By the next available image, those three blocks had been leveled and "renewed" as an industrial area. It looks like they gave up on the intermodal yard and were able to sell at least some of that land to Lafarge.

Global Earth, Apr 1998

J.B. Rail Photog posted
02/16/2024 - A Paducah & Louisville Railway, Inc. yard job shuffles cars around in their yard in Louisville, KY.  From this crossing you can always catch them in the mornings and throughout the day working.
Dennis DeBruler: And you get a nice view of the grain elevator.

J.B. Rail Photog posted
A roster shot of Paducah & Louisville Railway, Inc. SD70M 4127 in Louisville, KY.  This is a former Union Pacific SD70M which is very obvious to see.

J.B. Rail Photog posted
Shots of the 4 KCS GP38s in the Paducah & Louisville Railway, Inc. yard in Louisville, KY, being there to be taken to Mayfield, KY, for Progress Rail to rebuild them is my assumption.

Lebanon Junction, KY: (CSX+RJCC)/L&N Mainline Coaling Tower

(Satellite)

J. B. Rail Photog posted
09/29/2021 - CSX Q573 with ST70AH 8900 leading solo upfront with a DPU buried in the consist pass under the old coaling tower at Lebanon Junction, KY, on the CSX Mainline Subdivision.  This is certainly a reminder of our past of when coal was king on this old L&N line.
J. B. Rail Photog remembered

J.B. Rail Photog added
09/22/2021 - CSX Q574-22 with CSX 3194 "Spirit of our Law Enforcement" special interest locomotive leading northbound through Lebanon Junction, KY, passing underneath an old coaling tower on the CSX Mainline Subdivision.
J.B. Rail Photog shared
Dennis DeBruler: I don't think I've seen a photo of this coaling tower before.
37°49'53.8"N 85°44'02.0"W

Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. updated
Denver Green: Isn't 2716 a static display
Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp.

Greene Denver We are in the process of restoring the engine at our facility in Ravenna, Kentucky. Learn more here: https://www.kentuckysteam.org/krh

Austin Hall: What was that structure?
Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp.: This is the concrete base of a large coal tipple.
[Whoops. I don't like the term tipple for a coaling tower. Tipples are in coal mines.]

Snannon Jefferies commented on the update
I took this pic that day.

La Grange, KY: CSX/L&N Street Running and 1914 Museum/L&N Depot

(Satellite)

LaGrange Railroad Museum posted, at Facebook resolution
Built in 1914, the original L&N Train Depot now houses the LaGrange Railroad Museum. It served as a vital hub for passengers and freight, connecting LaGrange to Louisville and beyond.

Bob Hamilton: This is a picture of the original La Grange train depot building that was constructed approximately 1860. Its replacement was constructed in 1914. The pictured building was demolished sometime after 1914. Exactly when? We don’t know YET.

Street View, Nov 2024

Gary Miller posted 
The former L&N depot in La Grange, KY was built in 1914 and now houses the La Grange Railroad Museum.
One of the unique features of the city of LaGrange is the CSX mainline that runs through the middle of the downtown business district.

I see from this Street View that this is probably a "technology town." That is, the downtown was built int he late 1800s when some technology caused the economy to boom. Then the technology fell on hard times so that the buildings never got remodeled. Then the economy revived as a "cute town" tourist shopping town complete with "old stuff" stores. 

The reason for looking at street views was to confirm that CSX still has tracks in the street.

Mark Hinsdale posted two photos with the comment:

"TBT" @ La Grange KY
Without realizing it at the time, I took these two views at La Grange KY on the LCL Subdivision, as it was identified by Louisville & Nashville and remains so for CSX, from nearly the exact same spot, 32 years apart. Even the "Now" picture in this "Then & Now" comparison is going on 7 years old, so I'm sure even more changes are evident at La Grange today. April, 1978 and September, 2010 photos by Mark Hinsdale

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J.B. Rail Photog posted
09/03/2021 - Foreign Power Friday! CSX X576-31 with an unusual lead engine around these parts Union Pacific 3792 SD70M along with Norfolk Southern 3618 ES44AC in trail northbound through La Grange, KY, on the CSX LCL Subdivision.
Frederick Butts: nice catch on slug 4 power back.
Alex Marks: I see a yard slug in there.
J.B. Rail Photog: Alex yep 1052 paired up with 2412.

J.B. Rail Photog posted some July 7, 2020 action. (shared)
Javid Beykzadeh 10 MPH until the head end is off the street running portion and then they speed up slowly.
Mel Wilson The town pauses when they come through, when the headend clears it's up to I believe 25, until they clear town. When gone, the town resumes. Cool place.
Michael Coleman Where I work and when we’re building trains or entering the yard I’ve blocked whole town for hours.
Mike A. Meadows CSXhas been regularly running 18-20k ft long trains out of NY heading west.
Billy Carter They do in midway and Frankfort Kentucky also.

Javid Beyksadeh shared a video of an autorack coming through town.

J.B. Rail Photog posted a photo of a Track Geometry car going through town. The comments include a link to a live stream camera.

(new window)  At least CSX is not running three-mile long trains through this town.


Evidently CSX doesn't plan to reroute the tracks in the forseeable future because they spent a lot of money to replace the track in 2020.
(new window) This video includes arc welding and a couple of scenes of a side-dump truck unloading.

(new window)  I didn't watch the whole thing. I don't like the style of the railfan putting himself on screen to make an uninformative remark.

Louisville, KY: NS/K&IT Youngtown Yard and Roundhouse

(Satellite, in Dec 2025, Google Maps marks it as "permanently closed.")

K&IT = Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Railroad, it was jointly owned by Monon, B&O and Southern and owned a bridge across the Ohio River that connected these railroads.

(The information that was here concerning the IC roundhouse has been moved to Oak Street Yard.)

Robert Williams posted
K&IT RR Coaling Tower 1960’s
Robert Chapman: Allot U Boats
Robert Williams: Robert Chapman FM [Fairbanks-Morse] switchers I think

Robert Williams posted
K&IT New Car Shop

 

Robert Williams posted
K&IT RR shop lead- car shop, engine servicing lead and caboose track.

I recognized Kentucky & Indiana Railroad as the terminal railroad that owned the bridge over the Ohio River that served the B&O, Monon, Milwaukee Road and Southern Railroads. The first three railroads used the bridge just to access the Louisville market. The Southern used it as a through route. The Southern usage is probably why NS ended up owning the the K&I. (Update: see Sol's comment below. NS got it as one of the concessions for the CSX merger.)

Michael Stamey posted
At B&O's Youngstown Yard service facilities, B&O F-7A-B 4505 with Monon F-3A's 208 & 205 in May 1965. Photo by Larry Fellure

Sol E. Williams: That's actually K&ITRR's Youngtown yard Louisville, Ky. K&ITRR was a switching/terminal railroad owned jointly by Monon (later L&N SBD), B&O, and Southern.

K&I was wholly sold to Southern/NS as part of an agreement for the CSX merger to take place.

Edward Kwiatkowski shared

Gary Miller posted
This roundhouse is in Louisville, KY and was operated by the K&I RR until 1981 when they were sold. This is now part of the NS and still used for light maintenance.

It looks like Gary just used a 3D satellite image.

3D Satellite

Chris Nicholson Jr, Apr 2017

Curtis Alan Stoltz posted

Screenshot

weather_lane via Dennis DeBruler
[The approach to the K&I Bridge on the left, the NS/K&IT Youngtown Yard in the middle, the easy to see Pennsy (14th Street) Railroad Bridge and the hard to see George Rogers Clark Bridge.]

I wonder what is transloaded in a yard just north of the roundhouse.

3D Satellite

J.B. Rail Photog posted
06/08/2021 - Here's the view of the NS Youngtown Yard in Louisville, KY, from the south end of the yard. There's a RP-E4C slug and a GP40-2 coming out onto the main as it appears they are classifying cars and kicking them to one of the yard tracks.
Curtis Blake: And the intermodals on the left are 23G that come in on 223. intermodals on the right come in on 22A to leave on 224.

J.B. Rail Photog shared
NS Youngtown Yard in Louisville, KY.

Steve Russo posted two photos with the comment: "NS Roundhouse in Louisville, KY. My photos August 2018."

Anthony Gilfoy This is still in use I have a friend of mine that works at the car repair shop next to the roundhouse.

Michael H. Riddle NS Youngtown yard, West side of Louisville!

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R.B. Rail Photog added
08/02/2022 - Norfolk Southern 335 swings around the wye towards the K&IT Bridge, passing what they call the Blue Room, that spans the Ohio River coming out the NS Youngtown Yard in Louisville, KY.  Leading is the Wabash Heritage Unit that badly needs a wash.  They just arrived and had to use the bridge for head room to drop the end of the train and then be able to switch to another track to drop the rest.  This yard at one point within the last week had over 1000 cars in it I heard from a source, I'm not shocked at all.
Peter Jugo: I’m assuming the SD40-2 and the GP38-2 were interchanged to the P&L?
J.B. Rail Photog: Peter yes.
Mike Gillespie: ... and not enough crews to move the thousand cars??

Ken Riley posted
At B&O's Youngstown Yard service facilities, B&O F-7A-B 4505 with Monon F-3A's 208 & 205 in May 1965. Photo by Larry Fellure , photo part of my slide collection.

John Reid: Not where one might expect to see the Monon F units.

Eric Reinert: This is more likely L&N’s Youngtown Yard in Louisville.

Ken Riley shared his mistake and ignored a second correction.