Tennessee Central

[ssmith1627]

Have any of you guys read the Tennessee Central book by Cliff Downey put out in 2005 ?   

Some amazing stuff there.  Just how that railroad all came together and with me living in Cookeville now it's really been great to learn about.   I found the tunnel and trestle just west of Rockwood really by accident.   But it talks about those and a lot of other spots -- the TC bridge over the Emory river, the fact that they were originally going to connect with the CNO&TP at Glen Mary, etc.   

Just shows how railroading is so very much intertwined in the history of the country.  Makes me enjoy this hobby even more.   The TC ceased operations the same month I was born so I guess I feel some kind of link to it.

Need to find a book like this for the CNO&TP or the East Tennessee & Virginia.   Gotta be something just as good to show how those railroads came to be.   

Steve

[NS2593]

Have any of you guys read the Tennessee Central book by Cliff Downey put out in 2005 ?   

I've read it, it is certainly the most complete history of the Tennessee Central, and its locomotives, that I have seen in print or online. A great book to have if you want to learn about the TC.

[ssmith1627]

Disappointing that there were no maps in there at all.   I haven't been able to find a system map for the TC at all.   I'm thinking of trying to construct one using the Railroad Maps program. 

Steve

[Backyard]

  Yes, most maps of the TC are only simple line-graphics...

The single best source for mapping the TC I have used is NASA World Wind 1.4.  You are offered the only source for a continuous USGS Topo map of the USA.

The resolutions of the Topo maps in World Wind start back in the sixties at about the 37,000 meter elevation above.  At this altitude you can actually see the Crawford Branch from Monterey to Wilder, along with several coal & coke spurs...the area hosted 14 coal & coking coal mines back in the day...

Any lower than that & the map goes through several updates, until the rights-of-way become "abandoned railroad."  

The lowest elevation is a very accurate up-to-date map, showing yard & spur trackage even if it says "Louisville & Nashville, Seaboard System, etc."  These elevations do not show the Crawford Branch from Obey City to Hanging Limb...though you can still follow what's left of the ROW where it runs along the main Highway.

Hundreds of trails can still be seen between Monterey & Kentucky, now 4-wheeler trails, where all types of small-gauge electric & gas jitneys ran coal from the mine to dump tipples above the tracks on the line.  There was a scalehouse above the north leg of the wye in Monterey.  Coal & coke went to steel mills in the north & west to Nashville & Birmingham.

I managed to receive a track chart copy from Billy Copeland at the Cookeville Depot Museum.  The ruling grade is from Buffalo Valley to Silver Point @ 3.03%.  The curves along the mountain wall escarpment on the Caney Fork River approach 14°-16°...a tight fit for today's intermodal equipment.

The grade up the west side of Brotherton Mountain eastbound is 2.5%, all along the entire route 1.9% is common...little wonder why the L&N sought abandonment...

The documents provided by the NS upon abandonment of the Walden ridge from the tunnel to Emory Gap listed the grade at 3.09%.

All the documents from the TC at the time of the CSX mergers went to the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, courtesy of a retiring former L&N district manager.

[ssmith1627]

That's great information.  I really want to get back over to the depot now to see what's there. 

Looks like there are plans to rebuild the depot in Monterey.  They seem to have most of the funding together.  That's pretty exciting.  Do you know what they have planned as far as trains ?  Just a better "stop" for the TCRY trains that already go over there a few times a year ?

I posted some pics from Monterey yesterday.  It's great to see at least part of that coaling tower is still there. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/ShortlinesFallenFlags#

I found another guy's site with pictures from 2000.  Amazingly it looks better today over there than it did 10 years ago.   Did they recently rehab the Wilder branch for the sand trains ?  I figured that had been going on all along but maybe it's a fairly new development.


I'd love to hear more.  I'm very interested.  Thanks again for all the info.

Steve

[Backyard]

  Yes, the structure in Monterey?  I think they like it as sort of a land-mark from yesteryear...also, it can be tagged, but not stolen!

The TCRM's luck ran out when they were denied access to the Monterey wye...

However, the epic restoration of the first 3-miles of the Crawford Branch went well...the Federal funding allowed for replacing what were once wood & stone-box culvert & short trestles with steel & concrete culverts, larger rail than once was has modernized the line for years to come....

I dented the driver-side of my ride on the old row at the end of what is now the passing siding where the new conveyor/load facility is in place...I'm happy to say they murdered the dastardly maple that I side-trimmed, due to having to back through mud puddles....removed roots & all!

First they went through with a saw crew & cleared the ROW 25' to 30'+ radius of the C/L.  They bucked & limbed the trees for logging later.

Then they used a Bush-Hog Tree-Cutter(a jurassic mower) mounted on a hy-rail mounted wheeled backhoe to cut the underbrush....it all began to sucker back, I guess they sprayed it....

Two hy-rail boom trucks came through & marshaled the logs to Brotherton, where a log-loader loaded highway trucks to a log-yard off Hwy 111 at Wendel.

Track & MOW marked & removed every tenth crosstie(no ties were usable), then the rail train came in with 7-miles of 155lb Pennsylvania RR iron purchased from the CSX.

All rail movements were brought to the Algood passing track, run around & shoved up the mountain by the 4 B39-8E's bought by the NERR off LMX.  Strings of centerbeam cars brought bundles of crossties in for weeks...they were parked at City yard in Cookeville amongst other places...

At Brotherton, a pallet of bagged sand provided locomotive sand...by hand, when needed.

Fifty 3-bay air operated door aggregate cars were purchased from National Steel Car using a Federal low-interest loan.

Opposition from a bunch of NIMBY's failed to slow down progress for the Monterey area!

[ssmith1627]

What happened with the TCRM ?  They still run up to Monterey.  Assume they just run around the train like they do in Algood.  Were they wanting to do something more ?   

I'm curious as to what all they have planned for the new depot there.

I see now it's called the Crawford branch.  I had it in my head it was the Wilder branch.  Are you saying just the first 3 miles of the branch were rehabbed?   I drove up there about 2 miles on Sunday.   Guess I should've gone a little further !

Do they have any kind of fixed schedule at all ?  I'd love to chase one of these trains some more. 

Keep the information coming if you're up for it.  I'm certainly enjoying listening.

Steve

[Backyard]

  Only one leg of the wye was restored, due to traffic signal issues & costs.

[bsbaxter]

The wye does not present a problem for the anticipated long-term scenic train presence of the TCRM in Monterey.  The short passing track at Monterey would allow for the running around of a short scenic excursion train.  The TCRM, in fact, has 2 open air coaches in Nashville planned for this use.  The spring and fall trips of the full 15-car TCRM excursion train is also not encumbered by the lack of the east leg of the wye b/c the sand pit siding is long enough to accommodate the necessary run-around move.  The short siding in Monterey won't hold the entire train, but could also be made to work if the sand pit option was not available.

The current impediment is that there is no secured area where the train can be parked when not in use.  The planned route would be between the depot in Cookeville and the depot in Monterey, but currently neither of those cities have stepped up to provide help in finding a location where the coaches and locomotive can be left secure from vandals and taggers.  Until one or both cities step up and help find a solution, there will not be a scenic excursion train between Monterey and Cookeville.  For what it is worth, there are 2 or 3 spurs in the Cookeville area that could work if the necessary parties could all get together and negotiate easements for access and funding for spur rehab and gates/fence.

- Brandon

[ssmith1627]

Ok, that certainly explains what the plans are for the depot.  How often are they hoping to run those trains ?  You have me curious now.  What kind of locomotive do they plan to use ?

Thanks for the post.  Very interesting stuff.

Steve