My pre-dawn departure from Durham was looking more and more like waste of time as I drove past Greensboro, Statesville, then Hickory in a constant drizzle under overcast skies. As I neared Old For... (more)

Beyond a FRED sitting on the rack, a loaded ballast train is tied down here in the Asheville Yard awaiting a crew to run the short but heavy consist down the demanding Old Fort Loops. Photo taken ... (more)

Smoke from the hard-working brake shoes surrounds a loaded Herzog ballast train as it descends the last of the Old Fort Loops into downtown Old Fort, as seen from the interior of a Southern Railwa... (more)

As a stiff breeze from an approaching cold front blows the lingering clouds off the continental divide revealing the stars above, the trailing headlight of the helpers on a loaded eastbound coal t... (more)

After the long and grueling descent of the Old Fort Loops at less than 15mph, NS 162 passes the old Southern depot in downtown Old Fort and can finally begin to stretch it legs on its run toward S... (more)

The sights, sounds, and smells of a loaded coal train descending through the Old Fort Loops are a remarkable combination. The engineer of eastbound 750 ever so slowly guides his train around High ... (more)

The sun streams in through the same break in the ridges that the old Southern Railway uses to escape the Old Fort Loops and head down into downtown Old Fort

The whine of 3 NS locos and a manifest freight fighting gravity are muffled by the geography as NS 162 descends from Ridgecrest into the Old Fort Loops on Halloween evening.

About 5 minutes after my previous photo, the NCTM special is now passing the bottom of High Fill in the opposite direction, having lost nearly 100 feet in elevation through the lowest of the loops... (more)

Passengers on the Southern Loops! It's hard to imagine the weather could have been any nicer for the North Carolina Transportation Museum's 2010 fall foliage excursions. This year's rare-milage tr... (more)

Passengers on the Southern Loops! It's hard to imagine the weather could have been any nicer for the North Carolina Transportation Museum's 2010 fall foliage excursions. This year's rare-milage tr... (more)

Fog turns to rain as low clouds move into the valleys of the Blue Ridge mountains near Old Fort, NC. Westbound manifest 135 is just beginning its ascent of the steep grade toward Asheville known a... (more)

Brakes are squealing as the North Carolina Transportation Museum "Blue Ridge Special" is eastbound back to Spencer, seen here exiting one of several tunnels on the west end of the loops.

Sometimes it can be hard to visualize the steepness of a grade or changes in elevation. This is not one of those times. NS 135 is entering the Old Fort Loops as the rain comes down hard, and after... (more)

Passengers on the Old Fort Loops! In this aerial view, we see the North Carolina Transportation Museum's "Blue Ridge Special" crossing Mill Creek on a bridge most folks never see.