Shelby St. Bridge and Train

Here's a view that really doesn't happen anymore. This photo is from 2006.

I am standing between Adelphia Coliseum and the East Bank of the Cumberland river, as a CSX train is ready to come by, with the Shelby St. Bridge in the background

Walking Horse Railroad #345

Walking Horse Railroad is a short line railroad which connects a CSX Branch from Wartrace to Shelbyville, TN. The short line is named in honor of the Tennessee Walking Horse which is prominent in the area.

The line was abandoned by Seaboard in 1985. The Bedford (County) Railroad Authority then created the Walking Horse & Eastern (WHOE) line. In 2019, it was purchase by Ironhorse which operates other short lines such as the nearby Caney Fork & Western. The line was renamed to Walking Horse Railroad (WHRR).

NW Caboose - Old Smoky Railway Museum

The Old Smoky Railway Museum is a collection of rolling stock outside the historic Southern depot in Knoxville, TN.

Portland, TN - Trains and Strawberries video

This video was taken the day before the Strawberry Festival which was May 7-8, 2021

Mid South Live Steamers - Spring 2021 Public Meet

Live Steamers are scale model replicas of trains, but big enough to ride. The chapter in middle Tennessee is the Mid South Live Steamers which meets at Maury County Park in Columbia, TN. They have free, open-to-the-public meets twice a year in the spring and fall.

O&W Bridge - Big South Fork

The Oneida & Western Railroad ran from Oneida, TN westward to Jamestown. The primary goal was to haul coal. Despite being a short line, the railroad had many difficult gorges and hollows to navigate. One such construction project was the bridge you see here, which crosses the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, at a picturesque spot of river rapids. This bridge is a Whipple Through truss built by the Nashville Bridge Co. and placed here in 1915

Railroad Travel was officially abandoned along the line in 1953. Later on, much of the area was encompassed by the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Eventually this bridge became more easily accessible. To get here, start in Oneida and head west. Specifically find O&W road, which out of town becomes a 6 mile long gravel road that is the old O&W railroad bed. The NPS converted this bridge into something you can drive over. With its nice wooden planks, it was scary enough to walk across as it creaks under your feet and you can see the gaps in the wood. I couldn't imagine driving over it, but a few SUVs and trucks did in the hour I was here.

Ridgetop Station Park caboose

Ridgetop, TN is known for the Ridgetop tunnel, a railroad tunnel completed in 1905 which was the longest in the world. The tunnel runs under the town and is about a quarter mile from this park.

Southern #630 rings the bell

Railfest is the annual celebration at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN. As part of the 2013 celebration, they offered Southern Railway 2-8-0 #630 as an excursion round trip to Cleveland, TN. This locomotive was built in 1904 by the American Locomotive Company Richmond Works. It was restored to operation at TVRM in 2011 and is now part of Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam program.

You can see quite a thorough collection of photos of #630, the Missionary Ridge Local with Southern FP7 #6133, and other rolling stock on the grounds. This gallery is on my website here:
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=chattanooga%2Frailfe...

Also, I took video and put it on youtube:
Just the steam train departure seen here: youtu.be/QVBCATNnTQI
That, and more footage of the steam train: youtu.be/85iljPK1TfY
All the steam footage, plus the Missionary Ridge local: youtu.be/AhCCpvO41iM

CN IC #9613 Locomotive at the Memphis Pyramid

Before this picture taken in 2015, I had never photographed a CN train before, even though I had been around West Tennessee and the former IC mainline several times. So, imagine my joy when I get to Memphis and see this as soon as I get there. Canadian National #9613 is formerly Illinois Central #9613 It is an EMD-GP38-2 built in 1974.

Post Card Tuesday: Opryland El Paso Station

Count me among those who wish we still had Opryland theme park instead of a large mall. As a child, the train was my favorite ride as you could get a tour of the whole park. The two stations were El Paso and Grinders Switch. I'm not sure which locomotive is pictured here, but they did operate a real steam train which was named Beatrice, as well as a diesel made to look like a steam train.

Adaptive Reuse Boxcars - Franklin, TN

These three Boxcars have been repainted in a tan color and are now on the grounds of The Factory in Franklin, TN. There are two Louisville & Nashville cars and one Tennessee Central.

Family Lines System caboose - Ethridge, TN

Most people who pass through Ethridge see all of the Amish stores along highway US43. However, the caboose is located in the small central business district along Depot St.

Family Lines System is a precursor to CSX with the consolidations of several other railroads into one: Seaboard Coast Line; Louisville & Nashville; Georgia Railroad; Clinchfield; Atlanta and West Point Railroad.

L&N Caboose #156

L&N Caboose #156 appears to be on private property but easy to view in Ardmore, AL. The spot labelled as Steve's Junction is along 7th St. fairly close to the live tracks.

L&N 796 - Bowling Green, KY

While Bowling Green is a great place to see a Corvette, there's also a great locomotive to see. Louisville & Nashville #796 is at Bowling Green's Historic Railpark & Train Museum. Built in May 1951, this is one of about 450 General Motors EMD E8A models ever built.

All the Steam Trains in Tennessee

There are several places you can find steam trains across Tennessee and this video will list them all.

The ones you can ride:
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga
Dollywood
Three Rivers Rambler in Knoxville
Eventually, the one at the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum in Nashville

The ones on display:
Collierville
Discovery Center of America in Union City
Casey Jones Village in Jackson
Maury County Park in Columbia
Lynnville Railroad Museum
Cowan Railroad Museum
Cream City Ice Cream District in Cookeville
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Little River Railroad Museum in Townsend
Elizabethton City Park

Caney Fork & Western Caboose

The Caney Fork and Western Railroad (CFWR) is a shortline railroad operating since 1983 from a connection with CSX at Tullahoma to McMinnville, TN, 61 miles along old NCStL tracks. Currently the railroad is a subsidiary of Ironhorse Resources. Principal commodities include lumber, steel, fertilizer, grain, propane, and carbon black, generating approximately 1,350 annual carloads. This caboose is seen parked at their main office in McMinnville.

The Children's Holocaust Memorial - Whitwell, TN

The small southern town of Whitwell made national headlines when a small school project grew into a major tribute to tolerance and a remembrance for the millions who died in Nazi concentration camps.

Whitwell is a small town in Marion County, TN. After the coal mines closed, the area became quite poor. What happened next may help change the perception of what rural life in the south is all about.

Without any indication of what was to come, it started simply enough in 1998 in a Whitwell Middle School History class discussing World War II. The teacher discussed how six million Jews were slaughtered in the Nazi camps and a student asked how big Six Million is. In a town of just a little over one thousand people, it's hard to imagine just how big six million really is. One student doing research discovered that people from Norway wore paper clips as a symbol of resistance against the Nazis.

The teacher thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if they could gather a few paper clips as a small sampling of how big six million could be. The students began a letter writing campaign asking various people to donate paper clips to the project. After a few thousand had come in, some reporters came to visit the school to see what was going on. Those reporters told about the school's project and told the story nationally. A couple of years after they had started, over 29 Million paper clips had been sent to the school.

The school began to ponder what they should do with all of the paper clips. A couple of Jewish reporters who stayed in contact with the school searched Germany and found a vintage rail car which had been used to transport Jewish captives to the camps. The railcar was transported by boat to Baltimore and CSX delivered the car to Chattanooga in 2001.

Many students and townspeople came together to make the memorial site a long-lasting tribute. 11 million of the paper clips were placed inside the rail car, remembering not only the Jews but all of the other groups that were also killed in the Nazi camps. This memorial was dedicated on Nov. 9, 2001.

A documentary was filmed about the project, a full length movie titled "Paper Clips." I highly recommend everyone interested in this memorial should see that film.

L&N Caboose 6339 - Big Sandy, TN

Located in a mini-park in the middle of the small town

Norfolk & Western #675 - Bluegrass Railway

Seen at the Bluegrass Railway Museum in Versailles, KY is the N&W Diesel Locomotive #675 which is now used for most of their excursion trains. The Class GP-9 Engine was built by E.M.D. of General Motors. It was donated by Consolidated Coal Corporation of Pittsburgh PA. She was restored at the Mid-America Locomotive Works in Evansville, Indiana, painted in N&W freight black and placed back in operational service in 2007. 675 is equipped with dual control stands, both of which are still operational. This allows the engineer to run the locomotive from either side of the cab.

When I was in the process of lining up this photo, a museum employee asked me to hold my pose so he could photograph me photographing the train. I guess I ought to ask them if I can get that picture from them. :)

L&N Caboose #369 - Guthrie, KY

Guthrie, KY is a city that became important because of the railroad. Over the years, L&N main lines intersected here, such as the one from St. Louis to Nashville or the one from Louisville to Memphis. Honoring the town's railroad history, they display this caboose in a small city park.

L&N is no more, but there are plenty of trains in town. CSX runs along the old St. Louis to Nashville line. The smaller RJ Corman Railroad also has a major presence in town.