A few excursions here and there kept me on the rails for awhile. In the southeastern portion of the U.S. it was mostly on The Southern. Railfans in this part of the country knew the name "Bistline." (Pronounced with a long "I", and would rhyme with heist-line.)
Thank you Mr. Bistline. Who was “Mr. Bistline” and why am I thanking him? If you ever road a steam excursion on a mainline railroad in the southeast, you probably road on The Southern, on equipment supplied by The Southern, or by a locomotive that had been restored by The Southern. How does James A. “Jim” Bistline fit into this equation? Jim Bistline oversaw the legendary steam program of Southern Railway and its 1982 successor, Norfolk Southern, for 20 years and became a household name in many railroad circles. A rail fan in those days would talk in numbers. Numbers like 4501, 610, 611, 1218, 630, 722, 750, 765, 2716, and others. These were the numbers on some of the locomotives that ran on Southern Steam Program trains. Many were restored to service in The Southern’s Birmingham shops. Others were mighty locomotives that were leased by The Southern for the program.
Fans in the Louisville Ky. area usually had the option of two trips. The westbound trips would cross the Ohio River into New Albany Indiana, proceed up Duncan hill and through Duncan Tunnel and eventually to Huntingburg, In. If the trip was eastbound it would go to Danville or Lexington, Ky. My first trip was to be behind the Texas & Pacific 610 but when we arrived at the boarding location we found that the train would be pulled to Danville by diesel. It seems that on the trip the day before, the steam locomotive had derailed in the yard when it had been taken for service. It wasn’t put back on the rails until the early hours of the morning. Anyway, we got to Danville, had a lunch, and when we returned to the station we had steam power in position for the return trip. On other trips I rode behind the CP 2730, N&W 611, N&W 1218, and NKP 765. The trip with the 765 was through Danville to Lexington. The train was too long to turn in Lexington so they turned the locomotive only, coupled to the rear of the train, and pulled it to Danville with most of the passengers riding backwards. Along that route we seemed to be going a little faster than the 50 or 55 miles per hour that we had dome most of the time. A quick check of time between mile post revealed that we were doing a mile every 55 seconds, or 65 miles per hour. When we arrived at the Danville wye, the train was left on one leg of the wye while the locomotive turned around through the wye and the coupled to the front of the train.
There were a few other excursions in the area other than on Southern. The Kentucky Railway Museum sponsored a few trips. Some with diesel such as the Monon BL2 and some with CSX power. The KRM also operated some with steam and their L&N 152. On one occasion the train was pulled from Clermont to Bardstown by steam. Since there was no place to turn the train at either end, the BL2 was on the other end of the train and it pulled the train back to Clermont. The KRM had tried to obtain that route but the R. J. Corman purchased it. The KRM was able to later obtain a portion of the L&N Lebanon Branch where they operate today.