After setting off a cut of empty containers on the former C&O Lexington Sub main, CSXT 3139 starts heading back east to couple to the west end of it's train and assist CSXT 405 with spotting the loaded containers of New Jersey trash waiting at Meads, before coupling to the mile-long train of empty cars and make their way back to Russell.
The shape of the jointed rail on this remaining section of the Lexington Subdivision is evident. In the nearly thirty years since the abandonment of the line between Winchester and Rush, the once 40-mile-per-hour mainline is now limited to "excepted track" status, with a speed limit of 10 miles per hour. However, a new lease of life in the form of new trash contracts has demanded extensive maintenance in the form of tunnel enlargements at Ashland and Princess, tie and ballast dropped along the line, and the rusty jointed rail being replaced with continuously welded rail.
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.
