Save The Tennessee Railway

07/02/2024

Our main goal is saving the Tennessee Railroad and implementing our “Rail Re-use” program to preserve remaining artifacts, promote ethical tourism, and educate future generations about the area’s rich history. We also feel that it is equally important to recognize and support other businesses, groups, and individuals who are also attempting to breathe life back into these beautiful mountain communities. From time to time going forward you may see more posts supporting these fine folks and their efforts, primarily focusing on businesses near the rail line. These posts are NOT sponsored, and we are open to any suggestions if you would like to see a business OR individual featured.

One of the newest businesses along the rail line is the “SKULL BONE” Campground, conveniently located in the beautiful and historic community of Norma, just across the track from where the Norma depot once stood. The campground has direct access to the Brimstone recreation area, TWRA trails, and is just a half hour drive away from the Windrock General store OR the trails at Royal Blue. The scenic New River borders the magnificent 17-acre area, giving visitors the opportunity to fish, swim, kayak, or just relax by the water. With the beautiful riverside area and scenic views of the surrounding mountains, its no wonder their slogan is “Relax or ride…You decide!”, both are certainly appealing options! They are also taking orders for T-shirts to commemorate your visit or just to wear to show your love for the campground. Be sure to reach out to order your shirts AND book a campsite. (T-Shirt preview in pictures posted)

Skull Bone Campground features
• Pull-thru camper / RV sites.
• Water & septic hookups
• Wi-fi
• 30 amp/110 hook ups
• 50 amp /220 hook ups
• Nightly AND monthly rates
• More exciting things to come including an eventual shower house and 12 more camp sites!

Skull Bone Campground is located at: 4000 Norma Rd. Huntsville, TN 37756.
Website: https://www.skullbonecampground.com/
Phone: 423-539-0028
Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer:
The pictures in this post are a combination of pictures we took ourselves on site, photos found online, and photos from the Skull Bone Campground Website and page. The historic photos featuring the Norma depot and community were found online and I am unsure who to credit them to. Permission to visit and take photos was granted to us by one of the owners.

30/01/2024

Hello again friends, family, and followers! We would like to apologize once again for our continuing absence from Facebook and Instagram. Once we reached around 1,600 followers, we began being barraged by fake accounts attempting to scam us into giving them private information. Several attempts at hacking the page outright were also thwarted by our page admins and Facebook’s warning systems. In short, the constant barrage just took the social media wind out of our sails for some time. As I write this, we just received a message from yet another fake account attempting to get access to private information. We want to take this opportunity to warn all our friends and followers to remain alert and stay vigilant on social media, even if you don’t run a page and only use your personal profiles, do not accept any messages from anyone you do not know. If it seems suspicious or too good to be true...IT IS!

We are still here and still working daily to save the Tennessee Railroad and to share the fascinating history of the industries and individuals of the Anderson, Campbell, and Scott County region.
As always, we thank you for your continued support and patience.

Nonprofit organization

13/07/2023

Track inspection has always been a critical part of railroad maintenance and is always performed on a regular basis, or as needed after less than desirable weather. During the first half of the twentieth century, many railroads took regular sedans, removed the wheels and tires, and replaced them with flanged steel wheels so they could be ran over the railroad lines. This was much faster and less effort than walking or using a hand car, didn't require a locomotive to be fired up, and could also be turned around at any point if needed by use of the built in turntable on the bottom of the car. The turn table would be lowered, and the car would be turned by the crew. Thanks to the car balancing right on its center of gravity, this could be done by just one or two people. Having more people to help did make it alot easier to keep it from teetering to one side however I'm sure.

The Tennessee elected to use a 40s model Plymouth sedan for its superintendents car, seen here being turned around to head back to Oneida. Later on the Tennessee would replace its handcars with speeders, and even get a Ford Galaxie to either replace or supplement the Plymouth.

This fantastic colorized photo was edited by none other than Everett Posey! (We are thankful he allows us to copy his homework!)

09/07/2023

The Tennessee operated under several different names over the years, originally starting out at the Paint Rock Coal & Coke Co. Railroad in the 1890s. Despite the name changes and several "reorganizations," the Tennessee always had its own clear identity, as did the other railroads of Scott County. That all changed in February of 1973 when the Southern Railway bought the line and added it to the ever growing web of lines they controlled throughout the southern states. The line continued to operate independently under Southern's ownership for a short time before ultimately being changed forever by both time and progress. Fortunately, Southern invested heavily in the line and many of their capital improvements are what have helped the line to withstand the tests of time and nature. For the most part...

In this beautifully colorized photo by Everett Posey we see a trio of Southern Railway locomotives traversing through the Oneida railyard, it looks like they are moving from one mainline track to another, possibly building a cut of cars to take up the Tennessee to be loaded. This picture was taken from the highway overpass which was still under construction at the time. To the left you can see one leg of the Tennessee's "wye". To the right in the back ground, those who choose to zoom in can see the tracks for the Oneida & Western depot are still in place and are being used to store rail cars. Oneida is still a busy town, but it sure was a great deal busier in 1983. Southern Railway's successor Norfolk Southern, has recently pulled almost all of the storage tracks up out of the yard farther in the back ground. Sadly closing another small chapter in the history books of Scott County, East Tennessee, and the Tennessee Railroad.

Be sure to follow the page for more updates on our efforts to save the Tennessee from abandonment and to see just how the Tennessee has changed over the years!

As always, thank you for your support!

30/11/2022

Happy Giving Tuesday to all our friends, family, and supporters, we hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We have had so many people reach out offering to donate everything from money and equipment all the way up to locomotives and rollingstock. While we are extremely grateful for these offers, we would like to take this opportunity to encourage those who are able to give to reach out to those who are truly in need this holiday season. There are so many charitable organizations both locally and nationwide, that do amazing work to help those who are sick, impoverished, and hungry. There are always people in need of help, but as fall ends and winter begins to set in, there are many people who need your generosity more than we do at this time.

As always, we thank everyone for their support and enthusiasm. Hopefully in the future we can make use of your wonderful offers of donations, but as of now we are still on the long journey to becoming a 501c3 Non-profit organization.

Today's photo shows a man "riding the rods" of a box car in or around 1907. Hobos often used this dangerous method of travel when they were unable to gain access to an open boxcar or other more suitable rail cars for riding. (This image is in the public domain)

11/11/2022

SURVEY #1 NOW LIVE AND ACCEPTING RESPONSES!
Please follow the link.
If you or anyone you know are interested in the project please be sure to take this survey and keep an eye out for the next few to come! Your input as a community is important to us, and we are excited to hear from locals and tourists alike. We look forward to creating a historic multi-use recreational corridor that could provide new recreational activities for locals and tourists while also preserving the area's rich history, in addition to protecting the privacy and security of locals who live along the right of way. By keeping the rail line from turning into a giant ATV highway or just another of many walking trails, we hope to bring several different forms of recreation that could work WITH the existing trail and ATV groups to diversify the recreational opportunities available in the area.

https://forms.gle/1LQ6j9hEUidypTRE9

Thank you for electing to participate in the Tennessee Railway Surveys! This survey is to gather information on what kind of recreational activities residents & tourists are already partaking in, and to gauge your interest in potential new activities that could be created by rehabilitating the Tenne...

25/10/2022

SURVEY ANNOUNCEMENT!
In the coming days and weeks we will be releasing a few surveys to gather more information on the public's opinions about saving the rail line. These surveys will provide crucial data that we can use to show that this project is not only worth while, but VITAL to this areas future.

Each survey will cover different topics such as:
- Recreational activities
- Community impact
- Ownership / operation preference
- and possibly more...

As we continue to move forward and lobby for support at the state and federal levels, we must be able to show that the public has a genuine interest in the success of this project. Many people have reached out to us asking how they can help, which is wonderful. However at this time we are still unable to receive donations or do any physical work on the line. The best way you can help at this time is to participate in the surveys when we release them, and encourage your friends and family to do the same. As we release the surveys we will also be running more ads to promote them, incase anyone misses out on the initial posting. As always, thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. Some days it is all that keeps us going!
(Image used for attention under paid license)

02/09/2022

Engine number 33 seems to have captured the attention of the young man walking by as trains and other heavy machinery so often do. The keen eyed among you may notice what appears to be the "trailer" to the M-2 Brill Motorcar or "Mail bus / Rail bus" in the back ground. The open platform at the rear of the car and the window pattern lead me to believe that it is in fact the trailer as opposed to the M-2 its self.

This of course is another wonderful colorization done by Everett Posey, and his caption is as follows...
"The Cross Hotel cast a long shadow toward the Depot and Engine 33 as it is preparing to take a load of empties to Devonia and bring back coal from the mines in Clinchmore and Devonia.
Oneida, Tennessee Circa 1948"

31/08/2022

Tennessee Railroad locomotives number 1 & 2 are seen roaring past the water tower and over the bridge into the Beech Fork area, presumably slowing down for the "wye" located there. Behind them, a long cut of empty coal hoppers Headed for the mines near the Clinchmore, Devonia, or Moores Camp areas snakes out of frame. The lush greenery indicates it may be late spring or sometime in the summer,1972.

This color photograph was touched up a bit by our good friend Everett Posey. At this time I would wager this is another great photo from Allan Keeton's collection, however I must confess I am unsure. I will be sure to update it if I find out anymore information.

31/01/2022

UPDATE: We would like to let you all know that we had a wonderful meeting with Gregory Jones of the CEC (Civil and Environmental Consultants) who are preforming an economic impact study on the rail line and how its removal, or revival could impact the surrounding communities, counties, and already existing businesses. While only a small victory, it is a good step in the right direction, and we were glad to be of help.

We would also like to thank the members of the Northeast Rail Authority as well as Paula Middlebrooks for recommending us as being "the right people to speak to" on the subject. Their continued support and faith in our efforts and plans means a lot to not only us, but many people who live in the area.

For today's photograph we have another one of Everett Posey's fantastic, colorized pictures. I'm not sure who's original collection it is from currently. Here we see the Brill M-2 Motor car (better known as the mail bus) passing what is probably the most well-known area on the rail line today. The water tower at Beech Fork, still stands to this day, however the line beyond it has suffered from a rockslide covering the track, and further down from that lies a washout as many already know.
As always thank you all for your continued support and words of encouragement!

The Save the TN Railway team & the Tennrail group.

16/01/2022

As of Friday our page has reached over 1,000 likes! While to some pages and organizations that may be a small number, to us its a very big deal and we'd like to thank you all for your support and kind words of encouragement.

Today's photograph is another one of Everett Posey's beautifuly colorized works, which I believe originally came from Alan Keeton's collection. A train, no matter how mighty can't get any work done without an equally mighty crew, and what a fine crew they had this day. During this time 5 man crews were still standard operating procedure, usually consisting of a conductor, locomotive engineer, head end brakeman, rear end brakeman and a trainman (or a 3rd brakeman). As the name implies, the job of the brakeman was to tie handbrakes on cars, couple and uncouple rail cars, connect air brake hoses and throw switches to line the train into different tracks. They occasionally had to flag crossings, and performed many other duties as well. While I'm not certain whether the men in this photo are one singular crew, or a group of engineers gathered together for a photograph, I hope that maybe someone who knew these hard working men can shed some light on it for us.

We chose today's photograph for a few reasons. The primary reason being that in rail preservation, the equipment such as locomotives and rail cars sometimes seem to get all the attention. While the hard working individuals who worked countless hours to provide for their families are often forgotten. Our mission goes farther than simply saving the rail line, even if that fails we want to keep the memories and stories of these hard working individuals alive. If you have any family connections, stories, or any neat information you'd like to share. Please drop us a line any time. From railroad men to miners, lumber men to house wives , even the family dog or the engine house cat, we'd love to learn all we can.

Once again thank you all for your support, much like the train pictured, we can't do any meaningful work without a dedicated crew. We believe that with all of your help and interest we may be able to do some amazing things. Please stay tuned for more posts about the history of the line and any updates we may be able to bring.

25/12/2021

Merry Christmas from our organization and families, to yours! All of the amazing support we have gained so far from this page is all we could ever ask for. All of your comments, reactions, shares, and messages mean so much to us. Through them we have heard many amazing stories about people and their family's connections with not only the railroad, but all of the other rich history of this area as well. Thank you all for your support, and please remember to not only like the posts, but to give the page a like as well (it helps us the most) and stay tuned for more developments, and historical posts as we pass the next "mile post" into 2022 together.

Today we are sharing another one of Everett Posey's fantastic colorized photographs. This one being of the M-2 Motor car at Fork Mountain, affectionately called the "mail bus" by many locals.

Everett's caption is as follows...

"On a cold foggy day in December, the M-2 makes its final stop on the Tennessee Railroad in Fork Mountain. The mail has been delivered to the depot, along with passengers and packages ordered from a Sears & Roebuck catalog. Looks like it's going to be a Merry Christmas. 1952 "

Again we thank Everett for letting us share his amazing work on our page, and all of you for your support. Merry Christmas to you all!

11/12/2021

Todays picture has been colorized by local historian Everett Posey, and shows one of the Tennessee Railroad track crews or "gangs" at Cordell TN in 1930. From the information Everett has gathered it appears this crew was replacing railroad ties, swapping out older untreated ties (that were essentially just logs with their top and bottom "sawn" flat to accommodate the rail ) for the newer creosote treated properly milled ties we are all familiar with even today.
Thanks again to Everett for letting us share his posts photos and information!

Track Gang Cordell, Tennessee Circa 1930. Colorize by Everett Posey

10/12/2021

In today's photograph we see Tennessee Railroad locomotive number 34 sitting by the water tower in the yard at Oneida. The men in the cab are fireman Junior Keeton (left) and engineer Lester Terry (right), the man below is unknown but is likely a hostler who prepared their engine for them prior to their shift. Number 34 appears to have just taken on water at the tower, and despite looking a bit weathered , is still looking well kept. Local historian Allan Keeton (and son of Junior) estimates this picture was most likely taken sometime between 1947 and 1952. Number 34 appears to be coupled to an ex southern railway woodside caboose, and may be preparing to do some switching in the rail yard. Thanks to Allan Keeton for sharing the information and photograph with us, be sure to keep and eye out for more historic photographs in the future!

19/11/2021

We would like to thank Elizabeth Sims and Leslie Ackerson from WBIR for coming out and doing a short segment on the train currently tied down on the furthest portion of the Tennessee Railway. One owner didn't have the time to do the interview and we couldn't reach the other, so we set them up with their friend and fellow railroad enthusiast John-David so they could get some basic info, have a look around, and show a broader audience the current condition of the train. The segment aired tonight (November 19th.) at 5:45, but if you missed it you can still watch it online at the link we'll provide here! In the weeks to come we will be making another more detailed post about the trains lineage, and the story of how it got to where it is today, so stay tuned for more information and potential project announcements in the future. Again we would like to remind you that the train IS private property and when you are exploring you are at your own risk, and to please be respectful of the owners property. The last five years or so we have seen the most graffiti and vandalism ever in its decade long "retirement". Thanks again to Elizabeth, Leslie, WBIR, and John-David for taking part in this short segment, every bit of press helps more than you could imagine.

https://www.wbir.com/article/entertainment/places/abandoned-places/tennessee-abandoned-places-new-river-scenic-railway-train/51-4b361a53-52cb-4a4f-acb5-4d273ed02d6a

29/10/2021

Here in the near future we will be making more posts featuring images obtained from our friend Everett Posey, some of which have been colorized. Here is an interesting photograph from the Scott County News paper showing the "extra gang" of the Tennessee railway. Many people have been reaching out to us to show us amazing pictures, some of which are from private collections. We'll be sure to share more historic photos with you all as we get permission to use them and make more connections and friendships. While we haven't been posting lately due to reasons we will address later on in another post, this page has still continued to grow and reach people on its own. We thank you all for checking in and sticking around, as always we'll keep you posted.

31/05/2021

Everyone go check out Old History page they have done a great write up on the Tennessee Railroad. I know we haven’t posted in awhile but between our personal lives and business we haven’t gained much more information. But with the government offices returning to normal we hope to provide more news soon.

And as always feel free to contact us with questions or how to summit letters to concerning parties.

01/03/2021

Happy Monday everyone, we hope you all had a great weekend. We just want to thank everyone for all the support and kind comments as well as sharing our posts! In just 3 days we have had more people reach out to us and interact with this page than we could have ever imagined in such a short amount of time. This week will be a full week of E-mails, phone calls and planning with several individuals. If any thing of note occurs we will update the page if able.

For today's random bit of information I have included 2 photos from railpics.net. The Tennessee railway like all other railroad companies phased out its steam locomotives and purchased some diesels. In this case a nice set of ALCO RS-1s. If I remember correctly most or all of these came from the Rutland Railroad and were numbered 1-6.

The locomotive that is locally owned and sits on the end of the Tennessee railway currently, is an ALCO RS-3 (seen below during better days). So in a way it is akin to the locomotives that once hauled countless tons of coal out of the mountains on the very same line. As you can see from the similar angles the RS series locomotives retained similar outer features, while being mechanically different internally.
Also for anyone wondering the "RS" in their designation stands for "Road Switcher", meaning they were intended to haul long distance "road trains" and could also handle "switching" duties just as well. While big railroads also used these types of locomotives, these multipurpose engines really were perfect for short line work, and many remain in service at revenue or preservation operations to this day. Be sure to check out railpics.net to look up more interesting railroad photographs, and thanks for checking in with us.

26/02/2021

We would like to extend a special thanks to DW Productions for allowing us to use this fantastic looking piece on our page to help drum up support. When I asked what inspired this project, DW Productions stated that they saw the train and couldn't help imagine what it would have looked like in its glory days. As you can see DW Productions does excellent work, consider checking out their page!

A bit of information about this locomotive and rolling stock. THIS EQUIPMENT IS NOT UNDER OUR OWNERSHIP, it is however owned by two locals who live near by and ran a tourist train for a short time before having to cease operations. Contrary to popular belief this train was never "abandoned" it has just been trashed repeatedly by a select few bad spirited people and copper thieves over the last 10 years. Over the last 5 to 10 years this locomotive and two passenger cars has come to be "the face" of the Tennessee railway in our modern era.

- The locomotive (an ALCO RS-3) is of 1950s vintage and while painted as Southern Railway 520, was actually a Reading railroad locomotive. T It was purchased from a copper or iron mine out west and brought back east and painted at the TVRM shops in Chattanooga many years ago now.

- The combine car is of New York Central heritage and up until about 3 years ago was in fair condition inside aside from needing new upholstery and a new concrete floor.

- The second coach is a commuter car from Canada, it seats roughly 100 passengers and has "bus style" seats. It too was in fair shape interior wise up until about 3 years ago.

While we are focusing on saving the track and not the equipment pictured its self at this time, we have discussed with the current owners of this equipment about ensuring it has a purposeful future in some capacity should we be successful. We can't afford to put the cart before the horse, but we would be open to working with them to stabilize this equipment some day, and we look forward to further discussion. If you have ever been out to the train or along the line to take pictures or visit, share some of your pictures / positive experiences down below. We'd love to hear about your connection to the train, the rail line, or the local communities! Together we can help each others stories be heard and appreciated.

Thank you again for checking out our page.

26/02/2021

Hello everyone. We are a group of like minded individuals attempting to reverse the decision made by RJ Corman and the STB to abandon the Tennessee Railway line from Oneida to Devonia (Moores Camp) TN. To reverse this decision would benefit Anderson, Campbell, and Scott County greatly, as having this line provides a potential for future industrial expansion into the heart of some of their most rural areas, as well as drawing in potential tourism.
As a group we had been making attempts to prevent the abandonment process for about six or seven years to no avail. The decision to abandon the line was made official as many of you reading this already know. We as a group are moving ahead with several different strategies that we must keep relatively private at this time. If you would like to get involved in these early stages please consider writing a letter voicing your displeasure in the decision to abandon this line, and why you feel it would be detrimental to our areas history and or potential growth. If you dont wish to send your letters to RJ corman or the STB yourself, feel free to forward them to us, and we will send them in for you.

While any attempt at pulling this off is a long shot to say the very least, we can't simply go down without a fight. Even if nothing comes of our continued efforts, maybe we can atleast educate some people about the rich history of this line who may have previously not known about it. This page is currently just to increase awareness of the situation as we try to move ahead with our strategies, negotiations, and campaigning. Should any major updates be required we will make them as soon as possible, whether they be good...or bad.

We thank you for your interest in this page and in our efforts.

In addition if you are going to message us just to tell us that this is a waste of our time, or something to that effect please save your breath and move along.