An Epic weekend of Southern Steam in Knoxville.

[E.M. Bell]

What a year this has been for the loyal fans of the Southern, NS, and STEAM... September saw the kickoff of the new "21st Century Steam" program with several successful trips around Chattanooga with the 630, and then this past week, she made her first "real" mainline runs to Knoxville.

Carmon and myself where not able to shoot the Chattanooga to Knoxville trip or the return this past Monday because of work schedules, but we did spend a great 3 days in Knoxville over the weekend to shoot the NS F units on a trip to Asheville NC and back, and also the historic run of Southern 154 (from the G&O) and the 630 on the K&A branch to Alcoa and back, plus the ferry moves for that trip.

I dont feel the need to go in to a lot of detail about all of the weekend's activities, as they have been well covered here and other places. Let it suffice to say it was a privilege to be on hand to see the 154 cross the TN river in Knoxville Sunday morning, under steam, for the first time since it was retired in 1953, and to watch the 630 bring that train back up the branch. All of the folks from NS, TVRM and the G&O that worked long, thankless hours to put this all together deserve a well earned "Atta-boy" for making it happen.

I have finished up all of my steam pics from the weekend. Here are a few small samples, and you can take a look at the whole set (40 in all) over on Pbase...just follow this link.

http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/knoxvillesteamemb

[Michael Knight]

Great stuff, as always, EM! The fall colors really provide great contrast with the coal smoke.