The Flickr Lynch Image Generatr

The light power of R614 is seen on the slow approach back to the loadout and the end of their train, in prep to tie on and start loading their 110 car train with fresh Lynch 3 coal.

We had to be in Winchester for a dentist appointment and opted to stop in at Patio yard to observe the happenings. All we found was the local power, silent, on the old EK lead.

CSX 1900, the Seaboard Airlines heritage unit, leads R237 across the bridge at Jeff at the brink of sunset on the eve of Good Friday with 115 loaded SCWX coal cars in tow. On the rear, H107 is pushing the consist, and will do so until it clears the hill coming out of Deane. We piled around here at Jeff for a few hours prior to the trains arrival, meeting up with several other railfans and having a pretty nice time.

The light engines for the Lynch train that has just arrived can barley be seen over the tops of the coal cars as they make their way back to the loadout to start loading.

A CSX OCS coach, labeled Prime F. Osbourn III, is seen on the rear of M842-17 as it passes the old depot in Paris, Ky. This is quite the oddity to stumble across, though a similar event happened a few years back when one such OCS coach hitched a ride through the CV on the rear of E090.

CSX 7017 is spinning the wye at Corbin, stopped briefly on the crossing as the switch is changed, allowing them to re-enter the yard.

An attempted pan shot of CSX 1900 depicts the unit in a blurred motion as it races through the Isom crossing enroute to Martin with 115 loads from Typo.

The conductor on todays R614 is awaiting the engines to pass by enough so that he may re-align the switch and climb on for the ride back to the loadout.

CSX 1900 can barely be seen from across the North Fork of the Kentucky River as it loads at Typo in the early morning hours of Good Friday.

The old Kentucky May Coal Company switcher that once worked at the old Kragon loadout that stood south of here now sits in a rusty heap near what was once the old yard in Jackson. The faint lettering is all that remains of that history today.

R608 is seen moments before passing beneath the old, and now removed High Line in Corbin, Ky.

R614 arrives at Lynch 3 with a pair of GE's leading 110 empty tubs to be loaded at Lynch 3.

A very excited RailfanMicahTurner throws his hands in the air as Engineer Matt Logan hollers from the cab, "Hey Micah!!!" I hadn't seen Matt in over a year, the last time of which had been operating the GMS-2 in March of 2024. Matt is a fantastic guy, as kind as can be, and I was happy to see him, even if only briefly.

R608 rolls off of the CV with fresh loads from Resource, knocking down the signal and entering Corbin through the south leg of the wye.

H107 passes by a couple railfans while pushing on the rear of R237 in the darkness of blue hour.

The old depot at Paris, Ky, has since been converted into a restaurant rather than the services it provided in its early years.

The crossing gates trigger as Engineer Cromer and Conductor Smith spin CSX 7017 on the wye at Corbin. They must do their work quickly and return to the circle track, as the chatter of the scales at gray indicate R608 is rolling towards the yard with loads from Resource.

R614 rounds the curve past the stockpile that will soon dwindle as it loads the 110 empty tubs that the train has brought.

Coal cars rumble and rattle through Cloverlick as another empty coal train arrives to load with coal at Bluegrass Natural Resource's Lynch 3 loadout. Harlan county has been rolling coal since 1911; coal is in the blood of its people, and we are proud of our heritage and our history.

L660 rolls through Hedrick and past the C&M branch as it proceeds to enter the Barbourville city limits under a canopy of fading sun.