The conductor on Kopper Glo mine run 787 steps off the train before a cut of empties is shoved through the loadout before being filled with black diamonds.

NS mine run 787 begins loading coal at Kopper Glo's loadout in Clairfield, Tennessee. This is the last active loadout in the state, and it merely hangs on by a thread.

As a misty dusk settles over northeastern Tennessee, NS 787 rolls through the site of the former yard in Jellico before briefly entering Kentucky on its winding journey to the Kopper Glo loadout i... (more)

NS 787 rolls along the CSX KD Subdivision above the roaring Clear Fork River as it nears home trackage on the NS-owned Clear Fork Branch where it will go load at Kopper Glo in Clairfield, TN.

The L&N and the Southern Railway once had a joint yard in Jellico, TN, but it was removed by Norfolk Southern around ten years ago. NS 787 is seen rolling through the shadow of that yard as it pre... (more)

The defining feature of the Jellico Branch is its intense southbound grade as it climbs the side of Jellico Mountain out of Elk Valley. This northbound empty coal train is seen here easing off of ... (more)

A northbound empty coal train bound for Kopper Glo eases out of Pioneer Tunnel at the crest of the grade on the scenic and seldom-shot Jellico Branch.

On a beautiful Saturday morning back in October 2013, NS 2675 is only a couple of miles out of Sevier Yard with empty coal train 787 in tow northbound on the K&O line, heading back to the mine for... (more)

Empty Wateree Coal Train No. 787 turns west onto the S Line at Salisbury on a muggy July evening.

An empty Wateree coal train pulls west onto the Asheville main to begin the journey west.

Shortly after 10 pm on this cool Sunday night, NS westbound empties pass through Ridgecrest, NC with the Lackawanna heritage unit leading. Special thanks to RP.net contributor Reginald McDowell f... (more)

NS train 787 passes the historic Andrew's Geyser in route to Asheville (and eventually a loadout on the Jellico Line north of Knoxville).

Getting down and dirty on Christiansburg Mountain.... Two EMD's struggle to keep this hopper train rolling uphill as they emerge from the west portal of Montgomery Tunnel on a balmy November after... (more)

NS 787 with BNSF SD70MAC in executive scheme on the head end enters the east end of the Bristol Yard