In General
Getting Here
Map
Sights
Pictures
Signals
Fire & Police
Floobydust
USGS Maps

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In General


Location / Name:
La Grange KY

What's Here:
Street running
Vintage depot

Data:
GPS Coordinates: 38.407572, -85.378838 (Main St and 1st Ave)
ZIP: 40031
A/C: 502

Scanner Frequencies:
CSX: 161.370

Access by train/transit:
None

The Scoop:

La Grange, KY (population ~8,000) is known to railfans for the "street running" of CSX on Main St.  La Grange is one of those charming little towns you find in the south.  Once about every 1 or 2 hours, the town stops and lets CSX roll through.

The actual street running is only two blocks long between S 2nd Ave and S Walnut Ave, but it parallels Main St for another block on the east side before crossing Main St, and another 2 blocks or so on the west side before pulling away from Main St.

As far as chasing CSX goes, State Highway 146 heading west towards Louisville follows the tracks pretty darn well, almost the whole way into the downtown area.  Lookout in Crestwood where you have to cross the tracks to stay on 146.  On the east side of town, a number of roads cross the tracks, and there is a short section of Fallen Timber Rd that parallels the tracks.

Note down in the signal section, it appears that LaGrange has put in a elevated viewing platform at Main and Cedar!!

There are several restaurants on and near Main Street.  One of the best is at "one-nineteen W Main" (38.407401, -85.379601).  Quaint shopping to while away time between trains helps make this a relaxing place to railfan.  Main St appears to have a lot of small knick-knack type stores to keep even most hardcore railfans busy in between trains.  Lodging is south of town, around the I-71 exit 22.....  Denver says he prefers the Best Western Asbury Inn.





Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Denver Todd for his help with this and many of my new railfan guides.  He has provided the information which is the hard part! :-)

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
Railfan & Railroad Magazine, Sept. 2007 (CSX Kentucky Street Running)
http://discoverlagrange.org/ Downtown La Grange Info
http://www.lagrangeky.net/visitors.asp City of La Grange
www.onenineteenwestmain.com/One nineteen West Main
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUX9kr4D1Xg Video of CSX train thru town


Getting Here


La Grange is about halfway between Louisville KY and Cincinnati OH off interstate I-71.

Exit 22 off of I-71 puts you on 1st Ave, which will take you directly to the middle of town where you will find the tracks running in the middle of the street.


Map






Sights


Street Running

This is where the tracks leave/join Main St on the east side of town, adjacent to Cedar Ave.








2nd Ave at the Fire Station.


This is where the tracks leave/join Main St on the west side of town, adjacent to 4th Ave.



Ex L&N Depot

GPS Coordinates: 38.408715,-85.374726
Looks like they have built a viewing platform on top of the flat car....



















Pictures









Picture by Slideshow Bruce



Signals


Colorlight signals now rule here on this ex Louisville & Nashville line, however, back in 2014 when I originally did this guide, searchlight signals were used in many locations as can be seen below.  There are signals to the east of town where the siding starts, as well as where the siding ends in town (or vice-versa).  The red "X" Marks the downtown intersection of Main St and 1st Ave.








Siding Interlocking - Main St Adjacent to Cedar Avenue

 



Looks like the city has put in a viewing platform!!!









2 to 1 - End of Siding Behind the Museum





East End Siding Interlocking

These signals are behind Northland Corp and we can't see them from Google's Streetview.... anyone feel like taking a field trip for some pictures?



Fire and Police


La Grange Fire Department HQ



 



Floobydust


Eateries






Grade Crossings

Main and 1st Ave

Main and 2nd


Stuff Seen Around










Information kiosk is across the street & tracks from the store pictured above.


Not too often you find a picture of the camera Google uses on it's trucks.....  Look down if you're zooming around in the Streetview on Google!




Church at Main and 3rd

I've always enjoyed taking pictures of churches, especially older ones which don't seem like they were "poured out of a box", wouldn't wanna replace the roofing on that spire however! :-)




Historical USGS Maps







Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given! BE NICE!!! Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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