| Posted by Dan I. on October 21, 2020 | |
I can remember a time when the locomotives were painted in Franklin Industrial Minerals livery. You would sometimes catch the trains of both companies either going down or coming up the Cumberland Escarpment from Crab Orchard to Rockwood, TN especially in the Westel area. In Rockwood, the Lhoist / Franklin Mineral tracks intersect with Norfolk Southern Railway. The best train viewing is on top of the Escarpment alonside U.S. 70 in Westel. East of Westel, you will see a tunnel, a very high steel bridge, and a few wooden trestles as you venture west along U.S. 70. What I like about this industrial railroad are the locomotives themselves. The old high hood style. I have no idea when these were built.
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It was probably built that way for Southern RWY because they were no fan of low nosed locos all the way to the end because of crew safety and they were one of the few class 1 RR's that run the long forward again for crew safety. Back in the 1970's there was a "cornfield meet" just out of my hometown of Claremont, NC resulting in one head end loco coming to rest on top of the oncoming loco. I remember that one crew jumped out to safety and the long hood forward probably saved the other crew. No one was killed in that accident. It happened on a section of double track and I never found out who's fault it was that they both wound up on the same track. Biggest thing to ever happen in our little town. I imagine at least one person was looking for a new job after that!
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