[N&W] Re: The Interstate Railroad

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Ernest,
The bridges shown on pages 41 and 42 in the Interstate book are currently in
use and see several movements daily utilizing NS's most current power.
Unfortunately, the area is quite overgrown so an overall view such as the one
on page 42 isn't possible; however, the view shown on page 41 is still a
possibility. A bonus is that the ex-L&N track beneath one of the bridges has
been refurbished for a few miles out of Appalachia to Kelly View to a coal
loder and is active as well. Most all of the concrete on the bridge over the
L&N was resurfaced about a year ago so it has a fresher look to it. The
rolling stock varies anywhere from regular "black" commercial cars, to the
ex-Southern aluminum gons, to air dumps to the latest shipper owned aluminm
cars. The majority of the traffic is eastbound towards Norton. It's a rarity
that a westbound unit train heads into Appalachia and onto the Tennessee
Division from the west. The majority of the westbound traffic is
miscellaneous commercial loads destined to Andover Yard that become part of a
daily Yuma Turn leaving Andover. However, several empty hopper trains with
the variety of hopper/gon types mentioned above traverse the IRR rails
eastbound destined to the Pardee and Dixiana on the ex-IRR as well as Tom's
Creek (Near Coeburn), Carbo or points in West Virginia. These trains roll
east off the Tennessee Division at Big Stone Gap; the routing is an effort to
relieve congestion off other portions of NS as well as off the ex-Clinchfield
between St. Paul, Virginia and Frisco, Tenn. over which NS has trackage
rights and routes several loaded coal trains leving the area. As to non-coal
traffic, a few covered hoppers will traverse the Appalachia-Norton trackage
destined to Austin Powder outside Norton. Mulligan Lumber between Appalachia
and Norton may also ship a car of logs from time to time. If you want to send
me your mailing address, I'll dig through my slides and see if I have a few
shots of the bridge and motive power I'll send you.

Ed Wolfe
irrirr at aol.com