In what has to be the ugliest color on any CSX motor today, best described as being pinkish orange, E231 glides off Duff Mountain at Habersham, TN.

Finding that one spot of sunlight, coal drag N220 picks up speed for what lies ahead, Duff Mountain.

Grain train G796 prepares to trip the Lafollette defect detector in sweet evening light. The move has traversed rough mountainous terrain before drifting down into the lowlands off the Cumberlan... (more)

Dwarfed by a huge bluff of Cumberland Plateau sandstone, grain train G796 blasts out of Hickory Creek #2 tunnel. The crew has already called for the helper as it nears Duff Mountain.

A mixed freight crosses Hickory Creek enroute to Corbin Yard after being held up for hours by three southbounds.

Bursting out into the last light of day, Q539 snakes thru the many rock cuts in the Hickory Creek gorge. Rockslide detector fences line the cuts to warn of slides throughout the area.

Dwarfed by the walls of the Hickory Creek gorge, a loaded coal drag makes its way to daylight and across the creek. With the grade already slowing momentum, this one will need a helper across Duff... (more)

A light engine move, two motors, rumbles out of the Hickory Creek tunnel and onward to Chaska.

With an original blue-gray 7588 unit three back, a faded Dash 8 backs the second cut of mtys up toward the coal loadout on Straight Creek.

MP 246.6 along the Rathole.

The rear motor on a five engine set is a surprise. One never knows what they'll use for power on the Q542, though the switcher is probably being shuffled from Knoxville to Corbin yard.

Ever wonder how a coal hopper gets filled with 100-110 tons of black diamonds?

Passing under an original, unretouched water tank left over from the steam days, NS 8861 heads to the Baldwin prep plant. A spur once turned off here and ran to Round Rock bottom with another spur... (more)

Passing below National Coals slate dump or gob pile, an RJ Corman crew takes a loaded unit train toward Oneida after a long day. Wide views such as this are rare in the Cumberland Mountains.

Riding the rails. An RJ Corman crewmember serving as brakeman backs the rear of a 76 car unit train under the loadout. The rail is being extended to hold 108 cars in the near future.