Time was that CNO&TP train 151 (earlier, train 51)--the "Sparkplug"--was the hottest thing on the railroad. It rolled out of Cincinnati every morning behind four SD24s, with up to 130 loaded box c... (more)

An eastbound CSX coal train throttles back slightly on the east side of Jones' Cut, near Irondale, VA. The four units have 90 loads between the rear pin and two more units on the rear. This train ... (more)

Back in the days when cabooses were still common--and occupied by a flagman and a conductor--this eastbound Southern Yuma Turn is dropping downgrade between Sunbright and Natural Tunnel. This fill... (more)

An NS mine run drops downgrade at Blackwood, VA en route from Norton to Andover. The abandoned coal dock on the left was last operated by Ring Brothers Coal Company. Small single car load outs suc... (more)

The signal at the left "dates" this shot to the earliest months of new CTC operation on the NS Appalachia District. This westbound Seaboard System empty unit train running on trackage rights is ab... (more)

Just arriving from Knoxville, Southern's ex-C&O 2-8-4 number 2716 is in the midst of its very brief time pulling passenger excursions. The engine is en route to Appalachia, VA, where it will pull ... (more)

"If you guys can sell enough tickets to pay for the coal, we'll make a round trip to Norton." With that challenge from Appalachia Division superintendent Jim Seay, a small group of our local railf... (more)

A southbound train of empty coal hoppers rolls out of O&K Junction Tunnel near Gentry, KY. The tunnel gets its name from short line Ohio & Kentucky, which followed the North Fork of the Kentucky R... (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)

Consecutively-numbered N&W SD40-2s are on the point of a Walnut Cove, NC unit coal train on the former Interstate Railroad Andover-Norton main line at Blackwood. Three more big six-motor units are... (more)

The layover point for the Corbin, KY to Pennington (Gap), VA tri-weekly local--trains 91 and 90--was usually the team track at Pennington, located just behind the depot. On a March day in 1967, nu... (more)

At the very remote bridge (first of two crossings) over the French Broad River at Paint Rock, we behold the rarity of a Nickel Plate 2-8-2 steaming along this ex-Southern Railway Knoxville Divisio... (more)

A CSX C30-7 leads three ex-Santa Fe units of the same model on a colorful eastbound coal drag, clawing along slowly on the 1.7 percent upgrade at Oreton. For a time in the early '90s, CSX leased a... (more)

A "westbound" (headed for San Francisco, no matter what the compass direction on the SP) works up Cajon behind a quartet of big EMD units. Today, this is Union Pacific trackage, of course, and one... (more)

Back in 1994, the NS GP60s were main line intermodal power. Here, two of them (plus an SD40-2) are attempting to get southbound 231 back up to track speed after the climb from South Fork to Kings ... (more)