Flooding in NC / TN (was on the Clinchfield)

[yellowdog]

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Tennessee and North Carolina have been deluged with rain and subsequent historic levels of flooding. My friends have been sending pics of some of the devastation. In some places, the railroad is completely gone. Traffic had already been diminished over the line in recent years, but the current damage leaves me wondering if this once proud road will now be shut down for good. Here's a Trains article with some brief opinion:

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/thinking-about-appalachias-railroaders-commentary/

[eric]

It's bad. We got a bunch of rain west of Knoxville, but between Knoxville and Asheville it's catastrophic.

[geepster775]

The CRR bridge over the Nolichucky near Chestoa/Unaka Springs DID survive, in contrast to earlier reports and speculation that it did not.

Built at a time when bridges were 'overbuilt' due to the then-lack of computer tools for precision engineering.

[yellowdog]

Pic from a friend

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[yellowdog]

South of Erwin

[ossie]

That's a really well written article by Chase Gunnoe yellowdog, thanks for posting it. While the numbers of those employed by the railways in small towns here are just a drop in the bucket compared to when I was a kid, anyone that's ever lived in a small town knows how those communities rally together when times get tough. Hopefully the RRs see fit to get all those damaged lines back into commission as soon as possible and all those people are able to return to their livelihoods as quickly as possible.

[geepster775]

That looks like the bridge at Poplar.

Here is the one further north at Chestoa.

https://youtu.be/_FVvRe0JNqo?t=493

[Jdark34]

helene hit pretty hard in florida with category 4 hurricane and 40 people died

[yellowdog]

Yeah, it's Poplar. The bridge that was destroyed at Chestoa was the road bridge. As you pointed out, some initial reports were confusing it with the railroad bridge.
I guess the point is that Chestoa may have survived, but everything south of there is badly damaged, to include other bridges of similar style and build.

[yellowdog]

Pete--
Unfortunately, CSX had essentially gutted the old Clinch several years ago, leaving a gap for many of those people long before this recent catastrophe. Erwin, as an example, had built a $10 million dollar bridge to go over/around the railroad to avoid hours of traffic backups due to CSX switchers building trains at the north end of the yard. Literally a few months later, CSX announced that it was reducing traffic on the line and abandoning Erwin as a hub. Erwin was THE hub of the Clinchfield and had continued that role as the crew change for the Blue Ridge and Kingsport Subs. Shortly after the announcement, CSX ripped up most of the tracks in Erwin. Having cost the city unnecessary millions of dollars on the bridge project alone.

Here's another article on the damage in the Nolichucky Gorge:

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/csxs-former-clinchfield-largely-unrecognizable-after-historic-flood/

[eric]

Erwin, as an example, had built a $10 million dollar bridge to go over/around the railroad...... Shortly after the announcement, CSX ripped up most of the tracks in Erwin. Having cost the city unnecessary millions of dollars on the bridge project alone.

To be fair, I don't think the city paid for that, and if they contributed it was probably low six figures. My understanding is the Feds paid $8m of the project cost, TNDOT picked up most of the rest, as it was a state highway. But you're right that it was probably not a great use of funds unless someone CSX or someone else resumes operations on that line.

[yellowdog]

You're correct on the funding sources; my mistake. At any rate, the bridge wasn't built to circumvent the mainline. It was built to circumvent the yard. Which CSX ripped out years ago. I guess the main point is that the railroad was the heart of that community, and is no longer. The bridge was sort of symbolic of the railroad's loss of concern for the community, and it's impact on the local railroaders and railroad communities.

[geepster775]

Re: the TRAINS article, I think the Clinchfield has seen plenty of Nolichucky river flooding scenarios in the past. It survived then, and it will survive this.

The Erwin highway bridge was built to get around blocked crossings. Probably as an ambulance route built around the same time as the destroyed hospital was built.

[yellowdog]

The Clinch has never seen anything like this.

The crossings aren't blocked anymore because the yard no longer exists.

[eric]

Regardless if the yard is there anymore, I happen to think any grade crossing in the middle of a town you can separate is a good thing.

It'll be interesting to see if CSX chooses to invest in restoring the line. It currently carries 5-8 trains a day from what I read earlier, and almst all of it is through traffic. This might be the justification CSX needed to make the Clinch into the next Tennessee Pass.