If anyone's interested, I posted some pics. You can start here and click through them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/Locations#5290231244216021746
We made quite a tour of east Tenn yesterday. 300 miles or so. Drove to Bristol and worked our way back following the A line with a detour to Erwin to see the CSX yard there. We saw Bristol, Johnson City, Erwin, Jonesboro, Bulls Gap, Greenville and a lot in between.
With the solid overcast and my photography skills, the shots aren't great. It was a dead Sunday along the A line -- we missed more trains than we caught. But seeing some of the depots that have been renovated was interesting. And to me, even more so, seeing the depots still standing in the middle of no where was amazing. Beautiful Victorian style to them and you can just imagine what they must've been like when they were in use.
So the trip turned more into seeing some different locations than really much train chasing. I did take a video of 22A passing Bulls Gap. We saw a green signal on the signal bridge and knew something was coming. We'd heard on the radio of a meet arranged at Sand Valley / Telford between and eastbound and a westbound so 22A was passing Bulls Gap after that meet and we waited on it. A 3 minute video so that was some long train. It's silly but even at 40 years old it's still fun to get a wave from the engineer.
Good company made up for the weather and sparse action on the rails.
Steve
Steve:
Where were pictures 42 and 43 taken?
Thanks.
Both were taken at Limestone, TN. What looks like an old depot or storage or something.
43 is what you see of 'downtown' Limestone.
44 was taken at Chuckey, TN, not far from Limestone. In fact, Chuckey is just a few miles west of Limestone.
Thanks for the info Bill.
I like the SD40-2s i miss them around here
It was sure nice to have them sitting around like that. Up close and personal in Bristol. Haven't had that chance in Knoxville.
Steve
Anyone know the history of this tower in Bristol ? Was this the type of tower that I keep reading is disappearing around the country, no longer needed or manned ?
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/Locations#5290231343095346210
Any insight would be appreciated. I like learning how things operate today but it's also great to hear how things used to be.
Thanks,
Steve
I have always wondered what that tall part was, I have been in the yard office quite a few times but still have no idea. I'll have to ask around and see if I can find out what's up with it.
Quote from: Khalua10 on January 13, 2009, 08:14:02 AM
I have always wondered what that tall part was, I have been in the yard office quite a few times but still have no idea.
I can't speak for that particular tower, but most of them had a high vantage point in order for the operater to spot traffic coming and line switches/signals, sometimes remotely, but oftimes by mechanical switch interlocking mechanisms.
Inside that tower would be a bunch of levers that actually mechanically lined switches via a network of levers, pivots, and such.
Electronic control has done away with the need for manned towers.
Someone a thousand miles away can see what is going on, click a mouse, and throw a switch that they may never ever see.
Where is this bridge ??
What river ??
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/Locations#5277609835372052706
I guess I waited too late to ride on the Tennessee Central .
This bridge crosses the Emory River along Highway 27 in Harriman, TN
Just down the river to the west, is the New Grade bridge that crosses the river, right into Harriman Junction south of the two tunnels and Oakdale. We did not photograph that bridge. We plan to next time we go there.
Quote from: SpikeDriver on January 24, 2009, 07:23:26 PM
Where is this bridge ??
What river ??
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/Locations#5277609835372052706
I guess I waited too late to ride on the Tennessee Central .
Thank you, sir.
I guess I need to go ahead and order one of those railroad atlases I have been looking at to help all of this make sense.
Thanks.