Ever since leaving the south end of the yard on Love Hill at Erwin. TN, train 94's four F-units have been pulling upgrade, and most of the time in Run 8--full throttle. Behind the drawbar of the rear F7 is a long succession of reefers and other "high cars" that make up this daily southbound manifest on the "Quick Service Route." It's been 51 uphill miles to this point, milepost 187---Altapass. Just ahead around a right-hand curve is Blue Ridge Tunnel, at 2625 feet above sea level, the highest point on the railroad. From there, the long train will be pushing against the screaming dynamic brakes of the EMD quartet another 25 miles to the bottom of the Blue Ridge grade, through the famous "Loops." It's an amazing stretch of railroad---then, and now. The spur in the foreground with the pipe-connected derail is the "apple track." At this point in the season, many box cars have already been loaded and shipped full of this locally grown commodity. Notice the wayside phone box just to the right of the third unit. Before dispatcher to train radio, this was the only way for the DS to communicate with a train crew. Many of them had scribblings inside, with messages like: "I'm a conductor on the Clinchfield line, the caption of the train--with my head stuck in this phone box, and my ass out in the rain!" This view of classic American railroading was taken by my good friend, David DeVault.
