Eastern Kentucky coal was the lifeblood of the Clinchfield, with much of the production destined for generating stations in the Carolinas. One of the first steps taken by CSX as early as 1980 was to connect the nearby L&N and C&O lines at Deane, Ky. This new diversion sent a lot of traffic down the Clinchfield, totaling more than 12 million tons by 1982. Coal traffic increased through the 1990s, until many of the power plants either converted to gas or closed down. Overhead bulk commodities and general freight traffic contributed to the bottom line, but CSX shifted these trains to faster, more direct routes to provide more capacity for coal. There were rumblings and grumblings
before the end, half-whispered rumors, as if to speak them too loudly might give them the weight of truth. The proverbial handwriting was on the wall, but no one dared to read it. At 7:00 a.m. on October 15, 2015
— just over a century after the line’s opening — a contingent of grim-faced CSX officials from Jacksonville faced the dedicated employees at the Clinchfield’s old general office building in Erwin, Tenn. These were the people who, day in, day out, continued the tradition of outstanding railroad service on this strategic corridor. The message was unfathomable: This line would no longer be a through route. The yard,
36 JANUARY 2016 •
RAILFAN.COM
TOP: A southbound unit coal train roars out of Tunnel 29 at Speers Ferry, Va., on June 14, 1987. The lead SD40-2’s rusty nose is showing the effects similar to a horse that’s been ridden hard and put away wet. This 1,116-foot bore is mid-way between the big bridge over Copper Creek and the much longer (4,135-feet) Clinch Mountain Tunnel.
ABOVE: Early evidence of the Chessie-Seaboard Coast Line combination as CSX Corporation is apparent in this October 14, 1980, scene at Dante. Clinchfield No. 800 (and her three sisters) are working a mine run while C&O No. 4264 is arriving with a Shelby-Dante turn. The C&O crew was attempting to double over its coal train in unfamiliar territory. The Shelby-Dante operation was a new aspect of the corporate amalgamation of the two railroad companies. RON FLANARY PHOTOS
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