Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
On November 1-2, 1980, C&O Greenbrier 4-8-4 #614 led a pair of round-trip excursions from Cincinnati, Ohio to Ashland, Kentucky and return. These trips culminated the 1980 Chessie Safety Express excursion season.
00:20 Here, we see the 614 leaving Cincinnati on the ironworks leading to the bridge across the Ohio River.
01:51 Then, we have several distance shots from the Ohio side watching the train on the Kentucky shore.
05:12 Amtrak's "Cardinal" and an Ohio River barge make guest appearances.
05:42 Then, we pace 614 as she streaks eastbound from Raceland Kentucky to near South Portsmouth, Kentucky on the return leg to Cincinnati.
Incidentally, the opening sequence in Cincinnati was the first videography I ever attempted - at age 10. The rest of the footage was captured by my father.
This footage was originally captured on Super 8 home movie film. In the mid-1980s it was transferred to VHS. This digitized version was taken from the VHS copy.
Enjoy!
On November 1-2, 1980, C&O Greenbrier 4-8-4 #614 led a pair of round-trip excursions from Cincinnati, Ohio to Ashland, Kentucky and return. These trips culminated the 1980 Chessie Safety Express excursion season.
00:20 Here, we see the 614 leaving Cincinnati on the ironworks leading to the bridge across the Ohio River.
01:51 Then, we have several distance shots from the Ohio side watching the train on the Kentucky shore.
05:12 Amtrak's "Cardinal" and an Ohio River barge make guest appearances.
05:42 Then, we pace 614 as she streaks eastbound from Raceland Kentucky to near South Portsmouth, Kentucky on the return leg to Cincinnati.
Incidentally, the opening sequence in Cincinnati was the first videography I ever attempted - at age 10. The rest of the footage was captured by my father.
This footage was originally captured on Super 8 home movie film. In the mid-1980s it was transferred to VHS. This digitized version was taken from the VHS copy.
Enjoy!
![CSX ES44AH / ES44DC Rev Up @ Laurel Avenue - Hamilton, OH [10/26/2020]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/js72T6RO9tc/mqdefault.jpg "CSX ES44AH / ES44DC Rev Up @ Laurel Avenue - Hamilton, OH [10/26/2020]
CSX ES44AH #761 and ES44DC #5344 accelerate their train northbound at Laurel Avenue in Hamilton, Ohio on a dreary, drizzly October 26, 2020.")
![GP38-2 Leads Rail Train Past Hamilton Depot {7/8/2004]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k_FtMqojOVY/mqdefault.jpg "GP38-2 Leads Rail Train Past Hamilton Depot {7/8/2004]
After previously catching trains at HM Junction and Butler Street, I pulled away to grab some lunch just in time to miss a southbound CSX rail train at the interlocking.
Quickly recovering, I drove south and caught the train as it passed Hamilton Depot, led by GP38-2 #2809 (Ex-Conrail #8273).
Hamilton Depot sits at the junction of the CSX (Chessie System/B&O/ Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton) Toledo Subdivision and the CSX (Chessie System/B&O/Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton/Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western) Indianapolis Subdivision, about 1/4 mile south of Butler Street Interlocking. The depot was an active B&O passenger station until Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971. Under Amtrak, the depot was an on-again, off-again (currently off again) stop for the Cardinal.
As of 2020, CSX wants to tear down the depot after years of neglect. The City of Hamilton and local preservation groups are fighting to save it.
**Originally recorded on VHS-C videotape")
![Chessie Steam Special [Super 8 Home Movies]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lNZlZwO3bQE/mqdefault.jpg "Chessie Steam Special [Super 8 Home Movies]
Railfanning the Chessie Steam Special, Reading T-1 #2101, Hamilton, Ohio to Cottage Grove, IN 6/5/1978.
On June 5, 1978, the Chessie Steam Special made a one-way move from Cincinnati to Chicago. Excursion passengers were picked up en route with the plan that these passengers could return to their points of origin on Amtraks eastbound Cardinal.
My mother and I rode from Hamilton, Ohio to Richmond, Indiana while my father paced the train and took 8mm movies and 35mm photos of the trip.
From Hamilton, the train followed Chessie Systems B&O Indianapolis Division to Cottage Grove, Indiana, where it diverted onto the C&O Of Indiana for the trip to Chicago.
As it turns out, it was fortuitous for us that we planned to leave the train at Richmond. As the Special pulled into the depot at Richmond, someone (probably one of the school-age kids on board for a field trip) pulled the emergency stop cord. The resulting emergency braking broke a drawbar between two cars causing them to separate and a person standing in a vestibule at the time fell between the cars and was mildly injured. The resulting cleanup delayed the trains continued journey for many hours.
The power for the Chessie Steam Special was Reading T-1 class 4-8-4 #2101, which had gained fame in 1975-1976 as American freedom Train #1.
The Chessie Steam Special was part of a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the B&O Railroad in 1977. The success of the trips caused Chessie System to schedule a 1978 season for the train as well.
Sadly, a roundhouse fire in early 1979 damaged 2101 so severely as to make it inoperable. It was cosmetically restored and is now on display at the Baltimore And Ohio Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
The success of the Chessie Steam Special led to the creation of the Chessie Safety Express, which toured the system in 1981-1982 in support of Operation Lifesaver, with largely the same train consist as the Chessie Steam Special, but led by ex C&O Greenbriar 4-8-4 #614. This consist also briefly toured the Family Lines Railroads in early 1981 as the Family Lines Safety Express.
This footage was originally captured on Super 8 movie film and transferred to VHS in the mid-1980s. This digitized version is from the VHS copy.
Enjoy!")
