A Grand Farewell to the Southern Railway Loops

[Music] [Music] on may 7 2020 delay in block productions returned to western north carolina to document the last through trains over norfolk southern's old fort loops we began our day looking up at the high fill as s line local freight train p87 was seen descending the grade as light power ascending the blue ridge mountains 1100 feet from old fort to ridgecrest north carolina the former southern railway main line requires 12 rail miles to travel a distance of only three miles by air eight tunnels huge earthen fills along with numerous bridges over mill creek and 2776 of curvature allow the railroad enough distance to maintain the tolerable yet challenging gradients that range between 1.3 and 2.94 percent over the ridge [Music] at old fort north carolina we see p87s 2-9 locomotives passing the former southern railway depot in downtown [Applause] [Music] since may 7th was a thursday train p87 originated in asheville as light power without any empty wood chip hoppers for loading at bridgewater typically if there are empty cars for bridgewater in asheville that were left over the weekend p87 will bring the empties with them from asheville on mondays and tuesdays making for better photographs on the loops however from wednesday through friday p87 usually runs as light power unless there are cars for pickup at old fort this thursday the crew of p87 would grab a cut of 11 rail cars out of old fort yard for bridgewater before continuing east greenley road east of old fort and just beyond the curtis creek bridge is a great location to capture the train with the blue ridge mountains dominating the skyline foreign so marion north carolina would be the next location where we caught up with the train known for being the town where the southern and the clinchfield crossed marion is proud of its railroad heritage here p87 would pick up two gondolas loaded with rail and would carry the cars along to bridgewater with the 11 empty wood chip cars general electric nine locomotives are the common power for local p87 it's odd to see dash nines working a local on norfolk southern as emds are generally delegated to local service on the gigantic eastern class one road but due to the steepness of the grades on the southern railway loops dash nines have become a mainstay on this train for quite some time with 8800 horsepower these two workhorses have enough strength to carry heavier trains up the mountain grade so leading the train east is ns9802 which has a modified horsehead logo on the engineer's side on the long hood due to a recent turbo fire the locomotive's hood was hand painted by shop workers who apparently didn't have any decals available at the time note the larger sized ears on the horse yucca [Music] so so so [Music] shortly after 10 a.m the train departed marion for bridgewater so [Music] so so so [Music] so so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] bristol industries at bridgewater north carolina produces large quantities of wood chips and requires daily service from norfolk southern these chips will be delivered to the blue ridge southern shoreline in asheville which will deliver the cars to evergreen packaging in canton there the chips will be processed into paper products including polyurethane coated food grade paper for starbucks coffee cups packaging and holders so the next time you stop at a starbucks remember that the cup in your hand was more than likely produced in western north carolina using raw materials from bristol industries as of august of 2020 bristol is one of only a handful of customers served by train p87 at the facility a large crane can be photographed loading timber into the processing plant once the timber is cut shredded and processed the resulting wood chips are loaded by rail for shipment to asheville wood chips are a big business for norfolk southern in this area forestry products have always been a key commodity shipped throughout western north carolina [Music] [Music] so we didn't have much time to jump ahead of p87 so we had to shoot things the old-fashioned way by hand as p87 slowly meandered along bridgewater siding the crew will drop off the empties and then grab the outbound loaded cars for asheville so [Music] as the locomotives return as light power after dropping off the loads the train crew stopped by to chat with the delay inbloc media team the conductor an ns veteran with over two decades of service under his belt asked if we would kindly send him some pictures of his train taken from our aerial drone [Music] so it's hard to imagine what the future of the s line might be with the closing of linwood yard all through trains have been eliminated in the age of precision scheduled railroading anything could happen including the line's ownership which could potentially be transferred to watco's blue ridge southern short line with the two gondolas and nine loaded cars p-87 would depart bridgewater shortly after 12 30 pm we would chase the train back west as it made its return trip to asheville [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] good [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Applause] at old fort north carolina the crew of p87 would set out their train of gondolas and wood chip hoppers since train 135 was too heavy to climb the loops without helpers the previous night a large cut of manifest cars was set out for p87 to take up the mountain grade the outbound woodchip cars would simply be taken over the mountain another day [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] at the time this video was recorded train 135 was a daily linwood north carolina to knoxville tennessee manifest freight train that typically climbed the old fort loops around midnight making the train less than ideal for photography the 135 symbol running via asheville dates back to the days of the norfolk southern merger in 1982 may 8 the following day would be 135's last trip over the mountain grade before being eliminated on the s line announced on may 1st norfolk southern would idle the hump yard at linwood north carolina nearly a week later causing the s line's last remaining through trains to terminate elsewhere as a result trains 123 and 135 would no longer stop to work asheville's west yard which rendered the asheville to bridgewater local train p87 as the only regularly scheduled train over the loops [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] shortly after 1 30 pm eastern p 87 departed old fort with 135's remaining cars for asheville so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so so [Music] so from the high fill we looked down on the first loop as p87 started its climb up the grade to ridgecrest from here on up it's 12 miles of rugged mountain railroading [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] ridgecrest fittingly named is at the crest of the 12 mile long mountain grade swananoa tunnel is 1832 feet in length and is the longest of the seven tunnels between asheville and old fort so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] biltmore interlocking in asheville is where the s line meets the w line it's also where the old southern railway depot now a restaurant still stands trackside now leased in sections by the blue ridge southern the w line runs from asheville to spartanburg south carolina the most difficult section of the w line is through saluda north carolina over the world famous saluda grade since 2001 the w line has been cut off from spartanburg via asheville due to the close and rail banking of saluda grade from the us-25 overpass we set up to capture p87 as it continued into yard limits in addition to our crew several other rail fans were present for the p87s arrival as they anticipated the departure of norfolk southern train 123 which would be the last eastbound daylight through freight train to descend the southern railway loops [Applause] [Applause] so west yard is norfolk southern's base of operations for western north carolina sadly the yard has seen better days as traffic has decreased tremendously over the last four years during the new operational philosophy of precision scheduled railroading ten years ago asheville saw an average of 20 through trains per day without including locals as p87 slowly snaked through the yard it was greeted by manifest 123. at the time of this recording 123 was a decatur illinois to linwood north carolina daily freight train that operated over the s line stopping at cincinnati danville kentucky knoxville tennessee and asheville before arriving and terminating at linwood north carolina opened in 1979 southern railway's linwood yard was america's newest hump yard however due to the precision scheduled railroading operating philosophy norfolk southern executive management determined that linwood was no longer a profitable yard for the classification of trains the hump was closed for good on the week of may 10th 2020 with norfolk southern citing the covid 19 pandemic as the reason for the yard's closure many railroaders in the area believe that to be an excuse for something that had been in the works for a long time coming trailing behind the lead es40dc locomotive was ns sd60e number 6963 which is painted in the special go rail scheme go rail is a railroad lobbying group that advocates for freight rail transportation in the united states the locomotive was painted by norfolk southern in 2014 to commemorate the railroad's relationship with the organization 123 also utilizes helper locomotives to assist the train over the steep mountain grades along the way while also lending additional dynamic braking power for gradient descent today's train had two helper units including norfolk southern's first sd70acc rebuild the 1800 which was decorated in a commemorative yellow main scheme they say it wasn't planned but many rail fans believe these locomotives were intentionally sent to be the power for the last eastbound through train down the mountain even though they weren't in the lead seeing these two specially painted locomotives was a special touch for many in the area around 5 p.m train 123 would depart asheville for its final trip over the s line we would follow the train from asheville to marion stopping at several key locations along the way [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] 15 so so local area rail fan josh clark helped provide additional footage of this historical move as the train made its way east down the mountain to old fort setting up at high fill clark beautifully captured the locomotives as they rounded the curve our camera crew was set up at the bottom loop to provide the viewer with a different angle of the train as it descended the grade [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] at old fort more rail fans caught up with the train to watch as it rolled through the town one last time [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] marion north carolina would be the last location that we captured trained 123 it would arrive at linwood north carolina just a few hours later in the darkness of night for many this was an end of an era as one local rail fan put it seeing that last train rolled down the loops one last time was like watching a dear old friend take his last breath indeed it was a sad sight but we were grateful to have captured this historical event for future generations the next day we would spend the morning chasing trains on the csx clinchfield loops before capturing the last 135 as it climbed the old fort loops for one last time wow so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] on the morning of may 8th we found ourselves in spruce pine north carolina along the former carolina clinchfield and ohio railway main line situated along the north tow river spruce pine is deep in the heart of the blue ridge mountains the small community of 2100 people is rich with natural beauty and mineral deposits from the spruce pine foot bridge over the river we set up our cameras for southbound csx train q69307 we would follow the train from spruce pine to spartanburg south carolina covering almost the entirety of the clinch fields south end this daily manifest train runs from russell kentucky to waycross georgia leading the q693 is one of csx's st70ah locomotives number 8902 the tier 4 compliant ace is one of only 10 such locomotives on the csx roster providing our crew a rare opportunity to document a unique locomotive leading a train down the clinchfield [Music] loops [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] bringing up the rear of today's train is a long string of empty welded rail cars that were being transported elsewhere on the system for future use in maintenance of way service between alta pass a small community just south of spruce pine and the bottom of the grade at north cove the clinchfield loops wind their way along the edge of honeycutt mountain at a 1.2 percent average gradient the term alta pass was given to the area by the railroad which tunnels through mckinney gap the highest point in the region the loops are an engineering marvel that stretches over 20 rail miles that feature 17 tunnels and 5 horseshoe curves while nearly 25 miles of rail were needed to keep the grade below 1.5 percent the distance between spruce pine and the bottom of the grade is only about 10 miles by air in fact on one stretch of the line between milepost 208 to washburn tunnel trains will travel 16.5 miles of railroad whereas if they could just run in a straight incline grade the trains would only travel 1.9 miles the glorious google machine is taking us down this road and we have no idea what we're in for until we find out it's a gravel road with nothing but switchback curves this is a lot of fun we're not in kansas anymore toto look at this i mean we're talking seven 800 foot drop off no guard rail nothing this is crazy here look at this curve right here how are we supposed to chase the train oh my god he stood this is this has got to be one of the prettiest roads that i've ever been on and oh my gosh i can't believe they built a railroad over this mountain holy crap the clinch field is cool omg though jumping ahead of the train with plenty of time to spare we found ourselves at the camp ii defect detector at mile post 194.5 this location is where the second camp of railroad workers stayed during the construction of the loops beginning in 1905. it took three years of hard labor and over four thousand immigrant workers mostly of russian descent to complete the clinchfield lubes [Music] so [Music] [Music] at the bottom loop we captured the train from us 221 near the unincorporated community of ashford [Music] [Music] [Music] just south of north cove we jumped ahead of the train and set up at mile post 210. honeycut mountain can be seen in the background the very mountain the clinchfield loops climb to alta pass [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] between north cove and marion the train traveled far ahead of us in order to make up for lost time spent in heavy traffic we jumped ahead to bostic [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so so [Music] bostick is where the seaboard airline once connected with the clinch field today csx uses the seaboard to access charlotte from the west since our train would be working the yard for at least an hour and since bostic yard is inaccessible due to its remoteness we continued on south of forest city setting up our cameras at a beautiful countryside crossing [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] from elkhorn city kentucky to kingsport tennessee the clinch field operates as the csx kingsport sub between irwin tennessee and spartanburg south carolina the clinch field continues as the blue ridge sub crews swap out at kingsport chesnee south carolina is just south of the state line and is home to csx communications crews [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] at spartanburg south carolina we watched as q 693 approached clinchfield yard alongside drayton road we're here in spartanburg south carolina always have wanted to visit here we're on the tail end of the clinch field railroad we just finished chasing one of the st-70 ahs i just call them tier 4 aces we followed them all the way from spruce pine north carolina all the way down here so great day chasing over the last couple days we shot trains on both the southern railway loops what probably is the last eastbound daylight through train over the loops really kind of a sad situation and then we had an opportunity to chase a train over the clinch field loop so both loops in the carolinas in two days i just want to say thanks to jacob who has been our tour guide today we would be very lost without him [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] at spartanburg the train will swap crews and will work the yard before continuing to waycross georgia q 693 still had a long way to go before reaching waycross working greenwood and augusta before arriving at rice yard since the daylight was beginning to slip away from us we planned on calling it a day however after receiving word from a local rail fan that trained 135 would be taking the southern railway loops for one final time that night we decided to make the long trek back north so i'm here in old fort north carolina just at the bottom of the southern railway loops and we're all here for ns135 which might possibly be the last through train up and over the southern railway loops it's really kind of a sad somber feeling but this is history in the making and we're trying to capture it before it all goes [Music] [Applause] [Music] away [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] jumping ahead of the train under a nearly full moon we joined chris hamilton and his family to watch the train conquer the mountain so chris you moved here just for the trains what's it like seeing possibly the very last through freight train go through here it's still very special i think it's an awesome opportunity to witness railroading at its best here in the best place in the world the southern loops there there's the train right there what makes the loop so special i think it's just the engineering of man to be able to make something so incredible to go from one place to another and all the engineering it took to make this line and get it to where it goes and climb to the highest elevation in this area to get over to the blue ridge mountains [Music] [Music] [Music] so so they almost stalled coming up the mountain and they had to put another unit online the train's not very long but here they come 35 road forming for me we had a lead agent ns3620 we were about to stall on old fort mountain so i put a second locomotive online so that we wouldn't stall i was going to let you know over all right i'll copy that uh [Applause] a little bit before that we can uh help you at the time well we didn't know we ratted a curve and that just died all the things they said do not work on curved rail on the mountain yes sir i understand uh whenever you get down the road and you don't need that engine anymore let's get back in this class understand this to the mountain we will take the second unit back offline over yeah i don't need you to make a stop or anything of that nature [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign the power from thursday's 123 was added to 135's contest including go rail sd60e number 6963 it was incredibly ironic that a locomotive dedicated to promoting rail transportation in the united states was on the last two through trains over the southern railway loops at biltmore interlocking we watched from the overpass as the train slowly approached asheville's west yard that's it gabe last through train on the s line [Music] so [Music] she it was hard to describe the emotion surrounding this event for many rail fans and railroaders alike in western north carolina this was a heartbreaking end of an era while ns still serves the region with local freight service asheville will resemble a mere shell of its former glory without the presence of through trains though this change in service in an age of precision scheduled railroading is hard to accept there is hope for the future with rumors that norfolk southern may sell the s-line to a short-line carrier we hope this video will serve as a reminder that all good things come to an end and that it's very important to document day-to-day railroad operations because one day it might not be there thank you for watching delay in block productions we hope you enjoyed our grand farewell to the southern railway lubes until next time happy railroading

Channel: Delay In Block™ Productions

Views: 178,275

Rating: 4.8822594 out of 5

Keywords: Trains, Freight Train, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Railroads, Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, CSX, BNSF, Union Pacific, Shortlines, Steam Train, Locomotive, Diesel Locomotive, Steam Locomotive, CSX Transportation

Id: OZwNaf4ULZ4

Length: 102min 7sec (6127 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 04 2020