NS #1069 (VGN Heritage) passes through downtown Old Fort, NC on this cool October morning.

NS #1069 leads eastbound train 162 out of Old Fort, NC with the Black Mountains looming in the background

NS #9934 leads train 135 through the siding at the East End of Old Fort, NC

AAPRCO Special Westbound on NS Riverline between Spencer and Asheville near the southern loop.

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)

I'm always impressed by the engineering masterpiece of the old Southern Rwy loops. Here 2 big motors blast up the grade with just 10 loaded chip hoppers in tow. In just a couple minutes they will ... (more)

The speed is already dropping as these three big motors start to tackle the stiff grade over the Blue Ridge. Soon they will enter the famed Southern Rwy loops. This was a lucky catch as I saw this... (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

All stages of fall foliage development are represented here along Mill Creek as an early morning 162 drags its heels, fighting gravity on the descent into 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)