Last Two Days of Operation for the Nashville & Eastern Railroad

On December 28th, I went back up to the NERR to catch whatever was being run that day. The weather on this day was pretty decent, starting out with some heavy rain earlier in the morning that had already become spotty light rain/mist by the time I reached Nashville. I met-up with Ethan at Central Pike, and a short while later, we saw a couple of Music City Star trains. Unfortunately, while trying to film the second Music City Star train, my secondary camera's lens got rather wet, something I wasn't able to notice as I was on the other side of the tracks recording the crossing we were set-up at. After this train though, we went over to Lebanon where, after talking with the NERR's dispatcher, we found out that they would be running three freights: a westbound from Lebanon to Nashville, an eastbound from Nashville to Lebanon, and the Old Hickory Local. While I was talking to him though, the westbound freight departed from the NERR's Lebanon Yard (with NERR 5939 leading NERR 8572) and the chase was on! We beat him over to the bridge over Quarry Lane where we waited for a bit (due to him switching a customer) before he came through. After that, we caught him shoving up the old main to work a couple of customers before heading west. We then went over to a crossing near the Hermitage station, where the sun started to come out, and much to our surprise, the eastbound NERR freight train came through with NERR 568 leading NERR 573! My guess is that they held the westbound freight on the old main to let him by and drop off his cars at the Martha station on his way to Lebanon. After that though, we continued west to the abandoned station in Donelson where we hoped to catch at least the Old Hickory Local. Several hours after we got there (seeing a red signal to our west/north the whole time), a westbound train finally came through, and much to our surprise, it was the westbound freight! Even more surprisingly though was the fact that we didn't quite miss the Old Hickory Local, as the westbound freight had combined the two trains before continuing west, adding NERR 5940 onto the end of the lash-up! After that, we caught a few more Music City Star trains and headed on home.
Then, a few days later, on the 31st, i went back up to the NERR to catch what I believed to be their last day before RJ Corman takes over. Turns out I was partially correct, as while RJ Corman wouldn't be fully taking over until January 2nd, it was their last day of operations as nothing would be getting run on January 1st due to it being a holiday. Unfortunately, the weather on New Years Eve wouldn't be as favorable as it would start out cloudy with spotty showers, but would only get wetter and wetter as the day went on (which lead to quite a few issues with water continuously getting on my lens in a few shots). However, I got to Donelson shortly after 6:30 in the morning, and caught an eastbound Music City Star train passing the abandoned station a few minutes later. I then went over to Donelson Pike where I caught a westbound Music City Star meeting the eastbound one I had just caught. After that, I met-up with Ethan and we went on our way to Central Pike and Mt. Juliet, where we caught Music City Star trains in both places. After that, we swung by the NERR's headquarters and found out that they would only be running two trains: the Old Hickory Local and an eastbound freight from Nashville to Lebanon. We then went back over to Nashville to catch the train heading back-up from the interchange underneath the CSX with NERR 8572 leading NERR 5939, and both engines running long-hood forward. We found out that the Old Hickory Local was already running up to Old Hickory when we got back to the yard near downtown Nashville to watch the interchange train build the eastbound freight. They swapped out NERR 8572 for NERR 5941 while at the yard before collecting some cars to add to the train. We then went back to the abandoned station in Donelson, where it started raining just before the freight came rolling past (said rain would prevent us from heading back to catch the Old Hickory Local), and then we chased it back out of the rain to Quarry Lane near Lebanon before we went to downtown Lebanon. While waiting for the eastbound freight, we wound-up catching a pair of B40-8Ws, heading west, running lite, with NERR 573 leading NERR 568! I'm not entirely sure where they were going, but if I had to guess, the eastbound train had some engine trouble so these engines went to go give them some help into Lebanon, as was seen later when the freight finally came. Unfortunately, my main camera decided to glitch out just before the train passed, but I was able to quickly get my secondary camera set-up just in time to catch the train rolling past the NERR's former headquarters in the depot in downtown Lebanon! My main camera eventually fixed itself, so I turned it around to record the end of the train rolling away, a fitting final shot for the video.

[@freebrickproductions]

Just gonna make a quick note here (since it wouldn't fit in the description):
Ethan and I would've hung out and recorded a couple of Music City Star trains after catching the eastbound freight (as there were still two crossings along the NERR with 7 inch gate lights that I had yet to record), but we left shortly after getting the last shot. Good thing as well, since shortly after we left, we got hit by an extremely heavy storm.
But anyways, the moral of the story probably is screw mother nature, lol.

[@kyleb06]

Yes, mother nature can be a jerk. Lol.

[@ControlPointDonelson]

I agree

[@xCharjx]

Fantastic footage! Nice to see new locos, and new infrastructure on here. Their once small trains are now multi engined powered long haulers!

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks!

[@ControlPointDonelson]

I don’t think any of the stuff here is new

[@ControlPointDonelson]

I mean we have some “new” stuff but it’s all hand me downs

[@xCharjx]

@@ControlPointDonelson "New" Lol

[@ControlPointDonelson]

@@xCharjx yeah it’s all old. I mean the “new” Star coaches are older than the “old” ones regarding manufacture date

[@RailfanTurner]

Terrific catches! Awesome Power!

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks!

[@frankym274]

Great Catch

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks!

[@southernkentuckyrailfan9177]

Great video nice catches

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks!

[@csxnstrainman]

Awesome catches!

[@freebrickproductions]

Thank you!

[@emmittbunn4434]

I'M GOING TO MISS THE NASHVILLE AND EASTERN LOCOMOTIVES I LOVE THEIR LOCOMOTIVES BUT STILL THATS SAD

[@ControlPointDonelson]

They kept all of them

[@ControlPointDonelson]

Just repainted 2 into RJ Corman colors. Other than that some have been repainted into the “bnsf” colors

[@ElliottWolcott]

Nice video.

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks!

[@ElliottWolcott]

freebrickproductions Your welcome.

[@brandonb.9498]

Great shots again! You got some really nice footage. Hate that you had to deal with the bad weather. Liked the last part by the old depot. Who in Lebanon receives the steel coil cars? I know Kenwal over at Martha does, but what were they doing with them there? Man, that seemed like an awful long train to be in Lebanon. Reminded me of the L&N days. 👍🏻

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks! I believe that the industries on the west side of Lebanon (near Martha) do, as they usually have a cut of them stored out there at the station. And yea, the NERR ran some pretty decently sized freights on their last two days operating.

[@pacificzonerailfan]

Nice

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks!

[@southeasternrailfan6048]

Great catches! What do you mean by "last two days of operation" is the N&E going out of buisness?

[@freebrickproductions]

Thanks! As I state in the description, the NERR is being taken over by RJ Corman on January 2nd, 2019. They aren't running anything today, as it's a holiday, so it's not a "day of operation".

[@rodney4917]

What the name of the road or street crossing at the 28.24 hours footage mark?

[@freebrickproductions]

Creek Street.

[@crescentlimitedproductions9192]

Nice video. Here in 2020, has all the former NERR motive power been painted in the RJ Corman red yet? Or is there still some in original NERR paint moving around?

[@freebrickproductions]

Most of it is still in NERR paint, last I heard. Only 8572 (LMX) and 573? (the fakebonnet) have been repainted, AFAIK.

[@crescentlimitedproductions9192]

@@freebrickproductions oh ok, thanks for the info.

[@ASILLYTRAINBOY2011]

Update:all of n&e stuff is now repainted

[@SuperDuckman24]

So I’m confused, So the NERR & Music City star are going out? Or is just the NERR and are they still going to the NERR locomotives?

[@freebrickproductions]

NERR is being taken over by RJ Corman, but the Music City Star will keep operating as they currently are. No changes otherwise, aside from the Dash-8s being repainted into RJ Corman's red and silver.

[@ThunderboltFan2000]

freebrickproductions at least the railroad itself isn’t closing down

[@freebrickproductions]

@@ThunderboltFan2000 Yep. In fact, RJ Corman is keeping the NERR and NWR names, just changing everything to Red & Silver (including the logos) and tacking "RJ Corman" to the front.

[@nelsonchapple3943]

Is the name still N&E or are the locos patches for RJ Corman?

[@freebrickproductions]

It's now the RJ Corman Nashville & Eastern Line.

[@freebrickproductions]

Also, a two of them have been repainted into RJ Corman's paint scheme (573 and 8572), though the rest remain untouched.

[@jasonwhipp5721]

What horn is that in the 568?

[@freebrickproductions]

Probably a K3 or P3 of some kind, it sounds like.

[@jasonwhipp5721]

freebrickproductions tha ks

[@coromark]

P3

[@CapitalCuteHD]

What happened to the BNSF Warbonnet?

[@freebrickproductions]

Still in use, last I checked.

[@MainlineSouth]

What happened to the railroad

[@freebrickproductions]

Taken over by RJ Corman on 1-2-19.

[@johnnybellamy6094]

watco should have bought them out

[@freebrickproductions]

Watco probably would've replaced the GEs, so I'm glad they're being taken over by RJ Corman.