Clinchfield Railroad - (en)
The Clinchfield Railroad (AAR reporting marks CRR) was an operating and
holding company for the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway (AAR
reporting marks CCO). The line ran from the coalfields of Virginia and
Elkhorn City, Kentucky to the textile mills of South Carolina. The 35-mile
segment from Dante, Virginia to Elkhorn City, opening up the coal lands
north of Sandy Ridge Mountains and forming a connection with the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Elkhorn City, was completed in 1915. The
Clinchfield was the last Class I railroad built in the U.S. east of the
Rocky Mountains. The 266-mile railroad provided access to numerous scenic
wonders of the Appalachian region and is probably best-known for the
state-of-the-art railroad engineering techniques applied in its
construction, as exemplified by the Clinchfield Loops climbing the Blue
Ridge Mountains north of Marion, North Carolina. The Clinchfield Railroad
began operating the line December 1, 1924, and for many years it was
leased jointly by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Louisville and
Nashville Railroad. When the L&N merged with the ACL's successor, the
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, on December 29, 1982, forming the Seaboard
System Railroad, the separate operating company was unnecessary and was
dissolved. The line is now owned and operated by CSX Transportation as
their Blue Ridge Subdivision (Spartanburg to Erwin, Tennessee) and
Kingsport Subdivision (Erwin to Elkhorn City).
History
In 1886, Ex-Union General John H. Wilder received a charter for
Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad, commonly referred to as the
"3-C" Railroad. This was the beginning of the modern Clinchfield.
The promoters of this ambitious project proposed a 625-mile line from
Ironton, Ohio, to Charleston, South Carolina, with an extension down the
Ohio River to Cincinnati. It would serve the rich agricultural lands of
the Piedmont, the summer resorts of the North Carolina mountains, the rich
timber and mineral deposits and coal fields of Virginia and Kentucky, with
terminals on both the Ohio River and the Atlantic seacoast. The estimated
cost was $21 million. Johnson City, Tennessee was established as the
headquarters for the 3-C railroad and that city became a railway boom town.
Construction progressed from Johnson City to both the north and south.
Tracks reached Erwin, Tennessee in 1890. The roadway grading was 90%
complete from Johnson City to Dante, Virginia, in 1893, when the 3-C began
to experience financial problems and then failed in the national
depression of that year. In July 1893, the assets of the 3-C railroad were
sold at a foreclosure for $550,000. The new owners renamed it the
"Ohio River and Charleston Railroad." The construction continued
in a halfhearted manner and in 1897 owners began to sell off the railroad
in segments.
At this time, an enterprising entrepreneur, George L. Carter, was involved
in developing the coal lands of southwestern Virginia. He needed a
railroad to transport his coal to a south Atlantic seaport. In 1902, he
purchased the Ohio River and Charleston Railroad, renamed it the
Clinchfield Railroad, and organized a gigantic construction program to get
it completed. Between 1905 and 1909 the road was completed from Dante,
Virginia, to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Carter was successful in getting
adequate financing for the construction and built the railroad to
construction standards far beyond the norms of the times. Consequently,
Clinchfield has not had to reduce grades, lighten curves, straighten
bridges, and enlarge tunnels to handle heavier and larger equipment as
other railroads have had to do. Carter originally established the
Clinchfield headquarters in Johnson City, Tennessee but later moved the
headquarters to Erwin, Tennessee when he could not get required land for
the main shops and classification yards.
