Eastern Railroad Discussion > Coal returns to the Clinchfield

CSXT ran the first coal train south of Kingsport TN in over a year towards Duke Energy's Cliffside Power Plant on the North Carolina / South Carolina line.  Heard about this about a week ago and heard that a train was heading to Kingsport  from the area around Corbin KY. Didn't hear anything for a few more days until Today.  Train has been in Kingsport for a week and found out today it was heading south.  Caught it passing through Spruce Pine ( that brought back many fine memories from years past), then down "The Loops" and on through Marion and on to "Thermal" siding where the crew outlawed so the train was tied down and was picked up.  The weather was about as crappy as you can get.  It is supposed to start dumping some much needed rain.  Normally I wouldn't go out after Dark Futures in weather like this, But this was special.  Hopefully this will be the start of more trains on the Clinchfield.
Mike in Asheville

1  Coming into Spruce Pine
2  Coming out of the tunnel at Ridge and begins the decent down "The Loops"
3  Passing the DD and intermediate at  "Camp 2" about half way down 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/16 20:57 by lapklub.

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4  Passing the intermediate signal at Ashford
5  Gliding through "Sevier"
6  DPU passing the "South Sevier" signal

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7  Passing the 222 mile post sign south of Marion NC
8  Coming into the siding at "Thermal"
9  T772 in the siding at "Thermal" being tied down and picked up by the crew van.

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Excellent photos! And good to hear. That looks like a fine piece of railroad.

Posted from Android

Thanks so much for the photos and update. It wasn't that long ago when I took it for granted that the Clinchfield would always be hopping with action with more traffic than it could really handle, and then came the bad news of a viable piece or RR being mothballed. It does me good to see that section of railroad active again. The right-of-way and track still look good, and the signals still shine. Wonderful. The shot at Thermal brought back memories:.A great salute to my great recently passed friend Ed who taught me all I know about this piece of RR. His house was right around the corner from Thermal siding and that was always our jumping off point of chasing trains.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/16 21:53 by NYC_L4a.

The Clinchfield track is in excellent condition.  They were in the process of putting in new signals when they shut the door.  Plus they had just pumped a bunch of money into radio relay equipment for DPUs in the many tunnels.  
None of their actions made any since.  They must have run out of the "Kool Aid" they were drinking in Jacksonville and gone back to a little smarter thinking.  True it was a coal line with direct service from the mines, but it could very easily handle secondary traffic and unit grain trains.  This would relieve congestion on some of the other "main lines".
Mike

I remeber for a short time after getting out of high school (2011) that I picked up a job hauling parts for CSX between terminals.  Huntington, Russell, Corbin, Cincinnati, Cumberland, and even one night picked a run from Corbin to Erwin.  I didn't get a chance to really spend any time down there, and I was exhausted by the time I got down there & somehow made it back north to home.  Traffic was hopping even back then, and if you would have asked me that the line in that area would have been shut down 5 years later, I would have told you that you were full of crap.  Hopefully things can turn around and jobs will pick back up.

Great photos in spite of the clouds! Thank you for posting Is this the train that was reported to go on the NS to Frisco, TN and then on to the Clinchfield? In photo #1, what is the structure to the right of the tracks?
Charlie

So does anyone have a sense for what the plan is for this route. Are there any plans to restore regular service, even at reduced train counts? Obviously, a lot goes into this in terms of staffing and all the resources that are needed to make a railroad "live" again.

This is Erwin in October.  They were expecting this train.  They left a green illuminated.

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To 1019X,
I'm not really sure what that structure is, but it may have been some sort of feldspar loader.  There are quite a few feldspar mines and processing plants in the Spruce Pine area.  It's been quite a while since it's been used.  I remember years ago Clinchfield had some 50' boxcars with roof hatches that may have been loaded here?  Most of the larger plants in the area use covered hoppers now.  There is still a fair amount that goes out by rail and also some that goes out by truck.
Mike

180 that is a great photo. What the hell are we looking at, some model RR run amok?

Where I could find the coordinates on Google maps?

Javier Ortiz
Dallas, TX

PittsburghMike,

Serious rumors exist in the railfan and CSX employee communities that some level of through service resumption is imminent.  There are indications that CSX plans to route coal to the Brice, NC power plant over the Clinchfield instead of the roundabout moves through Corbin, Atlanta or Richmond.  There are also indications that CSX will regain some or all of the business to the Terrell, NC power plant near Charlotte and route those trains over the Clinchfield.  NS has held that business of about one train a day for over a year now. 

This Brice load referenced in this thread came off the former L&N CV Subdivision from the Loyall, KY area.  A subsequent train that loaded in the Martin, KY area was routed by way of Huntington and Richmond instead of south on the Clinchfield, so I'm not sure if the current idea is to route only trains from Loyall, KY over the Clinchfield leaving the north end mostly dormant. 

It would seem to me that if the route is reopened for "live" through service all the way from Big Sandy Jct to Bostic for a few coal trains and train service personnel are brought back to Erwin, then there are other trains that would logically use the route, too.  Charlotte and Pelzer, SC ethanol trains and Shelby, NC grain trains could certainly use the route.  When the through route was active last year, typical other traffic that used the line consisted of coal trains to Wateree, Cope and Cross in SC along with grain trains to Monroe and Aberdeen, NC.  There was also a through Cincinnati to Hamlet manifest that used the line in the recent past.  

Thanks. Hoping for the best here. Thanks for sharing the pucs Lap!

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/16 15:42 by PittsburghMike.

Here's the address for the library / former train station.  It's the orange roofed building to the left of the yard picture217 Nolichucky Ave, Erwin, Tennessee