Hoping to make the crossing in time and with an arm stuck out for extra velocity and momentum, a Jeep crosses in front of half a loaded unit train of coal pointed downhill. The coal is destined fo... (more)
With power for the second cut idling in the middle siding, the first half creeps forward as wheel loaders do their job to the rear.
Crawling out of a sump, the first half of 77G prepares to weigh in motion at the scalehouse and then smoke it downhill for 47 miles to John Sevier yard with 52 loaded coal hoppers. Power for the s... (more)
Seen many of these? Built in Aug. of 1934 and with two axles and weighing 80,000 lbs, this ancient scale test car still plies the rails in coal country. Amazing. It'll be used next week by the USD... (more)
Fourteen mtys hit the ground, with five overturning in this derailment fourteen miles from Oneida. The derailment was blamed on the gauge at the time , though never heard of the end cause. RJ Corm... (more)
Ever wonder how sturdy those new aluminum coal hoppers are? Brand new FURX coal hoppers were ripped apart like aluminum foil in this slow speed derailment.
One of the last remaining wooden watertanks in the East, this one resides on the TN RR just below Oneida. The 42 mile long branch, once owned by Norfolk Southern and then National Coal Corporation... (more)
Loading coal the hard way with frontend loaders. The old loadout has fallen into disrepair behind the stockpile and beltlines.
Power awaits duty as the massive coal storage silo hovers overhead. The silo holds 8,000 tons of coal and will need filling by the overhead beltline before a whole unit train can be loaded. Photo ... (more)
Rusting quickly after being delivered from the Knoxville shop, NS will be replace a couple of wheelsets after leaving a brake on from John Sevier to Turley. The small shed in the rear houses the e... (more)
On a blustery bitter cold day, the engineer looks out the window as a railtrain rounds the curve at Habersham.
A frontend loader gets down as it loads a Top Gon. Not seen very often, this style of loading coal in Appalachia is very expensive due to fuel costs though is a necessity when there are no loadout... (more)
Leading the way with three motors, NS 606 slowly idles a string of mtys under the busy frontend loaders.
With a group of company execs looking on, an NS crew prepares to begin loading black diamonds at the National Coal Turley loadout.
With two of three engines down, this southbound coal drag will need more than a little help from the shack at Morley and the helper crew.
A coal drag rumbles out of Hickory Creek #1 tunnel, enroute to Georgia Power.
The uniformity of the floodloader coal is impressive.
With a mixed freight lumbering by, NS crews mix and build an excursion train scheduled to go from Knoxville to Asheville, NC and back. Special thanks to F unit hobbyist Jacob Gwinn for directions ... (more)
Great care has gone in the detail....
The Norfolk & Western Illinois passenger car, with a brakeman rushing toward the grade crossing to flag traffic. The F units were really working, switching passenger cars around.
The crew for the F units climbs aboard on a windy, frosty morning in the Knoxville Yard.
The bay window has been altered into a bayless version on this Chessie System caboose, still wearing it's B&O lineage.
Skywalking. Looking down from atop Kopper Glo's massive 8,000 ton storage and loadout silo, NS backs mtys up the hemlock shrouded steep grade in preparation for loading coal. The large prep plant ... (more)
Constantly on the guard for rattlersnakes and copperheads in an area heavily infested by snakes, a brakeman has written a reminder to future crews. The Royal Blue spur serves the International Pap... (more)
A cable winching system or car mover is used to pull empty woodchip hoppers under the loadout, seen in the distance. The winch motors are housed in the yellow boxes on both sides of the tracks, wi... (more)
In a heavy downpour, unit train 77G has just loaded the first cut of coal and is headed to the weigh in motion scales. NS always used six engines coming from John Sevier yard, loading and taking b... (more)
Two hundred and fifty miles from Cincy, a freight lumber along toward Coleman.
Fill 'er up please. The helper engine at Morley is fueled to the tune of 3,000 gallons in thirty minutes on this wintry, rainy day. The tank holds 5,000 gallons total and is usually topped off eve... (more)
Backing thru the coal loadout, a DPU unit on the rear makes room for the string of hoppers to soon be loaded at Kopper Glo. The train will cross CSX trackage for a few miles, then go thru Jellico ... (more)
With the loadout silo towering above, two more hoppers will be loaded before the long circuitous journey back to John Sevier Yard begins. Kopper Glo coal loadout, Straight Creek spur of the Clearf... (more)
