For the second time in less than a decade, the former mainline of the Clinchfield Railroad has fallen silent. This time the culprit is mother nature, not human ineptitude. The Tennessee and Carolina hollers and river valleys that helped link Spartanburg with Elkhorn City have been impacted by one of the worst inland flash floods in a generation, triggered by the remnants of Hurricane Helene merging with a mid-latitude low pressure system. With the railroad physically cut and basically unrecognizable between Erwin, TN and Ashford, NC, bulk traffic, coal, and time freights have again been rerouted by CSX to other territory as the long and tedious process of recovery and clean-up begins.

On a brighter, drier day just under a year ago, southbound time freight M693-05 rattles the stained glass of the Union Baptist Church in Dante, Virginia as it heads down the Clinchfield toward Kingsport.

Wishing the best for Flickr friends and all impacted residents of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

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Make:	SONY
Model:	ILCE-7M3
Exposure:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO Speed:	200
Focal Length:	33 mm
Lens:	E 28-75mm F2.8 A063