These three are real photo postcards; that is, one-off postcards made by Kodak from negatives sent in by camera owners. The photo of the N&W hopper and the two crew cars can be dated to between 1904 and 1918, as can the shot of the steam locomotive. The one of the crane resetting a CC&O derailment is from the 1918-1930 period. There is no other identifying information on any of these cards. I think they’re fascinating and I snapped them up as soon as I saw them.
This is original to the line, as far as I can tell. The date (1907) is right. This two span concrete bridge for the CSX (formerly Clinchfield) over Reedy Creek is just off Industry Drive in Kingsport, near the new roundabout on Netherland Inn Road. (There’s a new span that takes the line over Center Street as it intersects Netherland Inn Road. I vaguely remember the old span, which was just a two-lane overpass. There are remnants of the old concrete structure still in place up on the line.)
This span actually no longer carries the weight of the line, it’s been strongly reinforced. It you go by this now, you’ll see the Greenbelt covered bridge going through the left span.
This is just off Hwy. 36 on Summerville Road in Kingsport. Again, this is a 1928 rebuild replacing what was probably a timber bridge. This is looking toward the highway. There’s no date on the other side.
Blogging the Railroad Tunnels 