A Tennessee Central Alco FA-1 at Monterey, TN in June of 1962.
Tennessee Central RS-36s at Harriman, TN with empty coal cars headed back to Knoxville. Emory Gap was as far east as the TC's rails went, although switching and interchange operations extended a few miles to Harriman, and then from there it hopped on the Southern Railway subsidiary Harriman & Northeastern to get to Knoxville.
Tennessee Central RS-36s sitting at Emory Gap, as a Southern passenger train goes by. The Tennessee Central was aptly described as "the NYO&W of the South". Late to the party in Tennessee, it was chartered as the Nashville & Knoxville with the intent to move coal and minerals from Knoxville west to Middle Tennessee, with eventual plans to connect to the Cincinnatti & Southern at Chattanooga to move coal and iron ore to the northeastern US. The first 76 miles between Lebanon, TN and Monterey, TN before the death of the first president, which caused financial troubles that stalled further eastward construction. New presidency took over in 1893, renamed the N&K to the Tennessee Central, and continued construction from Lebanon into Nashville, although it was denied use of Nashville Union Station because the terminal was controlled by the L&N and the NC&StL, as well as further eastern construction from Monterey to Emory Gap. Between the Cincinatti & Southern's lease to Southern Railway, and the fact that there were already so many railroads vying for space in Chattanooga, the TC instead took a more northern route through the Cumberland Escarpment Plateau at Walden's Gap, a much more roundabout and rugged route. It also purchased the Nashville & Clarksville, which gave it a northwestern reach into southern Kentucky and a connection with the Illinois Central.
The growth put the railroad into receivership in 1897, and then after the second president's death in 1904, it was placed in joint ownership of Illinois Central, Louisville & Nashville, and Southern until 1908, when they opted not to continue the lease and it went private again. It fell into receivership again in 1912, and operated in insolvency for the next ten year. New management took over in 1922 and tried to whip the TC into a modern, respectable railroad, but it had the same issues that the NYO&W had: a less than optimal routing, lack of online customers from missing major population centers, and stiff competition from more established and larger railroads.
Continuing the roller coaster of fortunes, business picked up from '22 onwards, with the TC finally turning a profit for the first time. The Great Depression then knocked the wind out of it's sales, especially in '32 and '33, but things picked back up again by '34. WWII boosted traffic but at the cost of wearing out infrastructure and equipment. Post war it borrowed heavily from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to repair the physical plant as well as purchasing Alco diesels. Steam locomotives were phased out entirely by '52, with none surviving. Traffic continued to slide though, because like the NYO&W, 50% of revenue was based on hauling coal, and coal was falling out favor and the mines it served were playing out. Construction of a coal-fired power plant at Kingston briefly revived business, only for the power plant to begin buying coal from mines not served by the Tennessee Central. In 1955, passenger service, which was down to a single round trip from Nashville to Harriman. It borrowed more money in 1956, to purchase more diesels, and would purchase its final locomotives, a batch of C420s, in 1966. In 1968, it defaulted on the loans it owned to the RFC and its assets were sold off. L&N ended up with most of the diesels, the Nashville belt line had already been sold to the state to build I-440, the line west of Nashville to Hopkinsville, KY was bought by Illinois Central, the line from Harriman to Crossville was bought by Southern, and archrival L&N ended up with the rest of the rails. From Monterey to Crossville was dismantled by the L&N in the 1980s, which has been lamented by champions of the restoration of passenger train service between Nashville and Knoxville.
The Tennessee Central master mechanic's shop now serves as the headquarters of the Tennessee Central Railway Museum which, in a sadly ironic move, maintains a fleet of equipment all in the L&N's colors. RJ Corman's Nashville & Eastern operates ex-Tennessee Central trackage between Old Hickory and Lebanon with occasional runs to points somewhat further east over the former TC trackage. Nashville & Eastern subsidiary Nashville & Western took over the old TC from Nashville to Ashland City.
A westbound local train on a wooden trestle at Clarksville, TN
A meet at Donaldson, TN
FA-1 #801 speeding through Cookeville, TN in April of '62
A broken switch lamp frames an FA at Monterey.
An FA-1 and three RS-3s climb Algood Hill west of Cookeville.
An FA-1 meets RS-36s at Cookeville.
In reply to NickD :
Those are amazing pics of a rather sad little railroad.
Anyone feeling ambitious? There's a pair of wooden passenger cars on the Sacramento craigslist, despite being in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, for $10k with no trucks. Actually, I think it's one passenger car that was cut in half to be moved. And calling it a passenger car is a bit generous.
In reply to NickD :
If there's no surviving blueprints to build one from scratch, I could see some value in it. It doesn't look like it would be useful for much beyond that though.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
I'm not even sure how you would move it without destroying it. If it still has the trucks and draft gear, it might be worth it just to grab those parts and burn the rest.
A shame. They were beautiful cars once upon a time.
The schedule for Union Pacific #4014 has been released for this year. It will be on display at the following four cities:
July 6, 2022: Sparks, Nevada
July 8-9, 2022: Roseville, California
July 15-16, 2022: Portland, Oregon
July 21-22, 2022: Boise, Idaho
Big Boy #4014 will leave the Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, June 26, making brief whistle-stops in dozens of communities in Wyoming, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. Further details for these stops will be released in May. This trip was actually planned for 2020, but then was canceled due to 2020, and so they are running it this year. The Portland stop has me wondering if there will also be an appearance by SP #4449, since it is also in Portland.
Lead engine of the early CSA-1 class Challengers, Union Pacific #3800, leans into a curve at Durham, Wyoming in August of 1956. #3800 and several of her CSA-1 and CSA-2 class sisters got a brief second lease on life in the late '50s. The CSA-series Challengers had been placed in storage by the arrival of the newer 4664-3, 4664-4, and 4664-5 class Challengers, as well as the Big Boys and diesels, but Union Pacific had drained them of water, covered the stacks and lubricated everything before doing so. As more diesels filtered onto the property, the later Challengers were also taken out of service at Cheyenne and Green River, but Union Pacific was so certain they had enough diesels, that they just dumped them in sidings without draining and drying them. In '56, there was a traffic spike and Union Pacific panicked and attempted to revive the later 4664-x series Challengers, only to discover that freeze damage had ruptured feed lines and feedwater heaters and piping. Instead, the slumbering CSA-series Challengers and several long-silent 9000-series 4-12-2s were rousted from the sidings and put on one last show.
Grimy but still capable, UP #3821 hurries a string of cars that stretches over the horizon at Gothenburg, Nebraska.
An absolutely filthy #3822 at Red Buttes, Wyoming in June of 1957, with an ATSF stock car behind the tender.
UP #3823 at Council Bluffs, Iowa in September of '56. The shiny jacketing on the cylinders of the front engine make me believe it possible received some work before reactivation.
Union Pacific #3827 at Speer, Wyoming with a train of empty gravel gondolas. It's headed to a quarry just east of Cheyenne, which supplied the UP with it's distinct pink granite ballast.
Judging by the chalky white deposits on the boiler, left over from foam caused by hard water, Union Pacific must have had some issues with water quality, or was just getting lax with their water treatment at this point.
UP #3823 hurries across the plains in Nebraska with mixed merchandise, including some new John Deere tractors.
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