The 66-mile East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad was a noted three-foot-gauge empire that at its peak reached from Johnson City, Tennessee through the mountains to Boone, North Carolina. Retrenchments in 1940 and again in 1950 left an eleven mile dual-gauge line between Johnson City and Elizabethton, Tennessee. The road operated with two ex-Southern 2-8-0’s well into the 1960’s, until they were replaced by two ex-Southern RS3’s. The RS3’s were eventually retired in favor of a pair of ex-SP RS32’s, one of which is shown here navigating street trackage in Elizabethton. The gondolas of scrap are from the Elizabethton Herb and Metal Company, purveyors of scrap iron and fine herbs. In another year the 102-year-old ET&WNC would cease to exist, with its route being taken over by the East Tennessee Railway.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
