My trip to Stevenson, Alabama

[overall]

I had the day off today. My wife did not, so I decided I would explore the CSX Chattanooga Sub between Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Stevenson, Alabama. I took these items;

1) Delorme Atlas and Gazeteer.
2) Kodak 3.2 MB "easy share" camera.
3) Uniden scanner
4) Old Yashica 35mm range finder camera( not used this trip)
5) Train magazine to look at between trains.

I struck off south from Murfreesboro along back roads that basically follow the tracks. I was able to keep the railroad in sight the majority of the time.I had hoped to see more trains this way. I started at 6:00 am. I went through Christiana@ 6:45 am, Fosterville @ 7:03 am then Bellbuckle @ 7:25 am. I saw a caboose on display here. It was a cupola caboose lettered L&N but w/o a number. I got to Wartrace @ 7:36 am and saw another caboose on display. It was a bay window caboose L&N # 6162. I came to Normandy @ 7:55 am then to Tullahoma @ 8:05 am. It was here that I encountered my first train, a southbound autorack train with CSX # 5007 as the lead unit and CSX # 8762 as the trailing unit. He was in the siding for an intermodal going north.I think I heard on the scanner that it was #122. I don't know that for sure. On the way out of town, I saw caboose L&N # 1022 on display on the south side of Tullahoma. At 9:07, I arrived at the Cowan, Tennessee pusher district. The line climbs a long grade through Cumberland Tunnel and very often, trains need to be pushed over the mountain,therefore there is a pusher stationed at Cowan. I was hoping to see him push one over, but I saw a crew working on the track and decided that they would not be doing that if there was anything coming anytime soon, so I moved on south. At 10:25 am, I arrived in Stevenson, Alabama. Stevenson is where the CSX Chattanooga Sub and the NS Tennessee Division come together. The line is then CSX on into Chattanooga with NS having running rights from Stevenson on in. About 60 feet or so toward Chattanooga from the junction where the two lines come together, CSX splits them up again and starts double track from that point all the way into Chattanooga. I got there just in time to see the tail end of a train coming off the NS going toward Chattanooga, this was my third train of the day. Stevenson has restored it's depot. It is now a Community Center but was not open today. At 11:10am there was an intermodal northbound on CSX with a lash up of UP engines at the point. I did not get the engine numbers. At 12:07 pm there was another train north bound on CSX. It was a mixed frieght with BNSF 4387 as the lead unit and BNSF 5002 trailing. Incidently, it was 5300 feet long with 84 cars. I got some bad news over the scanner, a Hi-Rail truck found two "pull-aparts" on track two, between Stevenson and Chattanooga. He said he had help coming. I figured this situation would put a damper on traffic this afternoon so I decided to pack up and leave. Right before I did, at 12:22 pm, CSX sent another train north behind CSX # 7379 and CSX # 9002. This was an intermodal train. On the way back, I saw him stopped at Sherwood. I don't know what the problem was. Incidently, there is yet another caboose on display at Steveson, a cupola caboose numbered 50. There is also a 44 ton diesel switcher on display.

And, that's the way it was this January 16, 2006 on the Chattanooga Sub. I did not have very good luck today, maybe I'll do better next time.

George