Just FYI... There are 2 threads to this post because of file size... I just returned from my trip to C&O country (SE Ohio/Kentucky). Thought some C&O fans might like some pictures. The purpose of this trip was to find the location of my great-grandfather's fatal train explosion in 1948 (He was fireman on C&O #3020). My grandfather (son of said fireman) has not been to the site for 40+ years but had been searching over the passed 4 years for it. I am glad to say, we found it (thanks, Google Earth...). In addition, we actually met a man from a nearby farm who helped remove the engineer from the cab of the train, and my grandfather got to talk to him about the accident. We also visited some other C&O sites. Below is the Limeville (Sciotoville) bridge from the Ohio side of the river. Got lucky and caught a CSX train coming across. Below is milepost 51 near Chillicothe, OH, where C&O #3020 exploded in 1948. Used to be a double track but the southbound has been ripped up. The house is the former farmhouse of Mr. Dick Vincent, who was first on the scene and flagged down the southbound train so it would not collide with wrecked northbound #3020.
Pics of C&O Country 2 These pictures were taken in Russell, KY. The Old Russell, KY passenger station. The Old Russell, KY switchtower. Pictures of Russell Yard, KY. Caught a CSX leaving here too. Preserved C&O Caboose by Old Russell passenger station.
Wow. I wonder how my emotions might have been, had I been the person making such a journey? My gut says it might have been a somewhat eerie day.
Wow, what a trip! Amazing, and a bit sad, I'm sure, to revisit such a traumatic piece of your family's history. And some very nice pictures as well. Thank you! On a side note, you know you could have put the rest of the photos as the second post in the same thread, yes?
Oh, now I LIKE this part of the trip. Not that I didn't really enjoy the other one too... but I've been here... enjoy stopping by Russell occasionally on trips between KY and WV. Good memories. Thank you!
Honestly, I didn't even think of replying to my own thread... Kept trying to think how to get all pics together so I kept slimming down. Is there a way to combine the 2 threads?
Thanks for the kind words. It was somewhat eerie standing on those tracks, especially considering that, of the two tracks that WERE there, the northbound track (where the explosion occurred) is the only one left and the old Vincent farmhouse is still there. More than anything, my grandfather was grateful for the opportunity to visit the site again. He was 12 when the incident happened, went back in his 20's (he is in his late 70's now), and had not been back since. He had been there looking, with a homemade map an older gentleman from around there had given him recently, for a few years without luck. The map was close, but we found it by using Google Earth (we had just about given up-- thank the Smartphone...) to find 2 driveways (one was the crossing where emergency responders came to the site) that crossed the tracks about a mile from where the man who had made the map said it was. When we found the crossing, the white Milepost 51 marker was less than 100 ft away! It was even more amazing to talk to a man who had been on the scene in 1948. He owns a nearby farm and saw us on the tracks and, I assume, just wondered who was out there and what they were doing. Overall, it was a great trip and I am glad to have been able to visit the site, along with the other C&O places. Below are a few more pictures... I am pretty sure this is the tower where the Limeville Pusher crew sat to wait for the next train And another of CSX Train crossing Limeville Bridge
Here is another of the site of #3020's explosion facing south. You can see that the southbound track is no longer there. And one more of the CSX train leaving Russell Yard.
