Once a very busy junction at the meeting point of the Ashland Freight Main, the Ashland Passenger Main, and the C&O Lexington Subdivision, the C&O era signal bridge still stands guard for trains on the Kanawha Subdivision between Russell and Montgomery, as well as locals on the stub end Lexington Branch now used to serve Kentucky Electric Steel and the locally-popular Big Run Landfill in Coalton. Seen in pictures dating back to the early 1900's, complete with semaphores, this signal bridge is the last of it's kind on the subdivision and is becoming quite a rarity on the entire Chesapeake & Ohio mainline from Newport News to Toledo and Chicago, as progress towards modernization continues in both directions, taking the signals along with it. Today, the bridge still stands, as another cross-over point for trains to, through, and from Russell Yard, as well as today's Lexington Branch local, Y340-17. Bringing a cut of trash hoppers, some scrap gondolas, and more hoppers loaded with old ties from a refurbishment project on the Branch earlier this year, the newly renamed train finally begins a short jog to the Russell Yard boards. Meanwhile, a CSX MofW crew works on the switch from main 3 to main 2 while attempting to ignore the stench from the empty trash cars, a hot debate in local news still to this day.
Any and all pictures from Collis P. Huntington's "Gateway to the West," Chesapeake & Ohio's mainline from Ashland to Lexington, KY. Reduced from a 100+ mile route, down to about 15 miles.
