I cannot believe how this sub has gone down hill. This area of the country is constantly shit on and forgotten by all politicians of all parties. It’s extremely sad to see the decline since the coal industry vanished. Not for the product itself, but rather the many families that have suffered and lost members to drugs. I’ve taken many trains to Ravenna from the CC sub. There was once a lady that was paid by CSX to be on call for us in the middle of the night to cook food at a restaurant, where no food available after 10pm usually. Getting called on a train to Ravenna was one of the better calls to get, unless you were needing to be back home for something.
Just google “ haliburton “ and the former vice president who was a huge part of the fracking renaissance, go ahead and google it, king coal is long gone …
As someone who lives in Hazard, its been tough seeing the decline of the EK. Thankfully to Typo, Yellow Creek and Leatherwood we still can see daily trains near the Hazard Area. I didnt know the damage eas to that extent on the old main. Its honestly devastating. Maybe one day we will hear the roar of 2716 along Elkatoah hill. Who knows. Great job on this video. Cant wait to see more.
The reason the rails are cut the way they are, is this entire line is 'rail banked'. Rail banking is a process where a railroad can stop needing to pay taxes on a rail line, without actually totally abandoning the line. As part of the agreements to rail bank a line, though, the railroad must cut the line in several places, to ensure that no trains can operate over it. It varies exactly how they're told to do this, but it works out that for every 10 miles or so, they have to cut the rails and move them out of alignment. This doesn't just stop trains, but also rail speeders and urban explorers. In case you're curious, the reason a line typically gets 'rail banked' is because the railroad believes that there may be a future use for it, but they can't justify the operating costs at that moment. This can be because the line provides a good redundancy to another line, or a potential industry that is being developed, or some other potential use.
@@DelayInBlockProductions The only reason I can think of them not filing and not abandoning it, is Kentucky Steam that way she not be totally isolated and has somewhere to run if they donate the sub to them they be the longest tourist line second to Jim Thorp's mainline in the U.S which is crazy to think about.
Thank you for posting this video. I grew up in Hazard(Wabaco) and my dad spent all 40 years of his railroad career as an enginner on the EK Sub. He hired on the L&N in 1960 in Hazard and retired in 2000 with CSX. He worked mine runs in Hazard loading trains and ran trains out of Ravenna to Hazard loading unit trains along the way. The Kragen Turn was his description of "Hell on Earth" lol...He wouldve loved to seen this video. Oh and Chavies is pronounced Chav-ease...lol..Thank you for the memories.
That drone shot over the washout zone looks very much like the pictures of Saluda Grade. If the Kentucky Steam Heritage corporation is able to restore at least a fraction of this for excursion service it could be a blessing in disguise.
That is their plan eventually but they have to finish their yard, museum and event venue to bring in money to restore some of the line IF CSX will let them. Only time will tell once their steam engines are restored.
If the government is so concerned about people burning fossil fuels in their motors then why don’t they promote railroads over trucking? It’s a known fact shipping by train is more efficient. Instead of building charging stations they should be building railroads.
They'd have to nationalize the railroads. It'd be far more expensive dealing with the companies that own the lines when with roads they're all public and cost nothing to use, and any company with trucks can use them at anytime without permission.. the same thing can't be said for tracks.
Car culture and regionalism (unwelcoming locals) are the biggest reasons that a 438% more efficient mode of transportation can never get the ball rolling in my experience living as a boondocker.
The government always oppose utilizing the railroads in favour of trucking until it's time to screw railworkers. Then suddenly, they loooove the railroads! Green energy is hilarious to me. Wildmills are built out of steel and fibreglass. Solar panels are a boon for lithium, silicon and silver extraction industries. (Throw in some kickbacks to DEI and ESG consultants and green finance and there you have it.) AI learn to code types are basically creating super energy intensive data centres everywhere and nobody says anything about it. Most of the emissions are related to import export of containers on ocean liners anyway.
Great Production as Always Man! My grandparents are in Hyden, Ky which is about 30 minutes from Hazard. When ever we go to Hazard, we always pass a coal mine entering the town. They have railcars parked down by the tipple, but I don't know if it's still in use or not. Thank You for making this video because I've always wondered about this line. Wish I could have railfanned some of it before it was gone.
Wonderful documentation on the unfortunate state of the EK Sub, seriously I thoroughly enjoyed this man. Watching this while aboard Amtrak 80 this afternoon was a treat. I really hope the Kentucky Steam eventually does get the line. So much history and lives were effected by the railroad being there, jobs and communities built on the backs of the Railroad. We can only hope it leads to that but for now at least you’re drawing attention to it. Crazy imagery post the big floods in the area as well. Take a bow sir!
Now, I live in Virginia, Kentucky is within throwing distance from my home. Seeing all the flooding and the aftermath broke my heart, because I love Kentucky. Seeing the EK sub in such a state of disrepair is devastating. Sending love from Big Stone Gap VA to my Kentucky neighbors ❤️
Great video, crazy to see how quickly things can fall from grace. The EK sub provided a lot of inspiration for my "Coal Country" route on Trainz simulator
I love this new style of video Drayton! Very laid back and informative, I feel like I’m just sitting on a pouch with you talking about trains lol. This video is awesome it’s one of my new favorites from you
Thanks for sharing this incredible video. Nice editing and commentary. One thing to remember though is that coal is finished and unless the state can come up with a real reason for industry to move there, the line is finished. No AMTRAK line, no tourist line and no freight line. The sad truth is that this line will never be sustainable for future use...CSX will eventually retrieve its rail assets and abandon it.
Great video Drayton. Seeing the condition of this line reminds me of Tennessee Pass and Saluda Grade. Two other phenomenal railroads that were silenced by economics. I’m hoping there will be resurgence in all of these lines but only time will tell.
Thank you for this informative video on the current shape of the CSX EK Subdivision in eastern Kentucky, Drayton! I liked the way you worked in the videos from prior visits to this area and the CSX "training" VHS tape from the late 1990s. It is amazing to see the damage that ragging water can do to a railroad bed. I look forward to seeing additional videos that you produce on abandoned segments of railroads.
At 32min. you show a washout with a square concrete culvert. The culvert was put in by the railroad sometime in the past so they could eliminate a trestle (length unknown) that had to be maintained. The concrete forms were placed in-between bents of the trestle, after the concrete cured, the forms were removed and fill dirt put in and then the track was ballasted. The video shows one of legs of a bent still not deteriorated. I figured this out from a washout here in Fayetteville, NC., after major flooding washed out Cross Creek just north of the station. Loving this video of yours. Thanks a bunch.
Have you done the CXS lines in Clay County? There is a coal train that leaves out of Garrard. Trucks bring the coal in from out of county and loads the cars there. However, all the line that is past this coal yard going back to the rail head is no longer in use. One spur had a small part covered with dirt so that a metal scrap yard could expand it's storage area. There was one particular crossing where the line crossed US 421 in front of the current location of the Clay County Detention Center. The owner of a garage which sat on the diagonal corner of the detention center told me in 20 years of business, not one train went down that spur yet the crossing lights were maintained at the road. In the past two years, the state has expanded the road from 2 lane to 5 lane. Only then was the crossing taken out. But I have heard that the reason for all the rails to be left was that CSX was ready to reopen them if they were needed. But the local people gave up on that happening decades ago.
I’m from Eastern Kentucky and live very close to Roxanna on The Rockhouse and it’s been idled for a while. It’s truly sad what has happened to this area but I would love to see this route come to Train Simulator in the near future. I think it would preform well with EK from Winchester to Hazard. In Hazard, there was a loadout where reverse moves by caboose from the yard to the mine. The loadout is called Bluegrass. Nice video and keep up the good work!! 😎
Thank you very much for this look. The switcher at about 22:50 bears the markings of Electric Fuels Corporation. EFC was a subsidiary of Progress Rail which itself was a subsidiary of Florida Progress. Another subsidiary of Florida Progress was Florida Power Corporation. EFC owned the mines and the rapid discharge hopper cars that brought coal from the mines to the coal plants at Crystal River (Red Level), Florida (where I worked in the 90s). Nice to see what the other end of the trip looked like.
Your comment about Jacksonville having no idea what type of shape it’s in most likely is true. They had no idea the hump in Birmingham had been flattened at their own order. A call was received one day to start the hump back up in late 2017, and it was met with laughter and “what hump? there is no hump anymore.”
CSX has two branch lines on the other side of the state in Madisonville. One is the Morganfield branch that runs west to Clay, KY(Dotiki mine) and the other is the MH&E that runs east to Moorman, KY to the remains of the O&N branch. Dotiki mine shut down in 2019, and was the end of coal trains running passed the lead to Warrior coal. Nothing runs over the MH&E as far as I know since TVA paradise stopped receiving coal by rail and CSX sends the one train to Drakesboro via P&L to Central City to access the O&N. Madisonville was also the top billing point on the ICG railroad. Today, the coal operations with CSX and P&L are nothing but a shell of what it once was…
this was a tremendous video! railroad archeology is now an itch i didn't i had till now! there are thousands on miles of disused trackage just waiting to be explored!
Man it’s like 65%+ of northeastern United States rails are “abandoned”. All for nothing. They mega merged and they removed everything that wasn’t easy. Amazing footage and hope one day I reach your level 👍
I heard you talk about the CSX Illinois Subdivision briefly. I have an unofficial update on it. This part is official, but all the sidings along the line between Flora and Rose Lake have been completely removed. Unofficially, I heard from someone that he thinks CSX will hire contractors to tear up the unused part of the line. The only used part on the Illinois side runs from Vincennes, Indiana, to Flora, Illinois for a Consolidated Grain & Barge elevator in Olney, and a Cargill plant in Flora. As far as I know, the only siding on that line being used is a small one outside of Olney for grain cars not being loaded. All of the signals on the abandoned section of the line are still lit, so I’m not sure if CSX has future plans for the line, but all of the diamond interlockings in that section, of which there are 3, and all within 15 miles of one another, would be incredibly costly to replace, and would be a massive inconvenience to the 3 railroads that it crosses. There are cars stored near Caseyville, but that is west of the first cut rail on the sub. But as far as I know, the CSX Illinois Sub doesn’t have much of a future left. There are a few grain elevators, in the towns of Trenton and Breese along the line, where CSX could profit a lot from according to my dad. He hauls his grain to both of those places often and can vouch that a lot of grain goes in and out of those elevators. There is also an asphalt plant in Lebanon, but I’m not sure what they could do with that. The point is, there is a lot of wasted opportunity on the Illinois sub, but I also understand that it would be unbelievably expensive to get that line into operating condition. There hasn’t been a revenue train on that line since 2015, and the storage trains that removed all of the cars from the line ran in 2019. So to redo the line would be 10s of millions of dollars at least. The CSX Illinois Sub is a very sad story, I must say. Me and a few buddies believe the main reason CSX never sold the line, since they have the St Louis Line Sub from Indianapolis, was because they wanted to control the railroad market in Cincinnati, as I’m pretty sure even UP offered to buy the line from CSX. That’s about all I know about it at this point though.
From what I understand, St. Louis is not the preferred western gateway for CSX because the TRRA charges exorbitant fees to handle cars on their rails. The L&N line from Evansville, IN to StL was cut west of Oakawville, IL in the early 90s. Evansville Western operates the rest of it.
@@RFRyan I’m sure that had some to do with it. Also to note, by the time CSX came about, they ended up with multiple routes to StL. Off subject slightly, I live next to the Henderson Sub in Robards, KY.
Very, very sad. I grew up as a rail fan in Winchester and loved hiking and exploring the EK between there and Ravenna. I recall my trips in the 1980s, when sidings were being upgraded to handle the increased number of coal trains. It’s just a sad thing to see it this way. The tunnels and bridges are so interesting.
I remember driving around down there in the early 2ks, sleeping in the car somewhere on the EBV and catching a train load at Kite. Then coming up through Hazard where the Long John Silvers had beer on tap! Still plenty of trains down there at that time
So excited to see this video here. I've been driving past the yard in irvine/ravenna for several years now. I've seen the severed track and always been curious about what CSX was up to with their operation. Excited to watch and learn!
Thanks for this new style of video, i found it very informative and interesting and its also sad to see a railroad just slowly heading back into natures hands....
Loved this video, would be great to see similar abandoned lines in the usa. I am from the UKs coal country (Yorkshire) and there are so many similarities between what is happening in Kentucky now and Yorkshire from 1990 to 2015. It's hard to comprehend the infrastructure that disappears.
Not just the signals power, but every signal uses the two-way satellite Internet and it is transmitting continuously. Those are 150 dollars a month per dish. So, I don't know why they would not have shut down the satellite dishes and power
@@anb7408 This line, while not used and probably not looked at on the computer display, this line and all control points and signals are being displayed on the computer. So the signals and track occupancy and all the data is being constantly transmitted to the satellite and displays on the dispatcher display. And the bungalows all have cellular backups and phone lines for data backup and for the alarms on the doors. So they are paying two phone bills and a cellular account for each bungalow in addition to the power and the satellite, and every crossing is powered, and the transformers and regulators and rectifiers are running. Truly stupid. But I am guessing the FRA requires that all this be active unless they abandon the line officially.
One of the biggest killers of LWR lines is temperature, particularly where the integrity of the ballast is in question. Hence, it was no surprise to find that sections that had suffered damage would be cut nearby to remove the pressure from expansion causing further damage. I get this thing about rail banking where a possible future for the line might be envisaged but while CSX might not want to spend money on it they will certainly not want to spend additional funds repairing damage that could have been avoided. We can only hope that at some point in the future traffic might return.
Great Video Bro So sad to see the EK sub in horrible condition sat abandoned 8 years Me and James know all the coal mining routes from Coeburn VA to the Kentucky region to Pennington Gap, VA We travel all across the coal mining region in southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky in the Appalachian Mountains in the Tri-Cities Region to see coal trains hauling from the mines of coal in the fields of coal country in the region my Dad James works at Komatsu in duffield VA on highway 23 near speers ferry in Gate City VA and they Made miners by hand and delivered the miners to the counties of Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky to drill out of coal in the mines In the Appalachians Bro, nice shot of Barwick Tunnel to see the water inside the tunnel it was so sad to see the tunnel empty of the line washed away by the flood of the line So sad to see the EK sub line sat abandoned My birthday was yesterday Drayton I really enjoyed the story of the EK sub Hope you had a awesome day Bro Matthew says hi to you from Gate City VA 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
Drayton, thank you for your informative video. I felt your pain and disappointment. We never know what the future holds. Looking forward to your next historical RR archeology.
CSX closed a major intermodal yard here in Portsmouth VA. It makes no sense why they did this. CSX was cutting all it's locomotives and it's cutting its routes a d yards. Wow!
11:37 I see my Wife’s Grandmother’s house. I watched what probably was one of the last loaded coal trains on the EK climb the grade out of Beattyville toward Ravenna from her front porch one evening. From her house you could look down on the line and Main Street. In 2020 we took some family pictures at Old Landing. And yes it sure is an interesting drive to get down to the tracks there. I took some photos of my own of the tracks, hotbox detector, and the post office. Didn’t go in there and look around but my wife did.
Wow Drayton and DIB this sad and amazing. Thank you for info on this line. If you could do on CSX B&O St Louis line. This once was a profitable line seen about 7 to trains daily but when CSX took over Conrails st Louis line they "quote" moth balled it so very sad. Thanks again I enjoyed it. Btw CSX won't sale it either and many rr want to buy this line.😢
Speaking of L&N, I found out recently that STL’s MetroLink (specifically the East STL-Belleville portion) operates on the former L&N’s St. Louis Division. The line from Belleville to Okawville has long since been severed, and the Okawville-Evansville section is currently served by the EVWR. Also an interesting fact I found out, the MetroLink LRV yard off of St. Clair Avenue was once home to the L&N’s Rankin depot.
Pretty much the same thing that happened to Tennessee Pass in Colorado. Modern signals, very smooth quarter-mile welded rail mainline track, but now abandoned, overgrown with vegetation, and covered with boulders in parts from rock falls.
The concrete ties intrigue me just as much as the online signals. They spent all that time and money upgrading the tracks on an already lightly used main, only for the line to fall into abandonment soon after.
@@newpylong Three words PSR. They (CSX) implemented PSR to save money by cutting many trains of the books. For instance the CSX A/S lines in Florida they had many trains running every day. Now maybe 3 or 4 run (per line excluding Amtrak trains). To say that CSX has forgotten may be an overstatement but sure seems like they did. Most of the trains were cut because there was no money to be made which I can see is your claim but it sure seems like they forgot most of their lines.
@@StevenCowles-q4jAs much PSR is the devil it had nothing to do with the bottom of Kentucky coal falling out. Lucky the Hunter Harrison protege has been kicked to the curb and while PSR isn't going anywhere and much damage already done, they have begun to unwind some of it and actually are running a decent railroad again.
@@StevenCowles-q4j The only silver lining is that Virginia , North Carolina and Florida are buying up large chunks of CSX and NS routes for passenger service, so at least they'll still in service.
Have you looked into the Sandy Valley & Elkhorn division? There isn’t much of it left. I wonder how active the remnants of it are now. The last time I drove past Shelby yard it looked empty.
Do you ever get down to middlesboro, KY? The yard used to be owned by Norfolk Southern, but now RJ Corman. Trains still run every now and then, but not many. My husband, his dad, brother, and uncles worked for Bell County Coal west of Middlesboro. It's closed now too. The office building burned not long ago. It stands still, but probably barely. Best of both worlds then, I love trains and my husband coal mining.
Believe me if your looking for some interesting coal country sight seeing, go across the line into SW VA. We still have daily moves on most of not all of our active tracks, and the deactivated sections are pretty interesting to see, including a lot of old N&W infrastructure
The signaling being left operational might just be a way to scare off trespassers/scrap metal thieves that aren't in the know about the actual state of the tracks.
Wow Drayton in CSX train tracks on the brick we're helping the CSX train tracks Eastern Kentucky in 2014 CSX map and turned on the red green and blue lines your map is 2016 this is so amazing how L&N is CSX Railroad line that was so amazing drone action Daryton.
SOOOOOO SAD to see such awesome Rail just setting there NOT being used. ARE they thinking about bringing it back into service sure would be awesome to see it come back in service.
The B&O’s Indiana and Illinois Subdivisions are still in place and could MAYBE be used as a backup, the only issue is that the Illinois Sub has been cut in multiple places. All the diamonds with other railroads across Illinois have been removed (such as the ones with the IC main, etc.)
wow, it's sad to see a rail line like this almost becoming completely abandon but it does makes sense due to the decrease of coal production this region and in itself is also sad because coal is king in this part of the us and people that live in eastern Kentucky and west Virginia working in the mines is basically their lively hood.
Impressive video, thank you for documenting this. What drone do you use to fly in close proximity to trees and the power lines without colliding with them? I document railroads in Tennessee with similar terrain with a drone but have to keep an eye on my drone to avoid collisions.
It's really sad to see this Rail line in such a state. Maybe CSX should either abandoned the line or sell it to a Regional or Short Line, who could continue to run trains on the line.
Why would anyone want to operate this line? There is no longer any business. Abandon it and repurpose the rail and ties on other lines that generate revenue. The future is not coal, fracking put an end to thermal coal along with cheap renewable and clean energy. Change may be difficult, but future is clean carbon free energy.
It’s a long shot but maybe you could do a sister episode to this discussing the near abandonment of the TTI short line from Paris to Maysville. With the decline of coal from eastern Kentucky it more or less killed TTI too and would be interesting to hear someone discuss in detail what has happened since.
I live near Irvine in Berea. I remember how busy this line was when I was a kid. Probably a dozen trains a day. Since the Obama era war on our jobs the line has hardly any traffic. Maybe two trains a week through Berea and Richmond so the EK has virtually no chance of reanimation if the traffic on the subdivision through Madison county is so light.
I really do pray and hope Drayton that there will be a future for this line should maybe the coal traffic come back or if CSX graciously donates some of the Line to Kentucky Steam for future rail excursions I hope that does happen. Only time will tell. But I'm going to keep praying and hoping that this line has a future.
I wish the steam heritage corporation would buy this line so they could make a train ride. I recently visited them and they said they need Csx approval to buy it
In the flyover of the KSHCO site, there are 4 circus train house cars and a baggage car behind the SW1500. When were these acquired or stored at Ravenna?
The circus cars have been there since the flood of 2022. They are privately owned and are on CSX trackage. The baggage car belongs to KHSCO and is used for train rides on their property. It's been there 4 or 5 years and had seating inside.
I'm watching in New Zealand. It just guts me to see lines "mothballed". We've got our fair share here too. Railcart businesses makes use of some of them.
I spent a college semester in Dunedin and would return to New Zealand in a heartbeat if/when given the chance. Absolutely beautiful country and nice people. I got to ride a few trains while touring around the country on motorcoaches, including the Taieri Gorge Railway and TranzAlpine, as well as bike the entire Otago Central Rail Trail.
I live in the town featured at the beginning of the video, but last year I got to travel your beautiful country and loved it. I went from Auckland to Milford Sound and back again, and rode the Coastal Pacific on my way back north. Gorgeous country 💜
Well. I was gonna say It'd be cool if RJ Corman could take over the EK Sub, along with the Rockhouse and E&BV Sub, but the more I watched this video the more I said, yeah that's no gonna happen. Poor EK looks like the W Line over Saluda.
Great job Drayton. I knew it was bad but no idea how bad. Crazy that CSX has not given this up to some other investor. Why? I think you are right, Jacksonville has no idea. Breaks my heart to see the beautiful railroad I used to run on in such a sad state.
Thank you for watching and supporting the channel, Roger. I am so grateful you are involved with the museum at Kentucky Steam. As a railroader on this line, you know all about its history and how it was operated up til the end.
If the whole subdivision was in good shape and is still in good shape for trains to go by if the flood never happened I think CSX would definitely be open to selling or donating the sub to Kentucky Steam for excursions because they are not using the line anymore!
I cannot believe how this sub has gone down hill. This area of the country is constantly shit on and forgotten by all politicians of all parties. It’s extremely sad to see the decline since the coal industry vanished. Not for the product itself, but rather the many families that have suffered and lost members to drugs.
I’ve taken many trains to Ravenna from the CC sub. There was once a lady that was paid by CSX to be on call for us in the middle of the night to cook food at a restaurant, where no food available after 10pm usually. Getting called on a train to Ravenna was one of the better calls to get, unless you were needing to be back home for something.
Just google “ haliburton “ and the former vice president who was a huge part of the fracking renaissance, go ahead and google it, king coal is long gone …
As someone who lives in Hazard, its been tough seeing the decline of the EK. Thankfully to Typo, Yellow Creek and Leatherwood we still can see daily trains near the Hazard Area. I didnt know the damage eas to that extent on the old main. Its honestly devastating. Maybe one day we will hear the roar of 2716 along Elkatoah hill. Who knows. Great job on this video. Cant wait to see more.
The reason the rails are cut the way they are, is this entire line is 'rail banked'. Rail banking is a process where a railroad can stop needing to pay taxes on a rail line, without actually totally abandoning the line. As part of the agreements to rail bank a line, though, the railroad must cut the line in several places, to ensure that no trains can operate over it. It varies exactly how they're told to do this, but it works out that for every 10 miles or so, they have to cut the rails and move them out of alignment. This doesn't just stop trains, but also rail speeders and urban explorers.
In case you're curious, the reason a line typically gets 'rail banked' is because the railroad believes that there may be a future use for it, but they can't justify the operating costs at that moment. This can be because the line provides a good redundancy to another line, or a potential industry that is being developed, or some other potential use.
Yes, I am familiar with railbanking. However, nothing has been filed with the STB so this was done illegally.
@@DelayInBlockProductions Wrong. Common practice to sever a line when taken out of service, far before any STB application.
@@newpylong What does it matter? All it shows is a nation in decline who cares about the jargon.
@@Terraceviewa nation in decline? LOL we need new high speed train lines, but that is all.
@@DelayInBlockProductions The only reason I can think of them not filing and not abandoning it, is Kentucky Steam that way she not be totally isolated and has somewhere to run if they donate the sub to them they be the longest tourist line second to Jim Thorp's mainline in the U.S which is crazy to think about.
Thank you for posting this video. I grew up in Hazard(Wabaco) and my dad spent all 40 years of his railroad career as an enginner on the EK Sub. He hired on the L&N in 1960 in Hazard and retired in 2000 with CSX. He worked mine runs in Hazard loading trains and ran trains out of Ravenna to Hazard loading unit trains along the way. The Kragen Turn was his description of "Hell on Earth" lol...He wouldve loved to seen this video. Oh and Chavies is pronounced Chav-ease...lol..Thank you for the memories.
That drone shot over the washout zone looks very much like the pictures of Saluda Grade. If the Kentucky Steam Heritage corporation is able to restore at least a fraction of this for excursion service it could be a blessing in disguise.
Went through Saluda last week. So sad to see that line idled. Soon to be a rail trail I'm told.
That is their plan eventually but they have to finish their yard, museum and event venue to bring in money to restore some of the line IF CSX will let them. Only time will tell once their steam engines are restored.
I'm always amazed at how quick mother nature can reclaim an area.
If the government is so concerned about people burning fossil fuels in their motors then why don’t they promote railroads over trucking? It’s a known fact shipping by train is more efficient. Instead of building charging stations they should be building railroads.
They'd have to nationalize the railroads. It'd be far more expensive dealing with the companies that own the lines when with roads they're all public and cost nothing to use, and any company with trucks can use them at anytime without permission.. the same thing can't be said for tracks.
Car culture and regionalism (unwelcoming locals) are the biggest reasons that a 438% more efficient mode of transportation can never get the ball rolling in my experience living as a boondocker.
How in any way is your reply relevant.You fascists love austitically spouting about government superiority even when inappropriate.
The government always oppose utilizing the railroads in favour of trucking until it's time to screw railworkers. Then suddenly, they loooove the railroads! Green energy is hilarious to me. Wildmills are built out of steel and fibreglass. Solar panels are a boon for lithium, silicon and silver extraction industries. (Throw in some kickbacks to DEI and ESG consultants and green finance and there you have it.) AI learn to code types are basically creating super energy intensive data centres everywhere and nobody says anything about it. Most of the emissions are related to import export of containers on ocean liners anyway.
To be fair, this line seems to be for coal mining
Being a Clinchfield fan, I can relate to loosing coal traffic and a railroad. Truly a sad situation. SUPER job on the video. Very well done.
Thank you very much!
Great Production as Always Man! My grandparents are in Hyden, Ky which is about 30 minutes from Hazard. When ever we go to Hazard, we always pass a coal mine entering the town. They have railcars parked down by the tipple, but I don't know if it's still in use or not. Thank You for making this video because I've always wondered about this line. Wish I could have railfanned some of it before it was gone.
Wonderful documentation on the unfortunate state of the EK Sub, seriously I thoroughly enjoyed this man. Watching this while aboard Amtrak 80 this afternoon was a treat. I really hope the Kentucky Steam eventually does get the line. So much history and lives were effected by the railroad being there, jobs and communities built on the backs of the Railroad. We can only hope it leads to that but for now at least you’re drawing attention to it. Crazy imagery post the big floods in the area as well. Take a bow sir!
This document was so well put together, I can't wait to watch it again! You're very talented Drayton!! Thank You for all of your efforts!!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for watching.
Hiya Drayton, that was a very informative video. One of the best I have seen in a long time. Lots of great information and history. You did good.
Now, I live in Virginia, Kentucky is within throwing distance from my home. Seeing all the flooding and the aftermath broke my heart, because I love Kentucky. Seeing the EK sub in such a state of disrepair is devastating. Sending love from Big Stone Gap VA to my Kentucky neighbors ❤️
Great video, crazy to see how quickly things can fall from grace. The EK sub provided a lot of inspiration for my "Coal Country" route on Trainz simulator
I love this new style of video Drayton! Very laid back and informative, I feel like I’m just sitting on a pouch with you talking about trains lol. This video is awesome it’s one of my new favorites from you
Drayton from Scale Trains? No wonder the voice sounds so familiar! (Obviously I’m new here lol)
Thanks for sharing this incredible video. Nice editing and commentary. One thing to remember though is that coal is finished and unless the state can come up with a real reason for industry to move there, the line is finished. No AMTRAK line, no tourist line and no freight line. The sad truth is that this line will never be sustainable for future use...CSX will eventually retrieve its rail assets and abandon it.
Great video can't wait to see the new videos on abandoned lines. Mainly if you go in deep on the Saluda grade again.
Great video Drayton. Seeing the condition of this line reminds me of Tennessee Pass and Saluda Grade. Two other phenomenal railroads that were silenced by economics. I’m hoping there will be resurgence in all of these lines but only time will tell.
Thank you for this informative video on the current shape of the CSX EK Subdivision in eastern Kentucky, Drayton! I liked the way you worked in the videos from prior visits to this area and the CSX "training" VHS tape from the late 1990s. It is amazing to see the damage that ragging water can do to a railroad bed. I look forward to seeing additional videos that you produce on abandoned segments of railroads.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your support and kind words.
At 32min. you show a washout with a square concrete culvert. The culvert was put in by the railroad sometime in the past so they could eliminate a trestle (length unknown) that had to be maintained. The concrete forms were placed in-between bents of the trestle, after the concrete cured, the forms were removed and fill dirt put in and then the track was ballasted. The video shows one of legs of a bent still not deteriorated. I figured this out from a washout here in Fayetteville, NC., after major flooding washed out Cross Creek just north of the station. Loving this video of yours. Thanks a bunch.
Have you done the CXS lines in Clay County? There is a coal train that leaves out of Garrard. Trucks bring the coal in from out of county and loads the cars there. However, all the line that is past this coal yard going back to the rail head is no longer in use. One spur had a small part covered with dirt so that a metal scrap yard could expand it's storage area. There was one particular crossing where the line crossed US 421 in front of the current location of the Clay County Detention Center. The owner of a garage which sat on the diagonal corner of the detention center told me in 20 years of business, not one train went down that spur yet the crossing lights were maintained at the road. In the past two years, the state has expanded the road from 2 lane to 5 lane. Only then was the crossing taken out. But I have heard that the reason for all the rails to be left was that CSX was ready to reopen them if they were needed. But the local people gave up on that happening decades ago.
Please do the CSX IL and Indiana Subs next. Very similar situation but with less storm damage to the line.
Thank you for this video. By the time I moved to central KY, I missed most of this action. Thank you again!
Thanks for watching. Kentucky is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s too bad trains on the EK are no longer a thing.
I’m from Eastern Kentucky and live very close to Roxanna on The Rockhouse and it’s been idled for a while. It’s truly sad what has happened to this area but I would love to see this route come to Train Simulator in the near future. I think it would preform well with EK from Winchester to Hazard. In Hazard, there was a loadout where reverse moves by caboose from the yard to the mine. The loadout is called Bluegrass. Nice video and keep up the good work!! 😎
You're going to love our next video. We actually got to film a train being loaded at Bluegrass back in 2016.
@@DelayInBlockProductions My eyes and ears will be open!!
Thank you very much for this look. The switcher at about 22:50 bears the markings of Electric Fuels Corporation. EFC was a subsidiary of Progress Rail which itself was a subsidiary of Florida Progress. Another subsidiary of Florida Progress was Florida Power Corporation. EFC owned the mines and the rapid discharge hopper cars that brought coal from the mines to the coal plants at Crystal River (Red Level), Florida (where I worked in the 90s). Nice to see what the other end of the trip looked like.
Your comment about Jacksonville having no idea what type of shape it’s in most likely is true. They had no idea the hump in Birmingham had been flattened at their own order. A call was received one day to start the hump back up in late 2017, and it was met with laughter and “what hump? there is no hump anymore.”
CSX has two branch lines on the other side of the state in Madisonville. One is the Morganfield branch that runs west to Clay, KY(Dotiki mine) and the other is the MH&E that runs east to Moorman, KY to the remains of the O&N branch. Dotiki mine shut down in 2019, and was the end of coal trains running passed the lead to Warrior coal. Nothing runs over the MH&E as far as I know since TVA paradise stopped receiving coal by rail and CSX sends the one train to Drakesboro via P&L to Central City to access the O&N. Madisonville was also the top billing point on the ICG railroad. Today, the coal operations with CSX and P&L are nothing but a shell of what it once was…
this was a tremendous video! railroad archeology is now an itch i didn't i had till now! there are thousands on miles of disused trackage just waiting to be explored!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for making this excellent documentary of the EK subdivision. Very well done!
Glad you enjoyed it! More to come including a 2+ hour EK Sub railfan video.
Man it’s like 65%+ of northeastern United States rails are “abandoned”. All for nothing. They mega merged and they removed everything that wasn’t easy. Amazing footage and hope one day I reach your level 👍
I heard you talk about the CSX Illinois Subdivision briefly. I have an unofficial update on it. This part is official, but all the sidings along the line between Flora and Rose Lake have been completely removed. Unofficially, I heard from someone that he thinks CSX will hire contractors to tear up the unused part of the line. The only used part on the Illinois side runs from Vincennes, Indiana, to Flora, Illinois for a Consolidated Grain & Barge elevator in Olney, and a Cargill plant in Flora. As far as I know, the only siding on that line being used is a small one outside of Olney for grain cars not being loaded. All of the signals on the abandoned section of the line are still lit, so I’m not sure if CSX has future plans for the line, but all of the diamond interlockings in that section, of which there are 3, and all within 15 miles of one another, would be incredibly costly to replace, and would be a massive inconvenience to the 3 railroads that it crosses. There are cars stored near Caseyville, but that is west of the first cut rail on the sub. But as far as I know, the CSX Illinois Sub doesn’t have much of a future left. There are a few grain elevators, in the towns of Trenton and Breese along the line, where CSX could profit a lot from according to my dad. He hauls his grain to both of those places often and can vouch that a lot of grain goes in and out of those elevators. There is also an asphalt plant in Lebanon, but I’m not sure what they could do with that. The point is, there is a lot of wasted opportunity on the Illinois sub, but I also understand that it would be unbelievably expensive to get that line into operating condition. There hasn’t been a revenue train on that line since 2015, and the storage trains that removed all of the cars from the line ran in 2019. So to redo the line would be 10s of millions of dollars at least. The CSX Illinois Sub is a very sad story, I must say. Me and a few buddies believe the main reason CSX never sold the line, since they have the St Louis Line Sub from Indianapolis, was because they wanted to control the railroad market in Cincinnati, as I’m pretty sure even UP offered to buy the line from CSX. That’s about all I know about it at this point though.
From what I understand, St. Louis is not the preferred western gateway for CSX because the TRRA charges exorbitant fees to handle cars on their rails. The L&N line from Evansville, IN to StL was cut west of Oakawville, IL in the early 90s. Evansville Western operates the rest of it.
I live in Okawville. CSX cut the line because it contained too many bridges.
@@RFRyan I’m sure that had some to do with it. Also to note, by the time CSX came about, they ended up with multiple routes to StL. Off subject slightly, I live next to the Henderson Sub in Robards, KY.
Very, very sad. I grew up as a rail fan in Winchester and loved hiking and exploring the EK between there and Ravenna. I recall my trips in the 1980s, when sidings were being upgraded to handle the increased number of coal trains. It’s just a sad thing to see it this way. The tunnels and bridges are so interesting.
I remember driving around down there in the early 2ks, sleeping in the car somewhere on the EBV and catching a train load at Kite. Then coming up through Hazard where the Long John Silvers had beer on tap! Still plenty of trains down there at that time
Beer?! That’s amazing!
So excited to see this video here. I've been driving past the yard in irvine/ravenna for several years now. I've seen the severed track and always been curious about what CSX was up to with their operation. Excited to watch and learn!
Great vid. I suppose those of us who were on the Clinchfield should feel fortunate that we still run a few trains.
Such a sad line back in the 2010s when I visited. It'll have some cool stuff running on it and beautiful scenery, though.
Drayton all the years I have been a subscriber to your channel you have up your game awesome job on this and great work on your research
31:00 really shows how fast things can deteriorate with lack of maintenance, you'd think it's been unused for decades with that amount of decay
Great job of bring a bit of history back to us!
Yes!! More Kentucky action, and on a line that’s not well documented. Awesome video Drayton!!
6:09 wonder if that detector still works
Thanks for this new style of video, i found it very informative and interesting and its also sad to see a railroad just slowly heading back into natures hands....
We spent time on the EK going back to the late 1970s.
Mostly LN grey too.
I never thought the EK would turn out like this.
Sad.
The abandoned mine site reminds of the steel mills in Youngstown, Ohio. They were idled and you came back in 1 or2 yrs. and its all gone
Loved this video, would be great to see similar abandoned lines in the usa. I am from the UKs coal country (Yorkshire) and there are so many similarities between what is happening in Kentucky now and Yorkshire from 1990 to 2015. It's hard to comprehend the infrastructure that disappears.
Nice video & very sad to see a line like this almost abandoned
Very interesting and sad at the same time. Looking forward to more of this type of video
Not just the signals power, but every signal uses the two-way satellite Internet and it is transmitting continuously.
Those are 150 dollars a month per dish.
So, I don't know why they would not have shut down the satellite dishes and power
I learned over 20 years ago, never to apply logic to this railroad! They continually try to outstupid NS on idiotic things they’ve done.
@@anb7408 This line, while not used and probably not looked at on the computer display, this line and all control points and signals are being displayed on the computer.
So the signals and track occupancy and all the data is being constantly transmitted to the satellite and displays on the dispatcher display.
And the bungalows all have cellular backups and phone lines for data backup and for the alarms on the doors. So they are paying two phone bills and a cellular account for each bungalow in addition to the power and the satellite, and every crossing is powered, and the transformers and regulators and rectifiers are running.
Truly stupid.
But I am guessing the FRA requires that all this be active unless they abandon the line officially.
yet we cant afford a pay raise
@@Mudpaws clearly poor management of the company.
The COO, CFO, CEO and all the VPs should be thinking about this.
Spirit Of Shareholder Value.
One of the biggest killers of LWR lines is temperature, particularly where the integrity of the ballast is in question. Hence, it was no surprise to find that sections that had suffered damage would be cut nearby to remove the pressure from expansion causing further damage. I get this thing about rail banking where a possible future for the line might be envisaged but while CSX might not want to spend money on it they will certainly not want to spend additional funds repairing damage that could have been avoided. We can only hope that at some point in the future traffic might return.
Great Video Bro
So sad to see the EK sub in horrible condition sat abandoned 8 years
Me and James know all the coal mining routes from Coeburn VA to the Kentucky region to Pennington Gap, VA
We travel all across the coal mining region in southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky in the Appalachian Mountains in the Tri-Cities Region to see coal trains hauling from the mines of coal in the fields of coal country in the region my Dad James works at Komatsu in duffield VA on highway 23 near speers ferry in Gate City VA and they Made miners by hand and delivered the miners to the counties of Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky to drill out of coal in the mines
In the Appalachians
Bro, nice shot of Barwick Tunnel to see the water inside the tunnel it was so sad to see the tunnel empty of the line washed away by the flood of the line
So sad to see the EK sub line sat abandoned
My birthday was yesterday Drayton
I really enjoyed the story of the EK sub
Hope you had a awesome day Bro
Matthew says hi to you from Gate City VA 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
This is so very interesting
What an absolute shame
Excellent presentation Drayton!
Thanks so much for tuning in!
Another fantastic video keep up the great work!
Excellent video Drayton
Drayton, thank you for your informative video. I felt your pain and disappointment. We never know what the future holds. Looking forward to your next historical RR archeology.
Awesome production, DIB!
CSX closed a major intermodal yard here in Portsmouth VA. It makes no sense why they did this. CSX was cutting all it's locomotives and it's cutting its routes a d yards. Wow!
11:37 I see my Wife’s Grandmother’s house. I watched what probably was one of the last loaded coal trains on the EK climb the grade out of Beattyville toward Ravenna from her front porch one evening. From her house you could look down on the line and Main Street.
In 2020 we took some family pictures at Old Landing. And yes it sure is an interesting drive to get down to the tracks there. I took some photos of my own of the tracks, hotbox detector, and the post office. Didn’t go in there and look around but my wife did.
Thank you for the history lesson. I love it. You're right, the abandoned tracks...there is something spiritual about it ❤❤❤❤
I worked the ek in the early 2000’s. Sad to see it go
Wow Drayton and DIB this sad and amazing. Thank you for info on this line. If you could do on CSX B&O St Louis line. This once was a profitable line seen about 7 to trains daily but when CSX took over Conrails st Louis line they "quote" moth balled it so very sad. Thanks again I enjoyed it. Btw CSX won't sale it either and many rr want to buy this line.😢
Love these types of videos and commentating!
How about a video on the old railway that ended at webbville, KY? Rails are gone but maybe you could document the history of it and maybe some pics.
Speaking of L&N, I found out recently that STL’s MetroLink (specifically the East STL-Belleville portion) operates on the former L&N’s St. Louis Division. The line from Belleville to Okawville has long since been severed, and the Okawville-Evansville section is currently served by the EVWR.
Also an interesting fact I found out, the MetroLink LRV yard off of St. Clair Avenue was once home to the L&N’s Rankin depot.
Pretty much the same thing that happened to Tennessee Pass in Colorado. Modern signals, very smooth quarter-mile welded rail mainline track, but now abandoned, overgrown with vegetation, and covered with boulders in parts from rock falls.
Theres a strong chance that line and a few others might be restored..
The concrete ties intrigue me just as much as the online signals. They spent all that time and money upgrading the tracks on an already lightly used main, only for the line to fall into abandonment soon after.
Great video Drayton!
Thanks! I appreciate you tuning in. 🚂
It's incredible how CSX has forgotten most of their lines. Some are not as bad as this but still. Incredible.
Most of their lines? What does that even mean? If a line has zero revenue potential it is disposed of.
@@newpylong Three words PSR. They (CSX) implemented PSR to save money by cutting many trains of the books. For instance the CSX A/S lines in Florida they had many trains running every day. Now maybe 3 or 4 run (per line excluding Amtrak trains). To say that CSX has forgotten may be an overstatement but sure seems like they did. Most of the trains were cut because there was no money to be made which I can see is your claim but it sure seems like they forgot most of their lines.
@@StevenCowles-q4jAs much PSR is the devil it had nothing to do with the bottom of Kentucky coal falling out. Lucky the Hunter Harrison protege has been kicked to the curb and while PSR isn't going anywhere and much damage already done, they have begun to unwind some of it and actually are running a decent railroad again.
@@StevenCowles-q4j The only silver lining is that Virginia , North Carolina and Florida are buying up large chunks of CSX and NS routes for passenger service, so at least they'll still in service.
Have you looked into the Sandy Valley & Elkhorn division? There isn’t much of it left. I wonder how active the remnants of it are now. The last time I drove past Shelby yard it looked empty.
Do you ever get down to middlesboro, KY? The yard used to be owned by Norfolk Southern, but now RJ Corman. Trains still run every now and then, but not many. My husband, his dad, brother, and uncles worked for Bell County Coal west of Middlesboro. It's closed now too. The office building burned not long ago. It stands still, but probably barely. Best of both worlds then, I love trains and my husband coal mining.
Impressive video, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Believe me if your looking for some interesting coal country sight seeing, go across the line into SW VA. We still have daily moves on most of not all of our active tracks, and the deactivated sections are pretty interesting to see, including a lot of old N&W infrastructure
The signaling being left operational might just be a way to scare off trespassers/scrap metal thieves that aren't in the know about the actual state of the tracks.
Wow Drayton in CSX train tracks on the brick we're helping the CSX train tracks Eastern Kentucky in 2014 CSX map and turned on the red green and blue lines your map is 2016 this is so amazing how L&N is CSX Railroad line that was so amazing drone action Daryton.
What a Mass Flood and mud.
SOOOOOO SAD to see such awesome Rail just setting there NOT being used. ARE they thinking about bringing it back into service sure would be awesome to see it come back in service.
Emporia VA, along Davis street, nw tracks (abandoned) crosses the csx (just north of bus us 58). Would love any history you can record about it.
The B&O’s Indiana and Illinois Subdivisions are still in place and could MAYBE be used as a backup, the only issue is that the Illinois Sub has been cut in multiple places. All the diamonds with other railroads across Illinois have been removed (such as the ones with the IC main, etc.)
wow, it's sad to see a rail line like this almost becoming completely abandon but it does makes sense due to the decrease of coal production this region and in itself is also sad because coal is king in this part of the us and people that live in eastern Kentucky and west Virginia working in the mines is basically their lively hood.
Great video. Sad times.
Very nice video the EK sub I have a feeling the Rockhouse and E&BV will see the same fate within the next couple decades
Very much enjoyed this Exploration.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great footage ! ! ! Thanx for the history lesson.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for tuning in.
Impressive video, thank you for documenting this. What drone do you use to fly in close proximity to trees and the power lines without colliding with them? I document railroads in Tennessee with similar terrain with a drone but have to keep an eye on my drone to avoid collisions.
Mavic Air Mini.
I’m assuming it’s a Mavic Mini 3 pro or higher?
Is the plan for Kentucky Steam to eventually acquire some of the EK?
It's really sad to see this Rail line in such a state. Maybe CSX should either abandoned the line or sell it to a Regional or Short Line, who could continue to run trains on the line.
I could see them leasing it for the right price also, as they already control the connections at both ends anyway.
Why would anyone want to operate this line? There is no longer any business. Abandon it and repurpose the rail and ties on other lines that generate revenue. The future is not coal, fracking put an end to thermal coal along with cheap renewable and clean energy. Change may be difficult, but future is clean carbon free energy.
Cool video. You should do one like this about the Tennessee Pass line in Colorado.
Been on the list for years. Maybe one day.
It’s a long shot but maybe you could do a sister episode to this discussing the near abandonment of the TTI short line from Paris to Maysville. With the decline of coal from eastern Kentucky it more or less killed TTI too and would be interesting to hear someone discuss in detail what has happened since.
TTI would be a great addition to the series!
I know it was the nail in the coffin for there u boats, idk what happened to them post closure.
I live near Irvine in Berea. I remember how busy this line was when I was a kid. Probably a dozen trains a day. Since the Obama era war on our jobs the line has hardly any traffic. Maybe two trains a week through Berea and Richmond so the EK has virtually no chance of reanimation if the traffic on the subdivision through Madison county is so light.
That poor switcher 🥺
Love the video!! I was always curious why the trains stopped running on this line. Your video answered my question!
I really do pray and hope Drayton that there will be a future for this line should maybe the coal traffic come back or if CSX graciously donates some of the Line to Kentucky Steam for future rail excursions I hope that does happen. Only time will tell. But I'm going to keep praying and hoping that this line has a future.
I wish the steam heritage corporation would buy this line so they could make a train ride. I recently visited them and they said they need Csx approval to buy it
In the flyover of the KSHCO site, there are 4 circus train house cars and a baggage car behind the SW1500. When were these acquired or stored at Ravenna?
The circus cars have been there since the flood of 2022. They are privately owned and are on CSX trackage. The baggage car belongs to KHSCO and is used for train rides on their property. It's been there 4 or 5 years and had seating inside.
Fantastic video, I hope be able to reactivate some of this trackage!!
I'm watching in New Zealand. It just guts me to see lines "mothballed". We've got our fair share here too.
Railcart businesses makes use of some of them.
I spent a college semester in Dunedin and would return to New Zealand in a heartbeat if/when given the chance. Absolutely beautiful country and nice people. I got to ride a few trains while touring around the country on motorcoaches, including the Taieri Gorge Railway and TranzAlpine, as well as bike the entire Otago Central Rail Trail.
I live in the town featured at the beginning of the video, but last year I got to travel your beautiful country and loved it. I went from Auckland to Milford Sound and back again, and rode the Coastal Pacific on my way back north. Gorgeous country 💜
Sad to see what was an important rail line in such horrible shape.😞
Fantastic Video!
Well. I was gonna say It'd be cool if RJ Corman could take over the EK Sub, along with the Rockhouse and E&BV Sub, but the more I watched this video the more I said, yeah that's no gonna happen. Poor EK looks like the W Line over Saluda.
Great job Drayton. I knew it was bad but no idea how bad. Crazy that CSX has not given this up to some other investor. Why? I think you are right, Jacksonville has no idea. Breaks my heart to see the beautiful railroad I used to run on in such a sad state.
Thank you for watching and supporting the channel, Roger. I am so grateful you are involved with the museum at Kentucky Steam. As a railroader on this line, you know all about its history and how it was operated up til the end.
Awesome video!
If the whole subdivision was in good shape and is still in good shape for trains to go by if the flood never happened I think CSX would definitely be open to selling or donating the sub to Kentucky Steam for excursions because they are not using the line anymore!