Tag: kentucky

The Adena Trail, Mount Sterling, Kentucky

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Kentucky is a state known as the Bluegrass State.  Many people know about Kentucky Fried Chicken which was started by a man named Harland Sanders, commonly known as Colonel Sanders, even though he started in a restaurant in the state, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The state is known for its horses, and it has the continuously running sporting event in the world, the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, which is a horse race that is the first race of the Triple Crown.  The state is known for its bourbon, of which there are plenty of bourbon distilleries in the state mainly around the Frankfort and Lexington areas.  You may have heard of My Old Kentucky Home.  It is a real house in Bardstown.  In the city of Bowling Green, you will find the National Corvette Hall of Fame.  Along with Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is run, the city of Louisville is known for the Louisville Slugger bat factory where many baseball bats are made and sold, and you can tour the factory and buy a bat of your own.  You have Mammoth Cave, the largest known cave system in the world.

Then you have the small town of Mount Sterling.  How many of you have ever heard of Mount Sterling, Kentucky?  A small town that is located 34 miles (55 kilometers) east of the city of Lexington, it is named after a small burial mound.  The town itself is small, but it does have the Adena Trail, a short, paved mile long trail that runs through the town south of the main historic district.  The town is small, but it is a special town to visit.

Some of you are saying, “This is nice.  Small towns are really special.  I am sure that the town of Mount Sterling is a special town.  There is a very big problem.  Mount Sterling is not a railroad town.  Therefore, I find no special reason to visit this town.”

You are right.  Mount Sterling, Kentucky is not a railroad town, and the town has no history with the railroad.  Why visit Mount Sterling, Kentucky?

Like many small towns in the United States of America, Mount Sterling, Kentucky has something special.  It has the downtown historic district where you have shops, cafes, historic architecture, and art.  Just south of the historic district, as mentioned, is a paved trail known as the Adena Trail.  It looks like a nice trail.  You decide to take a walk around.  The trail follows a small creek.  You then notice a structure next to the trail.  As you walk closer, you see that it looks like a train station.  Wait a minute.  This town has never been a railroad town.  Why is this train station here?

The town of Mount Sterling, Kentucky has never been a railroad town, but that did not keep the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from passing through here.  The Adena trail was built on the old railroad bed.  It is about a mile long so walking the entire trail is easy.  As for the old train station, it was built in 1910 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway as a passenger and freight depot.

As the railroad decline, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was forced to abandon lesser used railroad lines.  Mount Sterling, Kentucky was a victim of the decline.  Railroad service ceased to the town, and the railroad tracks were eventually removed.

Today, the old train station remains, and it is on the National Register of Historical Places.  As for the Adena Trail, it is a paved trail that it easily accessible for wheelchairs.  The train station and Adena Trail is located at the intersection of S. Maysville Street and Railroad Street about a few blocks from U.S. Routes 60 and 460 and Kentucky Route 11.

The next time you here about the town of Mount Sterling, Kentucky, think about a special town where the railroad once served.

The Kentucky Railway Museum, New Haven, Kentucky

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Kentucky is a state known as the Bluegrass State.  Many people know about Kentucky Fried Chicken which was started by a man named Harland Sanders, commonly known as Colonel Sanders, even though he started in a restaurant in the state, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The state is known for its horses, and it has the continuously running sporting event in the world, the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, which is a horse race that is the first race of the Triple Crown.  The state is known for its bourbon, of which there are plenty of bourbon distilleries in the state mainly around the Frankfort and Lexington areas.  You may have heard of My Old Kentucky Home.  It is a real house in Bardstown.  In the city of Bowling Green, you will find the National Corvette Hall of Fame.  Along with Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is run, the city of Louisville is known for the Louisville Slugger bat factory where many baseball bats are made and sold, and you can tour the factory and buy a bat of your own.  You have Mammoth Cave, the largest known cave system in the world.  Very few people think of the railroads in Kentucky as there of plenty of great railroad sites in the state.

Welcome to the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky.  Although the original museum was founded in 1954, it has been at it current site since 1990 after the land was donated by locals to be used as the site of the museum.

As you enter the museum parking lot, you are greeted by Locomotive Number 11 from the Louisville Cement Company.  You park your car, and you notice a wooden boxcar next to the old train station.  What is this boxcar?  It is known as a Merci Car and it one of fifty wooden boxcars that were sent to different areas of the United States of America by France as a thank you to the U.S. for protecting the nation of France from being taken over by Nazi Germany during World War II.  The Kentucky Railway Museum was one of the fortunate recipients of one of these cars.

Now it is time to go inside.  You enter the gift shop which is located in the ticket master’s office.  You see the telephone, the telegraph machine used to send Morris code, and you get a view that the ticket master had of the trains even though it is much different today that the original view.

You then go into the big room.  What is in the big room?  Of course, you have railroad artifacts.  You have an HO model train display.  You have many models of locomotives and passengers cars on the wall.  You have model locomotives enclosed in glass.

The model trains and artifacts are nice, but you want to see big trains.  Time to go outside.

Locomotive Number 770 from the Nashville and Louisville Railroad is the first thing you see as you approach the train shed covering a row of cars.  Many of these cars to include passenger cars were used on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.  If you are fortunate enough, the museum does have train rides.

The Kentucky Railway Museum is located 136 South Main Street (U.S. Route 31E) in New Haven, Kentucky.  Hours vary by the time of the year.  Parking is on site.  The great news is that the museum and the train is wheelchair accessible.  You can get more information about the history of the museum, admission, train rides, and hours at https://www.kyrail.org/.

The Kentucky Railway Museum is one great museum to visit.  You can almost say that it is one of the state’s great treasures.

Mammoth Cave National Park, Cave City, Kentucky

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

There are many great things about the U.S. state of Kentucky.  Many people think about Kentucky Fried Chicken, a fast food restaurant chain.  You have the bourbon distilleries.  You have the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, the longest continuously running sporting event in the world and the first race of what is known as the Triple Crown.  Louisville is also the home of the Louisville Slugger, a company that makes baseball bats.  How about my Old Kentucky Home in Bardstown?  Then you have Mammoth Cave National Park, the home of Mammoth Cave, the largest known cave system in the entire world.  How big is the cave?  Let us say that you cannot do the entire cave in one tour.  There are many tours involved here.  How does it get the name ‘Mammoth Cave’?

Some of you are saying, “Well, duh, it was the home of a mammoth.  A mammoth lived in the cave.”

It is unclear if that is the answer but being the largest known cave system in the world, it is truly mammoth in size.  It is truly a natural marvel that you will truly want to see.  If you are ever in the south central region of Kentucky, you will want to visit Mammoth Cave.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!  That is one big cave.  However, there is one big problem.  As you can see, this is a cave.  This is not a railroad site.  Therefore, I will not be exploring this place.”

You are right.  This is not a railroad site.  Why visit Mammoth Cave National Park?

Mammoth Cave National Park, as mentioned, is centered around Mammoth Cave.  Hence the name.  It is located near Cave City, which is about eight miles from the park.

Some of you are saying, “Well, duh!  Cave City is an obvious name of a town erected around a cave.”

You are absolutely right, but this is where the story begins.  Cave City was not always called Cave City.  It was originally called Glasgow Junction.  If you are thinking of a railroad junction, you are thinking correctly.  The Louisville and Nashville Railroad brought people to Glasgow Junction.  Then they were brought to Mammoth Cave by a horse drawn carriage to the cave.

Some of you are saying, “It is nice that they were able to ride the train to Cave City, but then they had to take a carriage about eight miles to the cave.  That means that Mammoth Cave has nothing to do with the railroad.  This mean that there is no reason to visit this cave.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is more to the story.

In an automobile, eight miles is a short distance.  In a horse drawn carriage, it is a long distance.  The owners of the horse drawn carriages saw that it took time to get tourists from the train station to the cave.  They came up with an idea.  What was that idea?  In 1874, they started the Mammoth Cave Railroad, and the first train ran in 1886.  Instead of riding the train to Glasgow Junction and taking a horse and carriage to the cave, they could now ride the train to the cave.

The railroad, sadly, was only profitable in the first six years.  As more people were able to afford an automobile, fewer people took advantage of the train ride.  The last train ride to the park took place on August 31, 1931.

Now the Mammoth Cave Railroad is gone… but not forgotten.

As you enter Mammoth Cave National Park, you can see the old railroad bed that the Mammoth Cave Railroad once ran on, and it is a rail trail that you can hike and bike today.  Once you arrive at the Visitor Center, you are just a short walk from Mammoth Cave Railroad Locomotive Number 4 and Mammoth Cave Railroad Car Number 2.  These two pieces of rolling stock that are covered and surrounded by a steel fence rest at the site of the terminus of the Mammoth Cave Railroad.

As you can see, Mammoth Cave it not just a big cave.  It is a big cave with railroad history.  You can hike on the original railroad bed in the park.  Along with the many cave tours and rail trail, there are also numerous trails you can tread upon.

Mammoth Cave National Park is located at 1 Mammoth Cave Parkway in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.  It is near Interstate 65 and U.S. Routes 31W and 31E.  Please note that Mammoth Cave is not wheelchair accessible.  You will also be making a descent into the cave with no elevator and escalator.  You will need to climb steps out of the cave.  The rail trail is dirt but is wheelchair accessible.  You can get more information on directions, cave tours, the history of the cave and the Mammoth Cave Railroad at https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm.  (Please note that the National Park Service recommends that you do not use GPS in the area and that you follow the directions on the website.)

The next time you think about Mammoth Cave and Mammoth Cave National Park, think about a big cave that has a mammoth history with the railroad.

Historic Railpark and Museum, Bowling Green, Kentucky

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Kentucky is a state known as the Bluegrass State.  Many people know about Kentucky Fried Chicken which was started by a man named Harland Sanders, commonly known as Colonel Sanders, even though he started in a restaurant in the state, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The state is known for its horses, and it has the continuously running sporting event in the world, the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, which is a horse race that is the first race of the Triple Crown.  The state is known for its bourbon, of which there are plenty of bourbon distilleries in the state mainly around the Frankfort and Lexington areas.  You may have heard of My Old Kentucky Home.  It is a real house in Bardstown.  In the city of Bowling Green, you will find the National Corvette Hall of Fame.  Along with Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is run, the city of Louisville is known for the Louisville Slugger bat factory where many baseball bats are made and sold, and you can tour the factory and buy a bat of your own.  You have Mammoth Cave, the largest known cave system in the world.  Very few people think of the railroads in Kentucky as there of plenty of great railroad sites in the state.

Welcome to the Historic Railpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  As you arrive, you will notice that it looks like an old train station.  Well, that is because before it was a museum, it was a train station.  The Louisville and Nashville Railroad built the train station in 1925, and twenty trains served the station each day.  As passenger train service decline, some smaller cities like Bowling Green, Kentucky were no longer served by the passenger train.

Fortunately, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot was not demolished like many other train depots, and it eventually became the home of the Historic Railpark and Museum.

Some of you are saying, “That is nice that the train station was spared and made into a museum.  Too bad that there is not much to see here.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you only enjoy museums that do not have much to offer, then the Historic Railpark and Museum is not for you.  What is special about the Historic Railpark and Museum?

As mentioned, you will first notice that it was a train station.  This is just the beginning.  Yes.  It is just the beginning.

Behind the old train station, you will see a train.  No.  It is not a little model train.  It is a full size train.  Located at the original boarding platform, you will see Louisville and Nashville Railroad Locomotive Number 796.  Behind it is Railway Post Office Car Number 1107 also from the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.  It is followed by the Duncan Hines Dining Car, the Towering Pine Sleeping Car, and the Presidential Parlor Car.  Yes, you can take a guided tour of this train, but two other cars that are not open to the public is a caboose and one of the few hospital cars on display.  If you are fortunate enough, CSX may treat you with a passing freight train which runs on the same tracks that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad used as the served the station.

If you think that you have seen everything, let us say that you have not seen much yet.  It is now time to go inside.

As you enter the old train station from the old boarding platform, you enter the gift shop.

Some of you are saying, “What are they trying to do?  Are they trying to get us to buy things before we tour the museum?”

It is designed where you enter the gift shop to pay your admission.  The next thing you see the model trains.  Yes, there are a few model trains here.

The waiting rooms, the main hall, and the upstairs are filled with rotating exhibits.  As you look at the ceiling and the walls, you will think that you are in a grand train station and not a museum.

The Historic Railpark and Museum is a great Kentucky treasure.  It is a place when railroad history continues to stand still.

The Historic Railpark and Museum is located at 401 Kentucky Street (U.S. Route 68) in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The museum is open year round, but the hours and days vary throughout the year.  Parking is on site.  Although the museum is wheelchair accessible, the train is not.  You can read more into the history of the museum, the old train station, how you can help out or donate with the restoration of some of their railroad cars, get information on admission, and get directions at https://www.historicrailpark.com/.

When you think about what is great about the U.S. state of Kentucky, think about the Kentucky Derby.  Think about the Louisville Slugger.  Think about Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Think about that glass of bourbon.  When you visit the Historic Railpark and Museum in Bowling Green, you will have a great railroad site on your mind.