Her service following restoration in Southern's steam shop in Birmingham was brief indeed, but ex-C&O Kanawha was a heck of an engine for the time she ran. Here, the big 2-8-4 is slowly backing th... (more)

After bringing a train of empties into Appalachia, the engineer of this westbound has tied her down, locked the door, and is now heading to the warmth of the crew van for a short ride to Andover t... (more)

Alcos 1425 and 1405 smoke it up as they depart Appalachia with train 864 for Corbin. This is the Imboden crossing just west of "Double Cut." The adjacent track is the Southern Railway main line. T... (more)

Consecutively-numbered Alco C630s L&N 1431 and 1432 draw southbound train 855 at Appalachia on a summer morning in 1968. The Norton-bound train (light on tonnage today) has just crossed Pine Stree... (more)

Normally F7 units handled virtually every road train on the Southern out of Appalachia in the '60s. A rare visitor---an F3A--has somehow made it there on a December afternoon in 1964. The veteran ... (more)

A big event, of sorts, was this 1965 NRHS special at my then-home town of Appalachia. The train was operated by the Old Smoky Chapter and made a round trip there from Knoxville. Even then, an FP7 ... (more)

An interesting consist of EMD F7A, Alco FB2, EMD F7A, Alco RS3 and EMD GP7 is handling through freight 66 at Appalachia on a snowy day in the '60s. The units exhibit all three first generation die... (more)

At 47'7", Bee Rock Tunnel certainly ranked among the shortest railroad tunnels in the US. The old newspaper feature "Ripley's Believe It or Not" once featured Bee Rock as the "shortest railroad tu... (more)

Starting in 1985, Seaboard System began routing some coal and empty trains via NS trackage rights from Appalachia, Va to Frisco, TN (until a new bridge at Big Stone Gap could be completed). This r... (more)

One of the smallest and least remarked "union" stations in the country was the L&N depot at Appalachia, VA. Served by the Interstate (until 1928), Southern (until 1939) and L&N (until 1953), the f... (more)

Virginia coal-hauling short line Interstate purchased four ex-Southern Ks-3 Consolidations in July 1952--the last steam acquisitions by the company. Former Southern 2509--now Interstate's 28--lead... (more)

A train of empty L&N hoppers rolls downgrade into Appalachia across Powell River (distance bridge), and the L&N's Cumberland Valley Division main line. Local kids referred to the swimming hole ben... (more)

Four RS-3s and an FA-2 (last unit) are on the point of L&N's daily Norton, VA to Corbin, KY through freight number 66. The structure in the left background is the Appalachia Hotel--a rather imposi... (more)

On a pleasant spring afternoon in 1974, the St. Charles local backs toward Andover around the wye at Appalachia. Off to the right, an L&N northbound extra freight lays back for a meet with a south... (more)

Southern Railway 5226 followed by three more geeps lug a loaded coal train (aka the "Yuma Turn") through downtown Appalachia. This particular GP38-2 was equipped with radio-control to operate "mid... (more)