Eastern Railroad Discussion > Alco and EMD on freight in the Secret City of Oak Ridge

This past Friday (10/24/14) while on the way to Chattanooga for the 4501 trips, Carmon and I managed to cross another thing off the list of things we have wanted to photographed. I got word that the HRC would be running a train from Oak Ridge, TN to the NS interchange at Blair that afternoon, and we just happened to be to close to pass that up.

A little background.. The HRC (Heritage Railroad Corp), which is owned by EnergySolutions, operates the former Southern Branch from Blair, TN to the site of the old K-25 facility near Oak Ridge. The line was built in the early 1940's to serve the highly secret government facility that was used to develop the first Atomic weapons in the USA. At the height of the Manhattan project, over 75,000 people worked or lived in the area which, at that time, did not even officially exist.

Over the years, most of the area has been re-purposed for other industrial uses, although there is still a small DOE presence and areas that are still off-limits to the public. The HRC RR provides shipping for the industries located there, offer's space for rail car storage and mechanical work. The line is also used on the weekends by the Southern Appalachia RR museum (SARM), which offers rides on beautifully restored cars pulled by vintage diesel power.

While it is usually easy to shoot the SARM trains on the weekends (which I have done a time or Two), freight operations are somewhat more elusive. Most of the on-site switching is done in Non-public areas, and trains run sporadically on a "As-needed" basis to the NS Interchange.

With that said, we felt lucky to be able to shoot them outside of the "plant", and the fact they were using a oddball duo of a Alco C420 and EMD GP30 was the icing on the cake. We finally got to Chattanooga that night a lot later than planned, but it was worth the delay! If you are ever in the area on the weekends, be sure to stop by and take a ride on this very historic line with SARM...you wont find a better bunch of folks anywhere!

You can find the entire set from Oak Ridge at this link, and stand by for some more goodies from our weekend! >>>>>>>> http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/2014_rail_shorts_

10/24/14

#1 VLIX 2064 passes One of the massive concrete buildings that once made up the K-25 plant and the core of the "Secret City" in Oak Ridge, TN. It was here that the materials for the first Atomic Bombs used in WW2 were manufactured, where up to 75,000 people once lived in a city that did not exist....it was here that the history of the world and warfare would change forever.

#2 "The best of both worlds" If a person had a liking for products from ALCO or EMD, then this picture might put a twinkle in your eye. ALCO C420 #2064 (Former LV and D&H) and EMD GP30 #1030 (Former L&N and SBD) bring the interchange from Oak Ridge, TN up to the NS interchange at Blair Friday afternoon. You never know what you might find hauling freight in the hills and hollars of Tennessee!

#3 The unlikely duo (in 2014) of VLIX Alco C420 #2064 (former LV & D&H) and former L&N GP30 #1030 cross the bridge over Oxier Creek near Blair, TN Friday afternoon with the outbound interchange for the NS. The train is operating over the former Southern branch line built to serve DOE facility at Oak Ridge.

E.M. Bell , KD4JSL
Salvisa, KY
Jreb.org NS group

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#4 GP30 #1030 idles at the NS interchange at Blair, Tn as the crew starts to sort out the inbound cars

#5 2064 works hard away from the interchange with a 23 car cut headed back to Oak Ridge

#6 The inbound trains crosses the Poplar Creek bridge on the edge of the K-25 plant at Oak Ridge.

E.M. Bell , KD4JSL
Salvisa, KY
Jreb.org NS group

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Both need a nice paint job. But the priority is that they are operating !

Very interesting story and pics, thanks for posting.

EM... Ya found my pets... I love the old Alco, and the GP30 is just icing on the cake... We are friends with one of the guys that runs the Heritage RR, and like to go out and visit from time to time (...if we can find him; he is a pretty busy guy...)...

Believe it or not, there is another one hid over there too, along with a couple of RS 1's... It's an Alco paradise... The problem is that the locomotives are hid out at various locations around the K25 reservation and sometimes can't be seen... The Southern Appalachia Railroad Museum also operates out of there too... It's a neat place...

leroy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/14 05:00 by leroy82646.

Very interesting and well photographed.

KG

This is a great, rare post--thank you!

I've been to Oak Ridge many times as a rowing coach when Oak Ridge hosted USRowing's Youth National Rowing Championships. We'd stay in the hotels in downtown Oak Ridge. There is a rail line that crosses near there, then heads on out towards Mellon Lake and I believe a connection with CSX, but the line never had any trains on it when I visited. It passes near the downtown area. Is that line still used, or abandoned??

GREAT pics!!! Thanks for sharing.

Also many horn honk get together's hosted by Charlie Poling, and Steve Forrest.
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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#2064 is former LV #408.

LV95032 Wrote:
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> #2064 is former LV #408.

408 at South Plainfield, NJ. 1972.
Ed K.

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More info about the K-25 plant at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-25

There were three other Oak Ridge plants: S-50 (short-lived and long gone), Y-12 (active today), and X-10 (active today).

The line you are talking about is the old line into Y-12 from the CSX (former L&N). It's been dormant for a number of years. In fact, some of the crossings were recently paved over. In the 70's there were shipments between Y-12 and the Pantex plant near Amarillo, TX. These travelled over (then) L&N between Oak Ridge and Memphis and the Rock Island between Memphis and Amarillo. They were accompanied by armed guards riding in an old L&N coach. I saw those moves in Memphis many times.



coach Wrote:
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> This is a great, rare post--thank you!
>
> I've been to Oak Ridge many times as a rowing
> coach when Oak Ridge hosted USRowing's Youth
> National Rowing Championships. We'd stay in the
> hotels in downtown Oak Ridge. There is a rail
> line that crosses near there, then heads on out
> towards Mellon Lake and I believe a connection
> with CSX, but the line never had any trains on it
> when I visited. It passes near the downtown area.
> Is that line still used, or abandoned??

Thank you!