The South Central Tennessee Railroad lost a former Apache RR H10-44 down a hillside in Tennessee. Due to the remote location, it was not economical to retrieve the unit, and it is still there, upside down in the woods. Does anyone know the exact location, or has visited it and taken any pictures?
I tried looking at aerial imagery, but couldn't find where the wreck was between Hohenwald and Watson. Not a surprise that it's hidden by trees and such, if it's still there.
There's a picture of this in May 1980 Trains. The locomotive doesn't appear badly damaged (It's not upside down, it's resting on the firemen's side of the locomotive), but I never knew it ended up left in place.
Watson and Hohenwald aren't remotely near each other.
Watson is more likely to be close to the TC east of Lebanon. Does anyone have reasonable location or GPS coordinates for the approximate location?
I was able to trace much of what I believe was the South Central Tennessee, but didn't see anything.
Either I missed it, or it's overgrown - there's a lot of "tree tunnels" along the line.
Per another site, the locomotive was destroyed in 1979. No other details there.
RR Pictures Archive says it was wrecked at Hohenwald. It was in a red/white/blue scheme, so if it's visible from the air at all, it should stand out.
A comment on that site says "it's actually at Twomey (Centerville), but doesn't indicate if that's where the image was taken or is where the locomotive is actually located.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
OvermodWatson and Hohenwald aren't remotely near each other.
Watson: N 35 42' 2" W 87 29' 14"
Hohenwald: N 35 33' 0" W 87 32' 51"
They're definitely fairly near each other (About 35 miles or so, as the bird flies) and at least one old forum post on the internet says that the wreck happened between those two locations.
Here's a picture of it shortly after the derailment.
Leo_AmesHere's a picture of it shortly after the derailment.
That would probably explain why it's not apparent on satellite images - odds are it's completely shielded by foliage. And while it's not completely upside down, it's still mostly the greasy side you'd see from above.
The Hohenwald I pulled up is south of I-40, west of Franklin and Nashville. Watson is up by Crab Orchard. Getting between those locations with anything but a drone might not be straightforward now.
Someone with skillz might overlay the SCT route from Open Railway Map on the relevant maps from Google Earth as a guide for searching. I'm only a couple of hours from there... but not fit to hike much.
Hohenwald is on US412. Watson is due east of the intersection of TN 48 and TN 100.
Found this photo before the wreckhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter1828/1461127107
My SPV/Mike Walker atlas shows Watson to be the road's engine facility. Since the unit was a runaway, I'd guess the wreck occurred south of there on one of the sharp curves going south towards Aetna. Couldn't find anything on Earth in that stretch due to foliage. That day on the SCTR really "went south".
As kids in Reading PA we spent many hours looking for pieces of the fatal 1890 Mount Penn gravity railroad wreck. We only found a few more spikes and the safety turnout ramp that was installed after the wreck.
Rick
rixflix aka Captain Video. Blessed be Jean Shepherd and all His works!!! Hooray for 1939, the all time movie year!!! I took that ride on the Reading but my Baby caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
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