Author Topic: NS 786 (....KopperGlo loads...) at Clinton, Sunday Evening, 10.26.14  (Read 1666 times)

Offline leroy

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Dear folks... Was excited about this one... It was shot a little after sundown this evening at the Clinton, TN Depot at the K & O Junction... The "KopperGlo" loads were coming off the K & O headed south toward Knoxville and John Sevier... The shot is a bit poor due to the high ISO, but it's the first "real picture" i've got out of this little Samsung NX300 mirrorless... I'm excited; it almost looks like a "real Picture"...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125458538@N04/15634880961/

As an interesting aside; this whole thing started as a watch for NS50G (...Tate and Lyle grain loads...)... It was holding at Mullin Ridge (...Laurel Siding...) just west of Clinton waiting for pushers... The poor 50G sat for about 3 hours or so waiting... The 786 was a surprize...  Looks like the ole "hurry up and wait"  has set in on the Knoxville-Harriman line too...



leroy
« Last Edit: October 26, 2014, 09:48:12 PM by leroy »


leroy

Offline billworsham

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Re:
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2014, 05:25:25 PM »
That train is coming off the Jellico line, not the Kind & O

Offline billworsham

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Re:
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2014, 05:25:44 PM »
K&O

Offline leroy

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Re: NS 786 (....KopperGlo loads...) at Clinton, Sunday Evening, 10.26.14
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2014, 10:13:59 PM »
It's an interesting trip up the K & O north to Jellico, then on to Lot  (....junction with CSX...), down the CSX to the Clear Fork Branch, then to the to KopperGlo Mine at Clairfield...

leroy


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leroy

Offline GP30Rider

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Re:
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2014, 11:20:19 PM »
K&O

Actually the K&O is the Jellico Line.  The Knoxville  and Ohio Railroad ran from Knoxville  to Jellico.  Contrary to popular belief the O does not stand for Oakdale.

Offline leroy

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Re: NS 786 (....KopperGlo loads...) at Clinton, Sunday Evening, 10.26.14
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2014, 09:21:18 AM »
Doesn't the K & O (...Knoxville and Ohio...) predate the Knoxville-Harriman line...?   I think (...that means I'm not sure; .. can't remember...) the K & O was built about the time of the 1890's coal boom at Briceville, Coal Creek, LaFollette, and Jellico to haul coal and iron ore out of this new coal-iron field...?   There was a branch off the K & O that had service to LaFollette from Knoxville every day...

When the coal operations at Jellico and LaFollette went bust, so did the traffic...

It's interesting to drive up from Caryville to Jellico and look at all of what once was... At one time, there were seven (...7...) coal mining operations between Caryville and Pioneer; plus the big coal mining and shipping that came off the LaFollette branch; plus the Briceville branch...   There were also mines north of Pioneer in the Elk Valley area all the way up to Newcomb... There was a spur to the west at Newcomb that ran to some large mines just west of there... Ya can see remnants of the old road bed and the location of the old switch to the main line if ya look closely...

Additionally, after the building of the L & N main line (...early 1900's...), the K & O served as a connector to the L & N main south from Corbin to Atlanta (...and still does..) at the junction at Lot... During WW2 the survivors of the L & N troop train wreck at Highcliff were brought down the K & O to Coal Creek and taken to the then secret hospital at a place called Oak Ridge, TN...

Today, there is a bit of coal that comes out of Newcomb, an occasional "KopperGlo" run, and woodchips out of the woodchip mill near Royal Blue... Things have come a long way down...

leroy
leroy

Offline billworsham

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Re:
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2014, 04:47:56 PM »
Thanks for the history..very fascinating.

Offline leroy

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Re: NS 786 (....KopperGlo loads...) at Clinton, Sunday Evening, 10.26.14
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2014, 09:52:38 PM »
Bill... Glad to do it...

 I love the old mining and manufacturing history of these hills as much as i love the railroads... They are all interconnected...

North East Tennessee and Southern Kentucky is an interesting place... The post-civil war "carpetbaggers" and foreign investors really explored and developed these territories thoroughly from the 1870'a up thru the early 1900's... There was a real push and scramble to prospect and develop these potential resources in these territories, particularly Jellico and Middlesboro...

This developmental interest caused the L & N to make large railroad investments in these areas in the early 1900's just before WW1... The Southern had already shown up and had acquired lots of its routes thru mergers and buyouts of smaller railroads... The Southern did, however, build the big branch into LaFollette to serve the LaFollete brother's interests...

The Big South Fork National  Park came from the J.P.Stearns logging and mining interest (...Stearns, KY...)... It contains that wonderful jewel, the Big South Fork Scenic Railway... Our pet Southern 4501 once worked on the Kentucky and Tennessee Railway; owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company...

The Jellico, K & O thing came from English venture capitalists in the 1890's...

Middlesboro, KY came from English venture capitalists headed by a guy by the name of Alexander Arthur (...Arthur is still a stop on the Southern RR to Middlesboro near the Cumberland Gap Tunnel...)...He even built a railroad to get up there; the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap, and Louisville RR; now the Middlesboro Branch of the NS; and still haulin coal out of the Yellow Creek area mines...

 By the way, there is some folklore that the Southern bought and used two 150 ton shays to switch the rough territories in the Yellow Creek area... The Southern, did, in fact, buy two shays and later sold them to the C & O... We cant find any evidence that they were assigned to service in the Yellow Creek area, but it makes sense to me, at least....

The LaFollette brothers (...Harvey and Grant...) built the town of LaFollette around the LaFollette Coal, Iron and Railway Company; at one time, one of the biggest pig iron producers in the southeast.... It was sold out in the thirties, and the impoundment of the Norris Lake finished the branch in the middle thirties...

Sadly, the only mines that are producing anything are in the Yellow Creek area of the Middlesboro territory...

Long gone are the old mines at Briceville that connected to the K & O at Coal Creek (...now Lake City, TN...)...The Fraterville Mine disaster of May, 19, 1902 killed 216 miners and devastated the hamlet of Fraterville; a close knit community of mostly Welch coal miners......Some 9 years later, the Cross Mountain Mine disaster of December 9, 1911 killed 84 miners and decimated the town of Briceville; a stone's throw from Fraterville...   Both these mines furnished coal to the Knoxville Iron Company... The disasters at Fraterville and Cross Mountain lead to the formation of the Mine Safety Administration and the development of Mine Rescue Teams...

There's a bunch of history in these hills around here, and, sadly, not many folks know about it...

leroy
« Last Edit: October 31, 2014, 07:51:17 AM by leroy »
leroy