Southern Railroad – Blogging the Railroad Tunnels

Southern Passenger Station, Morristown, Tenn.

January 20, 2017Bob LawrenceLeave a comment

The Southern passenger station in Morristown TN pre-1906 (when his card was mailed). For the time, the printer was generous with the area on which to write a message, since, as an undivided back card, you could only write the address on the back. I still find it amazing that this card was mailed at 2:30 pm on October 3, 1906, and arrived in Bristol at 7:30 that evening.

Isabella writes that they are laid over in M’town until 2:30, but will be spending the night in Asheville. I wonder if the train that took this card to Bristol also took Isabella and her companions on to Asheville.

Kidding my older brother, I mentioned that I thought one of the people posed there at the station looked a bit like him. He was not amused.

The card was published by Rose & Rice and is on a slightly heavier stock that one usually sees in postcards.

Incidentally, there’s a Jennie Rose Rice (1867-1946) buried in Jarnagin Cemetery in Morristown.

Southern Diesel

January 23, 2016Bob LawrenceLeave a comment

“V-901 SOUTH ENTRANCE TO NATURAL TUNNEL, SHOWING THE APPROACH OF A MIGHTY SOUTHERN RAILWAY DEISEL ENGINE, NATURAL TUNNEL, VA.” Yeah, they misspelled “diesel”.
The plate number is E-10246

On the reverse:

The Natural Tunnel, located on U.S. Highway 23, 14 miles west of Gate City, Virginia, in Scott County, is said to be the only Natural Tunnel in the world used by a railroad. Through it the Southern Railroad has hauled many million tons of coal from the rich deposits of Southwest Virginia.

(Kodachrome by Robert Suttle)

In pencil: 1951

Published by Asheville Post Card Co., Asheville, N.C.

Gate City Southern Depot

September 13, 2015Bob LawrenceLeave a comment

As you can see, the title of this postcard, a real photo card, is “SOU. DEPOT GATE CITY, VA 1963”. There is no more information anywhere on this card. I bought it maybe 10 years ago from a dealer in Maryland. Since the first SLR cameras began coming into the United States in 1963, it’s entirely possible this was shot with a regular rangefinder camera. Either the lens was soft or the film was slow, either way, the sign about halfway down the building should be readable, but it isn’t, even at 10x magnification. It’s out of focus.

Natural Tunnel x 2

July 4, 2014Bob LawrenceLeave a comment

These are both early shots of Natural Tunnel, near Duffield (sort of) in Virginia. This first one is an E.C. Kropp (Milwaukee) card. These people are obviously celebrating something. The sign on the red-topped building reads “Natural Tunnel”. There are no power poles visible. I would guess that the original picture (it was in black and white; the color was added at the printing company) dates to the first quarter of the 20th century. Note that the railroad is listed as “C.C. & O”.

This is a somewhat newer card, an Asheville Post Card Company issue. On the back: “The Natural Tunnel, located on U.S. Highway 23, 14 miles west of Gate City, Virginia, in Scott County, is said to be the only Natural Tunnel in the world used by a railroad. Through it the Southern Railroad has hauled many million tons of coal from the rich deposits of Southwest Virginia. (Kodachrome by Robert Suttle)”
Note that there are now power poles through the tunnel.