# Kentucky Derby by Rail



## Bill Haithcoat (May 2, 2009)

No,I never went to the Derby myself by train or any other way.

But lots of people did take the train to the Derby at one time.

So much so that Lousville became known each year as Pullman City. There was a neat and very complete article on this in TRAINS Magazine in the early 60's, I guess.

It meant: 1. lots of extra cars on regular trains and 2. complete extra trains. Railroads had lots of spare equipment at one time. Oh, yes, and of course, private cars.

People could use their sleeping car rooms as their hotel while in Louisville.Also extra dining cars and lounge cars for those purposes. I have no clue about the pricing, etc.

Used to be I could see extra equipment going through Chattanooga the night before the Derby.

Note that the pre-Amtrak railroads often had their own color schemes, so seeing the colors of the rainbow parked at the station would have been fantastic. Wish I had seen it even once in person.

About the only thing remotely resembling this might be at a large amusement park when you see all colors and kinds of buses, tour buses, etc. Not that buses are one millionth as interesting as trains but I trust you get the idea.

Of course there was a lot more rail use in the past than Amtrak gets today for other sports events and political conventions, etc.


----------



## MrFSS (May 2, 2009)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> No,I never went to the Derby myself by train or any other way.
> But lots of people did take the train to the Derby at one time.
> 
> So much so that Louisville became known each year as Pullman City. There was a neat and very complete article on this in TRAINS Magazine in the early 60's, I guess.
> ...


It will be a wet derby today!

As I grew up in Louisville in the 40's and 50's I saw many of the derby trains. Also remember seeing lots of special L&N cars on longer trains a day or two before the derby.

I took this one of a business car at LUS in the mid-50's.





These days there are still some derby trains.

The big RR Fix-it Company, RJ Corman is located in the Lexington area and he runs one from Lexington to Louisville. Here is a video of last year's train:



Lastly, I'm moving this over to the MISC Rail area as it really isn't Amtrak stuff. But thanks for the memories, Bill.


----------



## Carter (May 2, 2009)

Hi Bill,

Where was the railyard to handle that much traffic? Is that where the new (new-ish?) football stadium is now?

MrFSS, are those the apartments way out on Lyndon Lane? If so, it's near my first apartment on Westport Road, a block and a half from the crossing. It was a dump, but you could always hear the trains!


----------



## Bill Haithcoat (May 2, 2009)

MrFSS said:


> Bill Haithcoat said:
> 
> 
> > No,I never went to the Derby myself by train or any other way.
> ...




Tom, thanks for so much for responding so beautfiully and so completely. About as soon as I sent it I thought of you and that you must have much more specific memories than I saw out of a magazine.


----------



## Bill Haithcoat (May 2, 2009)

Carter said:


> Hi Bill,
> Where was the railyard to handle that much traffic? Is that where the new (new-ish?) football stadium is now?
> 
> MrFSS, are those the apartments way out on Lyndon Lane? If so, it's near my first apartment on Westport Road, a block and a half from the crossing. It was a dump, but you could always hear the trains!


Well, Mr.FSS can answer that far better than I. I do not think the cars were in the yards, don't think that would be allowed. At least not in the sleepers which were used as hotels. I just remember big pictures around the station itself. Maybe cars which carried people who stayed in hotels were stored in the yards. But people using the cars as thir hotels, I think that had to be parked in the station proper.


----------



## Bill Haithcoat (May 2, 2009)

I keep forgetting things, Mr. FSS......thanks for the neat videos.


----------



## MrFSS (May 2, 2009)

Carter said:


> Hi Bill,
> Where was the rail yard to handle that much traffic? Is that where the new (new-ish?) football stadium is now?
> 
> MrFSS, are those the apartments way out on Lyndon Lane? If so, it's near my first apartment on Westport Road, a block and a half from the crossing. It was a dump, but you could always hear the trains!


Louisville Union Station, on West Broadway between 10th ans 11th, had an amazing amount of storage area, and then what was called the South Louisville yards was just a few miles south of LUS. They could probably park 30 passenger trains at LUS in the day. Here is an old Louisville map that shows how much rail yard there is at LUS. In fact, the area to the right of the station behind the L & N Home Office was put in for extra storage for derby trains, etc.





The South Louisville Yards would be a bit further south than what is show on this section of the map.

Yes - those apartments are at the the intersection of La Grange Road (KY146) and Whipps Mill Road. They have since built a New La Grange Road on the south side of the tracks that wasn't there when we lived in the area. My parents lived off Whipps Mill and lost about half their back yard to the new road. But, they made some $'s from it, too, selling it to the county.

I'll PM you about some other things.

Tom


----------



## Long Train Runnin' (May 2, 2009)

I saw something like this in Denver on the CZ during the DNC.


----------

