CSX/L&N - Crooked Hill #3 - 11-7-2011
Rail Fan Adventure --
1. CSX 2213-6464 switch around East Bernstadt. This is the C705-07 called the "London Switcher." It operates north out of Corbin as far as Livingston and Mount Vernon. They had some large wood chip hoppers.
![Perth. CSX 2213-6464 switch around East Bernstadt. This is the C705-07 called the 'London Switcher.'](../images/csxcrookedhill3/01Perth.jpg)
2. C705-07 heads south down the long industrial siding to North Bourne, the north end of a CTC-controlled passing siding. Denham & Lewis's tipple would be behind me. This siding is not the passing siding.
![Perth. C705-07 heads south down the long industrial siding to North Bourne, the north end of a CTC-controlled passing siding.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/02Perth.jpg)
I got on US 25 and drove down the hill to Hazel Patch. There I took a county road over to the track at the bottom of Crooked Hill. I drove north down the right-of-way access road toward the passing siding at Perth South.
3. In that two-mile stretch is Tunnel No. 6, and this is the south portal.
![Perth. This is Tunnel No. 6, and this is the south portal.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/03Perth.jpg)
4. Arriving at the south end of Perth passing siding, I am rewarded with an approach signal for a northbound. The north end of Perth is at Livingston.
![Perth. Approach signal for a northbound. The north end of Perth is at Livingston.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/04Perth.jpg)
5. I heard a southbound distantly, and I anticipated that it would come up the siding to await the northbound. After a while the signal went green, and northbound
Q699 (Hamlet-Cincinnati via Atlanta) with 105 cars rolled through behind 538-272.
![Perth. Northbound Q699 (Hamlet-Cincinnati via Atlanta) with 105 cars rolled through behind 538-272.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/05Perth.jpg)
6. The signal is General Railway Equipment, but the mast is a more recent Modern Industries that was manufactured in Louisville. The southbound was waiting on Q699 somewhere to the north, and I started my trek home.
![Perth. The signal is General Railway Equipment, but the mast is a more recent Modern Industries that was manufactured in Louisville.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/06Perth.jpg)
7. The north portal of Tunnel No. 6.
![Perth. The north portal of Tunnel No. 6.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/07Perth.jpg)
8. The north portal of Tunnel No. 6. View 2.
![Perth. The north portal of Tunnel No. 6. View 2.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/08Perth.jpg)
9. The cut stone portals built in 1882 are in great shape considering they have had no attention in years. The concrete portals of the newer tunnels are crumbling.
![Perth. The cut stone portals built in 1882 are in great shape considering they have had no attention in years.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/09Perth.jpg)
10. From the crossing at Hazel Patch, I drove up the right of way a short distance to check out the block signals at 146.1. Nothing was imminent either way. I'm looking south, and this is about as far as you can drive. Tunnel 7 is just up around the curve which you reach be driving down the right-of-way from East Bernstadt.
![Perth. From the crossing at Hazel Patch, I drove up the right of way a short distance to check out the block signals at 146.1.](../images/csxcrookedhill3/10Perth.jpg)
I headed south on US 25 up to London and then east on the Hal Rogers Parkway and KY 80 home. The drive takes a little over two hours.
Train images used by permission of Everett N Young
last update - 25 Aug 2012