Each of these is a little over 3″ wide. I found them at the flea market in Weber City VA.
Patches (not the one by Clarence Carter)
Train tunnels, tracks, and miscellaneous stuff
A general catalog of pictures of tunnels and train-related items in Southwest Virginia, Kentucky and East Tennessee. The main focus is on the original Clinchfield line from Elkhorn City KY to the Tennessee/North Carolina state line, but we’ve got our eyes on that remarkable 6-tunnel looped line near Little Switzerland NC.
Presentation Piece
Neat little 5.75″ x 2″ presentation piece made by Varney Scale Models, Miami Florida. This dates to pre-1970.
Operation Lifesaver
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.
N&S Belt Buckle
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.
Bristol VA Yard
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.
Wes Davis Greenway
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.
Appalachia VA
Taken from an overpass in Appalachia 36.9020, -82.7873. There was once a tunnel here. It was opened up (daylighted) to provide room for the extra tracks.
Yuma Yard – Smith
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.
Coming Through 2!
This is on Hwy 606 just below Lower Exeter VA…N&S stallion locomotives coming slowly up the grade
#3 Towers
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.
The ORT
Conrail
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.
Clinchfield Fob
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.
St. Joe Route
As of 8/24/19, this was parked on a siding near Memorial Park in Johnson City TN. Apalachicola Northern
Copper Creek Viaduct
The lower bridge was built in the late 1890s by the Virginia & Southwest Virginia rail road (V&SW). That line was absorbed into the Southern Rail Road in 1916, just a year after this card was mailed.
The upper one, the Copper Creek Viaduct (a word the Marx Brothers had fun with in The Cocoanuts) was built by the C.C. & O in 1908. The stated height now is 185′ , measuring from the river below.
You barely read the writing down the length of the viaduct, but I believe it says “crossed this just today” or something to that effect.
The post card itself appears to have been printed in Germany before WWI.
“The Clinchfield Route”
This is looking south at approx. 36.0720, -82.3987.
The card was printed by Curt Teich in Chicago. It’s one of the “C” series of post cards issued between 1905 and 1926. The Curt Teich records for this period are scanty and this number isn’t listed anywhere that I can find. Nicely printed, though, and hand colored at the factory before the separations were shot for the print run.
ET&WNC in the Gorge
Following the track of the old ET & WNC Rail Road through Doe River Gorge is a fine hike, except in winter. If there’s been some snow or freezing rain, getting across the derelict bridges can be dangerous.
This card was published by the American News Company of New York, but it was printed in Germany before the start of WWI.
I can’t read the place name on the postmark, and I’ve tried. All I can see if the final “…ONE”.
I hope Dolly got home okay, though.
CRR Patch
Actual size is 4″ x 2″. It’s not an iron-on. I found this at the 2019 Antique Bottle and Collectibles sale at the Appalachian Fairgrounds. I always find something at that sale.
Trip Pass
T. D. Moore, Jr. was General Manager from 1968 until, according to Goforth’s Building the Clinchfield, he was dismissed for fraud in 1979.
The pass is 5 x 3.25″ and is blank on the reverse.
Ballast Regulator, Old
This old ballast regulator, devoid of any nameplates or other information (except that its motor was made by Detroit Diesel), sits just east of the former Greenbrier (sic) Dock near Vansant in Buchanan County VA. The Greenbrier facility closed in 2006. I have been unsuccessful in finding out when it was constructed. In early 2000’s, Greenbrier Dock was loading coal from the Lovers Gap mine, just a few miles away.
Rail Gang
Rail Gang MOW unit parked near Glade Spring in early November, 2018. Nobody home.
Snappy Caboose
West Jefferson NC. Built in 1970. Its history is here. It’s equipped with Barber Bettendorf trucks with leaf springs…for a smoother ride.
I don’t know what this gizmo is. A generator of some sort?
Rotary Dump
They’re demolishing Moss #3, but it’s still a photo target-rich area. This is the control room for the rotary dump…TV, microwave, refrigerator. Anything to make the job easier…
This is the dump structure.
Looking through the rotary dump. My buddy standing there for scale.
Mine Railway, Retired
These were all pulled out of a small-scale commercial coal mine in Kentucky, about a mile from Line Fork. We had talked with the owners and were shown the location of the mine, now closed. These rails and mine cars had been used in the mine. The sheep were merely bystanders.
Tazewell VA Train Station
This 1928 structure is slated for renovation. It replaced a wooden station that dated to 1888.
Two Cabooses
When I took these pictures in Appalachia VA, the cabooses were just 2,200 feet from each other, but, boy, are they different. Cast your baby blues on these:
The top one, nattily repainted, is on display in a small park. It was built, according to the ID plate, in 1948. It’s at 36.8998N, 82.78841W
The lower one, rough and ready, was still in the yard. It’s a 1976 unit.
There’s a definitive book on N&W cabooses for sale from the NW Historical Society, but it’s $50.
French Broad River
Well, guess what we found in Corbin KY. The Southern CNO&TP sleeper, French Broad River.
It’s had a rough life since 1950 or so, but it’s now safely, more or less, sitting on a cut section of track to the right of the old depot on, of course, Depot Street. Here’s a look at the end of the car as shown above.
Locomotives and Trains
Not a particularly rare poster (it folds out to a one-sided 22″ x 32″ size) and one that has been slightly damaged on one panel (I’m rather good at finding stuff that is “slightly damaged”) by being in contact with some sort of acidic paper. It features 29 black-and-white photos of Southern history from 1830 (even one of a geezery-looking Nicholas W. Darrell) through the mid 50s. Notice there’s no ZIP Code shown.
So, find yourself one of these and “paste these pictures in your railroad scrapbook”.
Railway Post Office
Even mended with tape (not my doing), this is a fine picture, taken by the American Car and Foundry Company in 1923. Brand new car for Southern Railway.
I would guess that this is the crew that guarded and processed the mail on the car, getting ready to load up. That’s a lot of security!
Railway post offices were mostly gone by 1962 and completely gone by 1977.
Southern Medallion
Blogging the Railroad Tunnels 