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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An ordinary scene at the Chestoa, Tennessee holdout signals and baptist church, south of the former Clinchfield headquarters at Erwin.
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After a quick crew swap at Oak Street Yard, NS 740 gets on the move in the last light of day at CP Mans. A lot of industrial charm of a once proud era remains here, with many angles to choose from, but sadly more and more buildings and trackage disappear each year as the decline of the former PRR in the region continues...
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The DPU of loaded NS coal drag #740 splits the signals outside of Perrysville as the sun sets on the shambles of this stretch of former Pennsylvania Pittsburgh-Fort Wayne-Chicago main. Despite the optimism of the adjoining position light, there will be no westbound Broadway on the now torn-up track #2 tonight.
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It's 5 degrees and sunny in the aftermath of a January snowstorm as eastbound #170 screams into Mansfield behind an original spec NS Dash-9. The steaming AK Steel complex, Centerra Elevator, and Pennsy infrastructure are some of the last remnants of Mansfield's proud but fast-fading industrial heyday. The wider angle here reveals the more unfortunate reality...
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