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The Oneida Flyer: Chattanooga, TN to Oneida, TN 3/30/2014

Dave and I awoke and we found a McDonald's open and I had hot cakes and sausage. From there we drove over to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and parked the rental car then went straight to get on the train as there was still a cold wind blowing out of the west.

This train had a consist of: Norfolk Southern 8099, Norfolk Southern 42 "Tennessee", Norfolk Southern 46 "New Jersey", Norfolk Southern 47 "Louisiana", Norfolk Southern 28 "Powhatan Arrow", Norfolk Southern 29 "Powhatan Arrow", Norfolk Southern 26 "New York", TVRM 50 "Emporuim", TVRM 001, TVRM 007, TVRM 857, TVRM 3158 "Travelers Fare", BMCX 899 "Silver Lake", BMCX 873 and BMCX 6604.

I boarded NS 46 "New Jersey" for the second trip taking seat W-19 and Dave found a seat by himself, thereby letting me have both seats. I talked with my fellow passengers and waited for this trip up the Rathole to start.

This trip, like yesterday's, started with us reversing out onto the Knoxville main line again. Once we started forward we ran at restricted speed as we were on Chattanooga Terminal tracks.

The interior of the "New Jersey" built for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad by Pullman-Standard in 1950 as a 52-seat coach. It later operated with the Allegheny County Port Authority who numbered the car 1604 "City Of Pittsburgh" then went to the Connecticut Department of Transportation where the car was re-numbered 1605, then onto the Adirondack Scenic Railroad where it was also numbered 1605. It was acquired by Norfolk Southern in 2010 and overhauled in February 2013, numbered 46 and named "New Jersey".

The train curved onto the Rathole mainline at Citico Jct then would cross the Tennessee River at Tenbridge and I would be on new mileage once we headed out onto the bridge.

Our train crossed the Tennessee River at Tenbridge.

A few minutes later we crossed a creek near Cave Springs and the tracks twisted and turned to gain elevation as we climbed away from the Tennessee River.

A church near Cave Springs. At Cave Springs, Union Pacific 7836 East was in the siding.

Forsythia trees line this driveway near Daisy.

The valley nearing Sale Creek with US Highway 27 in this view. Union Pacific 4589 East was in the siding as we passed Sale Creek and I noticed new ties ready to be installed along our route.

A field between Sale Creek and Dayton.

A Tennessee farm.

The train ran through Dayton.

Down at the end of the road on the way to Evensville. The train ran through Spring City with a station and Southern caboose.

View north of Spring City.

The train chasers were out in force today and we passed by Roddy siding.

We crossed Bar River then at Rockwood, Norfolk Southern 9362 East was in the siding. Next we reached E.G. Tower which started our double track to just short of Tunnel 26.

The train reached Emory Gap.

The Norfolk Southern station in Emory Gap.

The Emory River.

Our crossing of this river.

Our train entered Tunnel 26.

Once we exited Tunnel 26, Tunnel 25 was ahead of the train.

Emory River through the trees. The train ran through Oakdale and we passed interesting rock formations with springs coming out of them.

The train next entered Tunnel 24. After we crossed Nemo Creek, we entered the Nemo Tunnel, also known as Tunnel 23.

Trees near Lancing. We went through there and met Norfolk Southern 8125 East at Sunbright where there was a second Norfolk Southern freight train.

We then went through Glen Mary where once in the past, Chris Parker and I had a three-way meet of Norfolk Southern trains. We ran through Robbins and I then waited for the next scenic highlight of this route.

Crossing the 307 foot tall New River High Bridge. From here we ran through Phillips where there was another Norfolk Southern freight train waiting for us to pass through then we continued through Helenwood and Pemberton before we closed in on Oneida.

The Norfolk Southern station in Oneida. We arrived and I was first off the train and headed to the front.

Our train at rest here.

Front-end view of Norfolk Southern Heritage Unit 8099. I then stopped by the event in Oneida Park and got a can of Coca-Cola before walking to the road bridge over the tracks south of the park. On the way there I found two surprises.

Virginian Railroad caboose 343 built by the railroad in 1959, masquerading as Norfolk and Western 530343 at the Oneida Depot Museum.

The old Southern Oneida train station built in 1879. I walked up onto the highway bridge to take pictures of the train reversing towards the wye.

Our train reversing towards the wye. Once the train was turned, a few of the cars needed water so that was done at the south end of the park.

Three views of the car show in Oneida Park.

A park view after which I waited for the train to return then boarded and worked on the story for the first forty minutes of the trip and would relax on the way back, taking just a few more pictures on the return trip.

The Emory River.

Norfolk Southern work camp cars in Oakdale.

The failfans were still out in force on this late afternoon.

One last view of the Emory River.

Southern Railway station in Spring City built in 1908.

Nickel Plate Road caboose 494, later Norfolk and Western 557484, built by International Car in 1962 on display here. I relaxed the rest of the way back to Chattanooga. It had been two fantastic days of Norfolk Southern train trips out of Chattanooga but all good things must come to an end, so we had to detrain and take one last look at the train that gave us two days of nothing but pleasure. Now we had to drive back to Atlanta.

Dave and I were the first off the train and out of the parking lot, then started the drive south to the Super 8 near the Atlanta airport, stopping for petrol and then dinner on the way. We checked into the Super 8 and called it a night.

Dave and I arose at 4:00 AM and once we were both ready, he checked us out and we loaded the rental car and had to put more petrol in before returning it. Next we took the Skytrain over to the Atlanta airport where I said my goodbyes to Dave, who was flying Southwest out at 6:00 AM. I acquired my American Airlines boarding pass and got my TSA Pre-check and found out I was the only one going through, so it was just put my bag and computer bag on the scanning machine and then waiting for it to come out the other side, and I was off to find my gate, which was T-12.

My knees were really hurting so I was pre-boarded, giving me more time to walk down the jetway. We left on time and flight highlight was the Mississippi River and all the oxbow lakes. We landed at Dallas-Fort Worth and I was told to go to Gate C-11 so took the Airtrain there and then was told Gate A-8. I took the Airtrain back to the A gates and stopped by Dunkin' Donuts for a morning snack then checked in at Gate A-8 and caught up the story to this point.

I boarded the next plane to home and did Sudoku puzzles for most of that flight. We arrived at Orange County and I called Winston and he picked me up and drove me home, ending an excellent adventure of train trips out of Chattanooga.

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