Another Anonymous Tunnel

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I opted to show the approach and the tunnel because the tunnel isn’t particularly interesting.  No date, but it was constructed in the 1940s when the L&N opened up the Leatherwood Branch (KY) to bring out coal from the massive Blue Diamond Mine complex.  This portal is at 37.09080, -83.10304.  The tunnel, a little over .25 mile long, curves through a ridge at a bend of Leatherwood Creek. The track here actually dates to 1940, mostly Bethlehem Steel rail.  There are two trestles here: the closest is timber construction and the far one is deck girder, with no maker name/date plate.  It didn’t appear to have ever had such a plate.

This is looking easterly.  The track curves to the right practically at the portal.  The line then goes on to what is now a partial wye over the North Fork of the Kentucky River down at the end of Dent Yard.

Kingsport Yard, 1976

csxengine

I didn’t have any particular interest in trains in ’76, but I live close to the yard, so I always am wandering around with a camera.  The guy on the left was using a remote unit to operate this engine.
Even though I live four blocks away, people still ask me if the noise from the trains bothers me.  Huh, I was raised in Morristown just across the street from a switch and freight yard.  What noise?