ABOVE: It’s cold and rainy in October 1990 at Kingsport, Tenn. Lined up on the main is a three-car train bound for Spartanburg carrying officials from Eastman Chemical and CSX. The mission is to show off improvements to the big shipper and explore ways to improve service. RON FLANARY
LEFT: The rumors swirling around about the line were reaching fever pitch when we hiked up to the south end of Sandy Ridge Tunnel on October 10, 2015. We were quickly rewarded with the appearance of southbound time freight Q696. We didn’t see another train on the Clinchfield that day. Less than a week later, on October 15, came the dreaded announcement from CSX. ERIC MILLER
BOTTOM: It’s a muggy evening on August 20, 1993, as a CTC-controlled meet takes place at Green Mountain, N.C. A northbound empty hopper train is in the clear on the 7,007-foot siding as a southbound coal load continues the long grind from Erwin to the top of the Blue Ridge at Altapass. RON FLANARY
engine facilities, car shop, in fact all terminal functions would cease to be. An as-needed freight from Bostic, N.C., to Kingsport, Tenn., would handle the remaining general freight business, and only a few remaining Norfolk Southern unit coal trains will operate between St. Paul, Va., and Frisco, Tenn. Norfolk Southern would also continue its service to the giant Eastman Chemical complex in Kingsport using its six miles of trackage rights from Frisco. On the north end of the railroad, only as-needed runs to the still-operating Alpha Resource mine at McClure, Va., would run out of Shelby, Ky. The 20-mile segment between McClure and St. Paul would be withdrawn from service. That stretch included the very spot where Clinchfield founder George L. Carter saw his railroad vision materialize at Trammel some 100 years earlier.
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