Blogging the Railroad Tunnels

This is a 1910 Louisville Bridge and Iron Company pony girder just off 421 going into Harlan from the south.  CSX now owns this former Louisville & Nashville bridge over Martin’s Fork River.  Beyond the bridge you can see the huge door that closes off this area in the event of flooding (which Harlan was very susceptible to)…it’s part of a 5,000′ long wall that protects the city from rising water.  The flooding used to be worse, before they cut the three large tunnels to divert the Clover Fork River to near Baxter (see the tunnels here).