Extension of BSFSRY Excursion Line.

 
The Big South Fork Scenic Railway is in the process of rehabilitating a portion of the presently unused K & T mainline and extending the length of the excursion.  Projected completion for phase I is late Spring - early Summer 2006.

 
It's the first week of February and United Rail Service of Burnside, KY is starting work.  Here, ties are being unloaded from the tie truck onto a special rail trailer that will help in unloading the ties along the rail bed.
 
 

The ties have been transferred and the boom on the truck is stowed for travel.
 
 

Getting ready to head down the railroad!  The truck's hi-rail wheels are lowered and the trailer connected.
 

Line Extension/Rehabilitation Progress as of April 2, 2006

RIVER CURVE
  

River Curve is a located at the confluence of Roaring Paunch Creek and the South Fork of the Cumberland River.  The passenger trains traverse a near horseshoe bend around the point of the mountain in a tight 22 degree curve before switching back onto the Mine 18 spur to Blue Heron. 
 
THE "UPSIDE DOWN" PAUNCH CREEK BRIDGE
 

In 1937, the mining company needed to build a one mile spur line from the K & T yard in Camargo to the new coal tipple and rail yard in Blue Heron.  Just after the line leaves the K & T main, it needed to cross Roaring Paunch Creek.  The mining company purchased a used bridge from the New York Central Railroad.   However, since the line crosses the creek at an angle, the girders of the bridge needed to be offset.  The newly purchased used bridge had the offset girders, however they were offset in the opposite direction.   The bridge contractors merely assembled the main girders of the used bridge upside down with the ties and track on what had been the bottom of the bridge and the support piers on what had once been the top.  The builder's plate is upside down in the middle of the bridge! 
 
YAMACRAW BRIDGE
   

Yamacraw bridge is a five-arch hollow concrete bridge spanning the South Fork of the Cumberland River.  Still in serviceable condition, long range plans call for relaying the rails over the bridge for Big South Fork Scenic Railway passengers to enjoy the view from atop the bridge.  Possible future plans may also include a dinner train that would serve supper while parked on the bridge and watching the sunset over the river.

 
TRACK GRADE
Kentucky & Tennessee Railway
“Route of the Painted Rocks”
 
Elevations
 
Stearns              1351 feet
MP1                   1180 feet
MP2                   1040 feet
Tunnel               1000 feet
MP3                     900 feet
Barthell                860 feet
MP4                     860 feet
MP5 – Camargo 769 feet
Blue Heron         760 feet
Worley                763 feet

Mine #2 and river curve, which is a horseshoe curve,  are the two tightest curves with a radius of 22 degrees for each curve.
 
The Kentucky and Tennessee Railway was one of many natural resource short line railroads operating in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 20th century.  However, it was one of the few that mostly took empty loads down the mountain and loads back up.  Today's Big South Fork Scenic Railway drops almost 600 feet in elevation in 5 miles!  Because the locomotives have to labor so hard up the mountain, they push rather than pull the train up the mountain to keep soot and cinders off of the passengers.  This severe grade gives folks the rare opportunity to hear a first generation ALCO diesel electric (and soon steam!) locomotive working flat-out to conquer the steep mountain grade.

 
WHERE THE HECK IS OZ?

One of the coal mining communities that has disappeared into history, along with the section of the K & T Rwy that served it, was named Oz.  How do you get to Oz?  Simple.  It's halfway between Yamacraw and White Oak Junction just west of Rattlesnake Ridge!