Looking north through these two short (this one is 308′, the yonder one is 236′) tunnels crossing a bend in the Clinch River (36.709679N, 82.646909W) in Scott County VA. As I’ve mentioned before, the date there is when this tunnel was faced up. The line blasted through in the early 1900s. About a mile up the track, at Starnes Bend, is Starnes Tunnel. If you backtrack for about seven miles, you’ll hit the Clinchport Tunnel in the Town of Clinchport.
This is an old tunnel (36.715900 N , 83.671831 W) on an unused line between Pineville and Middlesboro KY. This is the unfaced south portal. The tunnel is a little over 600′ in length. The north portal was faced up in 1944, but this shows how the road gang blew through the stone. I think this tunnel was opened in the early 1900s by the L&N.
I’ve posted this before, but I’ve got a bit more information. This is looking out of the north portal of the Devon Tunnel (37.52763N, 82.04658W). It’s in Virginia, but that’s West Virginia your seeing, across the Tug Fork River. This is an old line. It began as a narrow gauge road for Shay engines.
More images at http://www.unclebobspix.com and
Each of these is a little over 3″ wide. I found them at the flea market in Weber City VA.
Interesting book published in 1993, second edition, by Gem Publishers in Erwin TN. It covers all of the steam locos of the Clinchfield, with pictures of many of them, plus seven and a half pages of photos of wrecks. There is also a section on Floyd Bruner, a noted photographer of the line. This particular book is signed by James Goforth.
There is also a 1998 edition of this same book, with a colorized and redesigned cover, published by Overmountain Press of Johnson City TN.
Neat little 5.75″ x 2″ presentation piece made by Varney Scale Models, Miami Florida. This dates to pre-1970.
In 2014, CSX 900020 was in and around Seneca IL. In 2016, it showed up here in Kingsport. It’s been in Kingsport yard and out by Eastman since then, but it’s in pretty bad shape now. Operation Live Saver was up and running in the early 2000s for this CSX area (that’s where I got this pin). Operation Red Block was something entirely different.
There is a bear in Miller Yard.
A small teddy bear
Strapped tightly to a brake stick pole.
Little bear is grimy and balding in spots.
But it keeps watch.
Norfolk Southern belt buckle unearthed at a local antique store by my buddy. It’s 3.75″ long and 2.5″ wide. Made by Hoover’s Mfg. Co. of Peru IL. The buckle has been treated fairly badly; scratched up.
This is the yard looking NNE from the Mary Street bridge (36.6001, -82.1760) in Bristol VA. That’s an active locomotive on the left.
This is looking SSW.
I’ve gone by this many times. I always thought “I’ll get a picture of that next time I go by.”
So, I did. A passenger car (the Bristol) and a Southern caboose on the Wes Davis Greenway in Bristol TN.
Some of the ice we ran into hiking up the Doe River Gorge in 2011. It was also raining…and cold.
This is Norfolk Southern’s Yuma yard looking east (top photo) with the Smith signal unit to the left. Bottom photo is looking west. This yard, 3 miles west of Frisco yard, is mostly used for storage now. It is .86 mile long with seven tracks. Thanks to the CSX Transportation Historical Society website for information on this yard.
This gives an idea of how massively these railroad companies built when they needed to. I took this under a double track trestle over the Bluestone River- and an out-of-service single rail line- in West Virginia at 37.32335N,81.32700W. Just behind me is Pocahontas Avenue north of Pocahontas VA. The trestle above is about 665’ in length.
I’ve posted this before. It’s an out-of-service trestle between Appalachia VA and Big Stone Gap and is part of a pleasant walking trail. You can access the trail in Appalachia, just off the highway and walk along the old L&N tracks past Bee Rock Tunnel and on along the trail. Bee Rock Tunnel is the third shortest tunnel in the United States. Second is the tunnel I mentioned in Gallatin TN. Shortest is Backbone Ridge at 20′, plus or minus, in Shady Valley TN. After Bee Rock Tunnel is Callahan’s Nose Tunnel, then this trestle and on to Big Stone Gap. This should be a fine walk in fall.
This is on Hwy 606 just below Lower Exeter VA…N&S stallion locomotives coming slowly up the grade
Towers Tunnel is at 37.257, -82.327. The date on the facing is 1926, but that only notes when the tunnel was reinforced and faced with concrete. The actual tunnel is older than that by maybe 10 years or so. This tunnel is 921’in length and cuts through a ridge between two geological features in the park “The Chimney” and “The Towers”. You can’t see the end because it curves to the right.
From 1986, this 2″ pinback recognizes a campaign to keep Conrail alive, after a takeover attempt by Norfolk-Western. In 1987, Conrail was released by the government to become a private enterprise. As of the late 1990’s, both CSX and Norfolk-Southern share ownership of Conrail.
I don’t really know how to date this little key fob. It’s made of that plastic material that feels like a gummy bear would. Disclaimer: I enhanced the gold lines a bit. They’ve faded badly.
I found two post cards of the Reader Railroad recently. Here’s a link: Reader Railroad
It’s really annoying. I thought I had a handle on the dating of these cards, but, when I told a colleague about it, I realized that I had been totally wrong. The cards were printed by Koppel Kolor (or Color) Cards in Hawthorne, New Jersey. The company’s main building appears to have burned down in the mid 80s.
Update on the dating for these cards: mid-1960s. See comment below courtesy of thedigitalphilatelist
The Audio-Visual Designs Company did a lot of railroad-related postcards in the latter half of the 20th century. Railroad-line.com states that the company was famous.
As of 8/24/19, this was parked on a siding near Memorial Park in Johnson City TN.
Blogging the Railroad Tunnels 