The East Tennessee Railway (reporting mark ETRY) is a short line railroad linking Elizabethton, Tennessee to CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway in Johnson City, Tennessee, 11 miles (17.7 km) away. Since 2005, the railroad has been owned by Genesee and Wyoming, an international operator of short line railroads, as part of its Rail Link group. The railroad uses two diesel locomotives to serve eight industries; the largest customer is North American Rayon.
The current regular gauge railroad is a remnant of a larger, narrow gauge railroad, the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, chartered in 1866 to haul iron ore from Cranberry, North Carolina to Johnson City across the Appalachian Mountains. Through an acquisition and track extensions, the railroad grew to serve Boone, North Carolina and Saginaw, North Carolina. ET&WNC used dual gauge tracks between Johnson City and Elizabethton; eventually the railroad ceased all narrow gauge operations and only operated standard gauge service on this one section. Later, with a change in ownership this limited line was reorganized as the East Tennessee Railway. As of now, the railroad does not go to Elizabethton, TN any more. The rail line has been abandoned, railbanked, and the rails and ties have been removed to make a walking trail. The East Tennessee Railway still services customers around the yard and still makes deliveries to the CSXT and NS. They started out with a two-man crew for many years, and have just now upped to a three-man crew. They work Monday through Friday.
Famous quotes containing the words east and/or railway:
“We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)