Elizabeth and I arose and had breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express then checked out and drove the short distance to Deatsville to find the station and caboose that we had seen from the train yesterday.
Cheasapeake and Ohio caboose 3177 built by International Car in 1968, painted in a Louisville and Nashville scheme.
Louisville and Nashville Deatsville station built in 1913.
I then drove us to New Haven.
Kentucky Railway MuseumThe Kentucky Railway Museum owes its beginning to a small number of rail enthusiasts who formed a local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1948. In the early 1950's, the Chapter asked the Louisville and Nashville Railroad for the donation of a steam locomotive to form the nucleus of a railway museum. The museum was officially chartered in 1954, and with the donation of steam locomotive 152, leased six acres of land on River Road, opening to the public on Memorial Day, 1958. The museum grew with the addition of other donated rail equipment and artifacts, with over 100,000 visitors coming through the gates by the early 1960s. Over 200,000 people came to the River Road site in the first 10 years of operation!
Because the original site was subject to flooding, and the museum required additional space for exhibits, the museum signed a lease for 40 acres of land near Ormsby Village on LaGrange Road, which would expire in 1993. Meanwhile, a dedicated group of museum volunteers, with grant funds from the Brown Foundation and the National Park Service, began an operating restoration of Louisville & Nashville 152. The thirteen-year labor of love came to fruition in September 1985, when the engine was moved under its own power after thirty years' retirement. All of this work was performed in an outdoor shop, totally by volunteers, and stands as one of the best examples of a preserved operating steam locomotive in the country today.
The museum acquired a fleet of passenger cars to operate behind #152, as well as operating diesel-electric locomotives, to operate off-site excursions on the L&N Railroad. The euphoria of a permanent home did not last, however, as Jefferson County informed the museum that the Ormsby Village lease would not be renewed in 1993. Once again, a search was on, this time for a site the museum could purchase and call home for good. No such site existed in Jefferson County, but CSX Transportation was considering abandonment of the Lebanon Branch of the old L&N from Boston east, eventually to Mount Vernon,. With strong support from the Bingham Foundation and a state economic development grant, the museum purchased seventeen miles, from just east of Boston to New Hope in LaRue and Nelson Counties. This cost some $30,000 per mile.
Two brothers in New Haven, Kentucky, just south of Bardstown, donated six acres of land and a building for museum headquarters. The move to permanent facilities opened July 4, 1990. Since then, the museum has grown and prospered. More than 40,000 visitors, many of them students on field trips, visit the museum each year. A new 5,000 square foot museum, a replica of the original brick L&N New Haven depot, opened in the summer of 1995. Tracks are under construction for display of restored rolling stock, and the museum has over seventy pieces of rail equipment. Most Class I railroads have discouraged or discontinued mainline excursion trains, so the decision to own its own railroad was a wise one for the museum. Today, the locomotive that started it all, L&N 152, still brings goose bumps when the whistle sounds through the scenic Rolling Fork River Valley, just as it did in those long ago days when America moved by rail.
Louisville Cement Company 0-4-0T-T 11 built by Vulcan Iron Works in 1923 at Speed, Indiana and donated on November 1958.
The offices and depot of the Kentucky Railway Museum, a 5,000 square foot replica of the original brick Louisvlle and Nashville New Haven depot opened in summer 1995. Inside, displays include a dining car exhibit, handcar, track inspection car, steam locomotive whistles, a model railroad layout and a ticket office..
The 40-et-8 boxcar was a standard European box car made in France and used during World War I and World War II . During both wars, the boxcar was used to transport 40 soldiers or 8 mules and horses around Europe. This car was built in Lyons, France in 1905 or 1908 for use on the Paris – Lyon – Mediterranean Railway. After WW2 the French people donated one car to each state plus one to be shared by the District of Columbia and the Territory of Hawaii. The boxcars were filled with items of appreciation that may have included crafts, food, art and gift items. In 1949, the cars were presented to each of the states.
This 40-et-8 car was given to Kentucky Railway Museum in 1958. Between 1997 and 2001, the Nelson County Technical Vocational School located in Bardstown restored the car to its original state under the supervision of Mr. Chris VerDow. The Plaques that are displayed on each side of the boxcar represent the Provinces of France. The car was returned to Kentucky Railway Museum in May 2001.
Louisville and Nashville GP9 411 built by Electro Motive Division in 1952.
Louisville and Nashville E6A 770 was built by Electro Motive Coorperation in 1939 and was one of the first diesel–electric units purchased by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. This unit came to Kentucky Railway Museum without most of its internal parts and is for display only.
MChicago, Indianapolis & Louisville (Monon Railroad) BL2 32 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1948 for branch line freight service. It operated from 1948 to 1956 with the majority of its track in Indiana. There were only 59 of this type of locomotive built.
Louisville & Nashville Railroad 0-8-0 2152, ex. Republic Steel Corporation 285 1951, built by Americam Locomotive Company in 1935, donated to the museum in 1965.
The Industrial Brownhoist Corporation in Bay City, Michigan, built this 75 ton steam-operated wrecking crane in 1952 for the United States Army as C1503. It was subsequently sold to the Monon Railroad and renumbered 80001, then to the Louisville & Nashville as 40010. Awaiting scrapping at the Louisville Scrap Company, it was bought by the museum in 1977.
Louisville and Nashville "Jim Crow" segregated baggage coach 665 built by American Car and Foundry in 1913.
Louisville and Nashville lounge car 3051 "Mt. Langford" built by Pullman in 1926. It was sold to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad who rebuilt it into tavern-lounge 3051 "Kentucky Club".
Missouri-Kansas-Texas coach 844 built by Pullman in 1913.
Louisville and Nashville baggage-coach 1617 built in 1925 and later rebuilt to coach 2554.
Louisville & Nashville baggage-express 1465 built by Pressed Steel in 1926.
Madison Railroad Division of the City of Madison heavyweight dining car 197808, ex. CSXT 97234,3 builder and year unknown.
Louisville and Nashville coach 2572, nee Louisville and Nashville 1852, built by American Car and Foundry in 1927.
Louisville and Nashville baggage-coach 1603, builder and year unknown.
Pullman 10 section observation car "Mt. Broderick" built by the company in 1926 and rebuilt with a solarium.
Louisville and Nashville Railway Express Agency car 1465 built by Pressed Steel in 1926.
Stored equipment along the museum's main line.
Monon Railway Post Office car 34X3, nee Louisville and Nasville 1942, builder and year unknown.
Louisville & Nashville Pullman "Pearl River", built by Pullman in 1949 as a joint order of equipment, with the Southern Railway and the Pennsylvania Railroad, for cars for the Crescent Limited.
Anmtrak baggage car 1163, nee Santa Fe Railway 3654, built by Budd in 1953.
United States Navy 44 ton switcher 77 built by General Electric in 1953.
Louisville and Nashville baggage-express car 1488 built by Pressed Steel in 1930.
Museum scene.
Soo Line caboose 89 built by International Car in 1968.
Metro North air conditioned multiple unit cab car 1153, nee New York Central 4750, built by Pullman Standard in 1965.
Louisville and Nashville coach 2578, history unknown.
Louisville and Nashville baggage-coach 1603, builder and year unknown.
Illinois Central caboose 9886 built by the railroad in 1941.
Union Refrigerator Transit Company 40 foot refrigerator car 37402, built by General American in 1949, leased to Milwaukee Road.
Union Refrigerator Transit Company 40 foot refrigerator car 37316, built by General American in 1948, leased to Milwaukee Road.
General American 40 foot reeferigator car 37402, built by Union Tank Car in 1949, and leased to Milwaukee Road.
Louisville and Nashville flat car 21381, nee Louisville and Nashville flat car 40417 builder and year unkown.
Southern Railway caboose X 225 built by Gantt Manufacturing in 1971.
Swift Refrigerator Line 50 foot refrigerator car 25003 built by General American in 1954.
Union Refrigerator Transit Company 49 foot refrigator car 31050, unknown builder and date.
Caboose frame.
General American 40 foot refrigerator car 25007, built by Union Tank Car in 1949, and leased to Milwaukee Road.
Monon caboose 81525, ex Louisville & Nashville 916, built by the railroad in 1950.
Western Maryland box car 37239 built by Pressed Steel in 1949.
Swift Refrigerator Line 50 foot refrigerator car 25045 built by General American in 1954.
Louisville and Nashville 40 foot box car 41064, builder and year unknown.
Fairmont speeder 1025, history unknown.
Southern Rail Leasing Incorporated refrigerator car 25035 built by General American in 1954 and leased to Milwaukee Road.
Southern Rail Leasing Incorporated referigartor car 25007 built by General American in 1954.
Industrial Brownhoist Corporation, built this 75 ton steam operated wrecking crane in 1952 for the US Army as C1503. It was subsequently sold to the Monon Railroad and renumbered 80001, then to the Louisville & Nashville as 40010. Awaiting scrapping at the Louisville Scrap Company it was bought by the museum in 1977.
Louisville and Nashville GP9 411 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952.
Southern Railway baggage car 4065, nee Southern Railway 14 section sleeper "Parowan" built by Pullman in 1916 and rebuilt into a baggage car.
United States Air Force 44 ton switcher 1243, nee Baltimore & Ohio 21 built by General Electric in 1953.
CSX SW1500 1103, nee Lousville and Nashville 5003, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1970.
Louisville and Nashville caboose 980, nee Chicago and Eastern Illinois 22 built by the railroad in 1957. The Missouri Pacific Railroad began to quietly purchase C&EI stock in 1961. After approval was gained from the Interstate Commerce Commission, Mopac assumed control of the C&EI in May 1967. One of the stipulations of the merger required sale of part of the railroad to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
South Louisville Shops 1905 to 1980.
For a 100 years mainline of mid American American Illinois Central and map of the railroad.
L&N steam engine 152 historical marker boards at the Kentucky Railroad Museum. From here we drove US 316, partially on the Bluegrass Parkway, to US 62 to Bloomfield and in town, found what we were looking for.
Louisville and Nashville Bloomfield station which is a one story, frame, rectangular, early 20th century building with passenger area at one end and baggage and freight section at the other end. The building has a hip roof with wide extended eaves, multi-light sash windows, upper walls of clapboard and lower walls of vertical tongue-and-groove siding with vertical and horizontal wood members defining corners, water table and fenestration. The building has a concrete foundation, two entries facing south and a handicapped access ramp to the west side. In 2015, it housed the police department and city offices. The building is a contributing property in the Bloomfield Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
James Guthrie 1792 to 1869 historical sign. From here we drove to Versailles to our next stop of the day.
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