East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad - History

History

The ET&WNC Transportation Company was chartered by the Tennessee General Assembly on May 24, 1866. Lack of financial backing led to the venture's failure, and the railroad was abandoned in 1874. The Cranberry Iron Company acquired the line between 1876 and 1879, and designated the railroad one of its subsidiaries. The initial 14.1-mile (2.25-kilometer) run through the Appalachian Mountains from Johnson City to Hampton, Tennessee via Elizabethton was completed on August 22, 1881 by Pennsylvania-based financier Ario Pardee, and the technical expertise of Thomas Matson (the noted railway engineer); a line extension to Cranberry opened on July 3, 1882. Soon dubbed by mountain residents as the "Railway with a Heart" as railroad personnel often performed errands for the locals (and even allowed passengers to ride for free during the Great Depression), its tickets were even validated with a heart-shaped punch.

The ET&WNC had five (Baldwin Locomotive works) 4-6-0 Ten Wheelers the #9, #10, #11, #12, #14. The #9 had slightly smaller valves and smaller wheels. The valves work like the valves on a car there is an intake valve that forces steam into the cylinder pushing the piston out. This motion turns the side rods which moves the wheels. The force of the wheel moving pushes the piston back in, forcing the steam out of cylinder into the smoke box. In the smoke box the steam and smoke are mixed and forced out the smoke stack. This creates a draft that pulls the heat from the fire through the boiler. All the engines where painted black. But Clarence Hobbs chose to paint the engines green to mimic the Southern Railway standard gauge engines. In the midst of WWII passenger service rapidly declined so there was no reason to run a full passenger train day to day. The ET&WNC used car 15 which was a passenger car, post office, and baggage compartment then behind car 15 was one or 2 of 3 piggy back cars. The ET's passenger station was next to the trucking depot and the railyard was another mile down the track. So to save time they got car 15 then the piggy back because there was no reason to get the train then the piggy back.

The ET&WNC (sometimes referred to as the "Eat Taters & Wear No Clothes" Railroad) hauled iron ore from the Cranberry mines, pig iron from the local forge, and lumber from the forests of western North Carolina. CIC purchased the Linville River Railway (LRR, known as the "Arbuckle" line) in 1913, a line originally constructed in the 1890s specifically to haul lumber between Cranberry and Saginaw, North Carolina. The LRR line was subsequently extended to Boone, North Carolina; the tracks suffered heavy damage from a 1940 flood, and the line was abandoned following Interstate Commerce Commission approval on March 22, 1941. The damage to the track looked like somebody put a picket fence in the middle of the field. The ties where sticking out of the ground with the dual gauge track still on the ties.

The ET&WNC was one of the major rail lines to haul both passengers and freight in the region during World War II, though business declined dramatically after the War. The narrow gauge track from Elizabethton was soon abandoned, though the ET&WNC retained service between Johnson City and the rayon plants of Elizabethton. The tracks in and around Johnson City (where most of the company's industrial customers were located) were dual gauge to allow for interchange with other railroads; the ET&WNC purchased three standard gauge 2-8-0 consolidation locomotives (204, 207, and 208) to switch cars throughout the area. The ET&WNC Railroad Company officially ceased operations on October 16, 1950.

Soon thereafter, Tweetsie Locomotive No. 12 (a 4-6-0 ten wheeler built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1917, and the last of the original 15 coal-fired ET&WNC steam-powered units) was purchased by a group railroad enthusiasts and shipped to Virginia. Movie cowboy Gene Autry later bought the unit, intending to transport it to California for use in his films. After a lengthy restoration, the locomotive returned North Carolina on May 23, 1957 along with a few pieces of the original rolling stock. That summer, the "Tweetsie Railroad" became the state's newest travel attraction and family theme park. The train travels over a scenic 3-mile (4.8 kilometer) loop through the mountains near Blowing Rock, close to the original end-of-the-line station in Boone. The park operates two steam locomotives: in addition to former ET&WNC No. 12, in 1960 the company acquired No. 190 (the Yukon Queen, a type 2-8-2 locomotive) from the State of Alaska and restored it for operation. Tweetsie is also home to an authentic wooden coach, former East Broad Top Railroad #5, which is run on special occasions such as their annual Railfan Weekend event.

The Green Bay Packaging Company of Green Bay, Wisconsin ultimately acquired the railroad properties and reorganized the company as the East Tennessee Railway (ETRY). Since 1996, the railroad has been owned by Genesee and Wyoming, an international operator of short line railroads, as part of its Rail Link group. The standard gauge line continues to operate switching operations in Johnson City for freight arriving via the CSX and Norfolk Southern Railways.