This photo is just one of those that brings back memories to me. My grandfather's name was Ted Ragan. He is the man that I looked up to as a small boy, my role model, my entire world at the time. He taught me about many things dealing with farming and mechanics, and he also got me interested in railroads. I still remember the day, I was a mere toddler when we would drive past the downtown Knoxville yard where NS ran daily switching operations to the White Lily Flour Mill. This one day, I looked over and saw a set of yard power shuttling cars around and said something about it. He took the time out of his day to drive me over there and let me watch these switch engines go back and forth for hours. From that day on, he would take me down there every day after school and even on Sundays after church. I would always enjoy it. He wasn't really the railroad aficionado like I was, he got just as much joy watching me have a smile on my face as I did watching a train roll by. That was our bonding time. Every Sunday we would take a trip to John Sevier Yard off of Rutledge Pike and sit at the West End for a couple of hours. Almost always a train would pull out of the River Yard and double over, then it would leave the yard going either north up the K&O or west down to Chattanooga. I would always get excited when one of the patched Conrail locomotives would lead. I would yell, "Look grandpa, it's another big blue!" These trains back then would also have another 5-9 locomotives behind the leader. Who would have thought that 9 years after my grandfather's passing, I would get to see another "Big Blue" lead a train out of Sevier Yard, where my grandfather and I would spend most of our Sunday. This photo makes me smile, as I know my grandfather was watching me as I reminisced of him during the roll-by of this train. I still can't thank him enough for all he did for me. Norfolk Southern and its employees deserves a big thank you for creating these units, making moments like this possible.
