CNO&TP Second District -- Saturday & Sunday

[ssmith1627]

Billy Worsham and I spent Saturday travelling up the CNO&TP from Harriman to Danville and Sunday working our way back down.  

We ran into Eric (sorry I didn't catch your last name !) and his father at Cave Springs Road in Keno.  Although there was only one train, it was an awesome location on a wonderful day.  Enjoyed talking with you guys.  As Eric and his father headed south, Billy and I went north.  We texted with Eric for the rest of the day along with E.M. Bell who was down in Chattanooga.  E.M. was also feeding us information for what was coming south out of Danville.  What a fantastic way to train chase.  It seemed like we had a train at every location we stopped at.  Many thanks to you guys for the live information !

Despite my still-devloping photography skills, I think we got some pretty good shots.  Certainly learned a lot for each location -- time of day is critical to many of them, especially those deep cuts.  We left New River before 116 arrived but pretty much caught a train everywhere else along the way.  

Found the south portal to old Tunnel 16 at Sunbright.  We walked about 1/4 way in there before turning back. And then we did some searching both by vehicle and on foot to find the north portal there at Kings Mountain.  That was an adventure but so very worth it.  I've never done much of that type of thing.  It was amazing to see.  The tunnel at Sunbright seems to be in good shape but the north portal at Kings Mountain was collapsing and has something closer to a river than a creek running through it.  The water was 2-3 feet deep in places.  That is one long tunnel.  The light at the other end and it's reflection in the water had me confused when I first saw it -- I didn't understand what I was looking at or how far away that south portal really was.  

Quite an adventure on a wonderful weekend.  I could easily spend a week up there.  The 2nd district is fantastic.  I don't know why we don't see more articles in these railroad magazines about it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/March2010TrainChase#

Steve

[nsgelocos]

I ran into a fellow at Lancing Saturday who knew alot about the railroad, wouldn't happen to any of you guys on the forum would it?

[billworsham]

We were not in Lancing, as we decided to skip it.