Once a proud regional covering most of Kentucky and Tennessee, the BGS system will soon be a mere memory entirely.
Service began in 1958 on what was dubbed the "triangle route," serving the cities of Bowling Green, Nashville, Knoxville, Champaign, Indianapolis, Evansville, and St. Louis. By 1990, service to St. Louis had ended, the line from Nashville to Knoxville wasn't needed and was also ended, but service to the north had been extended. The two main routes to the north included the Bowling Green to Indianapolis route, dubbed the "Backwoods" for it's mostly rural surroundings, and the Bowling Green to Champaign route, dubbed the "Hot Line" for it's good conditions (not the BGS' strong point) and amount of higher priority bridge traffic.
By the time the new millennium came around, things had only gotten better for the BGS. Traffic was on the rise and spirits were high. Service had been extended north of Indianapolis to Chicago after acquiring the former Chicago & Indianapolis line, dubbed the "Cindy Line" by crews. Through all that time, the motive power roster had stayed the same in appearance, but had continued to grow. EMD products were the norm on the BGS system, and SD40-2's were always a favorite. If the opportunity to buy more arose, and often it did, secondhand SD40-2 variants were purchased as long as they were needed. Through the 90's, the BGS roster had grown to almost twice it's size as it was in 1985.
The BGS locomotive roster is a hodge-podge of EMD products from several different backgrounds, the likes of whom include: ATSF, BN, IC, L&N, NS, N&W, and UP. Through the modern years of service, a total of only 5 units have been permanently removed from service, all due to wrecks. Those number slots left open were replaced by more secondhand units. The BGS locomotive maintenance employees take great pride in keeping the fleet running, although that doesn't always appear to be how it is. Some of the units are very worn and torn from years of service. All but 8 units wear some form of BGS company colors, which include 5 different schemes.
Now, in 2010, the BGS system will soon become just a memory. On April 30, 2011, all remaining service will be transferred to the RailAmerica system. It's too soon to tell what will become of the proud BGS fleet and the people who keep it going, but the sure thing is it will never be the same.
More details will be posted, including locomotive rosters, paintschemes, train symbols and other assorted information.
Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
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- conrailmike
- Signal Maintainer
- Posts: 2832
- Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:59 pm
- Location: Less than 100' from CSX (LSRC) Saginaw Sub. MP 61.4 in Highland, MI
Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
You do a good job with these Y@. If you ever had (or have) a layout, I'm sure there will be an interesting story behind the railroad that occupies it.
Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
Thanks Mike. The BGS was my first paper railroad back when I was posting on RRForums. I have a memory stick somewhere with a bunch of old BGS stuff on it, but I can't seem to locate it. That's a problem too, because I need the stick to do the BGS paintschemes. ARGH!conrailmike wrote:You do a good job with these Y@. If you ever had (or have) a layout, I'm sure there will be an interesting story behind the railroad that occupies it.
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Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
Gunna do a little changing to the roster.. I will repost later.
Last edited by Y@ on Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
Why are you selling?
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...
Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
It's more of a realism factor.AARR wrote:Why are you selling?
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Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
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Last edited by Y@ on Sat Oct 23, 2010 5:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Soon to Fall - The Bowling Green Southern
Interesting to read some of this stuff. Sounds like you took time to plan it all out and keep it realistic!
UP Employee 1994-2007 - Now a stay at home father of two