After Christmas on the way back to the Frozen North from North Carolina, we stopped at a roadside motel on the edge of Corbin, KY. The Visitor’s Guide revealed the fact that CSX has a junction there. It was well after dark and Iwas too exhausted to check it out – and had to make tracks the next morning.
Those of you who know or fan the area – is the junction at Corbin a good place to visit? Tell me all you want, please, about train frequency, availbility of food and porta-johns, etc. The history is intriguing. - al
There’s a diner with free all-you-can-eat chili, but it costs $5 to use the port-a-potty.
Seriously, it’s former L&N trackage. Stopped there on the way to Florida one year to see Cumberland Falls, just off I-75. Very hilly area, coal mining area IIRC. Town grew up around major railroad center with yard and steam repair shops in middle of downtown area and just south of the junction. Easy access to just about everything when we were there. Single main, very busy on the north/south line, moderately busy on the line that runs east from the junction.
For eats, Col. Sanders’ original restaurant (prior to his KFC days) is in this town – we ate there and it was awesome. Town also was birthplace of actor who played Dagwood in the Blondie movies.
And what did the chili diner charge for a glass of water?
I’m sure Corbin is probably a ghost of its former self, if the significance of Kentucky coal has declined in the way I’ve been led to believe it has. I’ve never been there, though.
Have stayed at Corbin, Ky. several times, on the back and forth runs to Florida…{up on the hill @ the Holiday Inn…Seems we always just keep going either north or south and I’ve never seen any of the RR facilities. Have wondered though, to what extent of activity is in that area…Have been aware of it’s RR background.
Corbin is the main coal marshalling yard for CSX for coal from the L&N District. In todays business levels it is handleing 10/12 loaded coal trains a day, which also equates to 10/12 empty trains a day there are also several merchandise trains a day that operate through Corbin in both directions.
At one time Corbin was a major L&N division point. On the south end of the yard the K&A division to Knoxville began, on the north end of the yard the Cincinnati division ended. The east/west line that Steam is King mentioned was the Cumberland Valley division which meandered its way from Corbin to Norton Virginia ( didn’t you tell me you once lived there?). At one time there was a 27 stall roundhouse and turntable which still existed in 1967 along with three stalls of the roundhouse and a six track backshop that was still in service. Corbin actually had two yards the East Yard and the West Yard. US Steel had (has?) a big Coal Prep plant along side the West Yard. Just a few miles north of Corbin is a dot on the map called Sinks, Ky, it was here that the Lebanon branch terminated. The eastern (timetable north) end of this branch is now the Kentucky Railway Museum’s line. Just a few miles to the southwest is the Big South Fork Recreation Area, controlled by the National Park Service it includes the town of Stearn which has a coal mining museum and NS’s ex Southern “Rat Hole” division passes right next to the depot of the Big South Fork Scenic Railway http://www.bsfsry.com/ where you can ride Blue Heron mining community.
December 1972 Trains was an entire issue (!) devoted to L&N’s M-1 “Big Emma” 2-8-4’s, which were largely operated out of Corbin. Map of that end of the L&N system is on most of pg. 31, and several photos are of the Corbin area.
You all have been just great. Now I feel challenged to build in the time to stop at Corbin – before Winter Solstice when the days are warmer and longer. Easy enough to get off the Interstate. BTW we stayed at the Country Inn (a reasonably priced chain), which had homemade chocolate-chip cookies and a lending library! Original KFC sounds good, too.
Yes, I think that line from went all the way to Norton . . . or if not, to Pineville w/connection to Norton. Basicalliy in Norton, N&W and L&N butt-ended each other, there was a good amount of sidetracks and a huge loop, and Southern had a run-through. I don’t know if there is any kind of NS/CSX competition there, since the ex-Southern Rwy has the run through . . . but unless ownership has changed, CSX (exx-L&N) doesn’t extend east of Norton.
My memories of Norton are from the late 1970s, though. When I left the area, it was still a couple of years before N&W and Southern merged.
Thanks again, and any further comments are more than welcome. Or PM me if you prefer. - a.s.
Yes, Al, the L&N had through passenger service to Norton from Louisville (at one time, there was also at least a through Pullman between between Cincinnati and Bristol), though in the end, the Norton train did not run west of Cumberland Gap. In my time in Bristol, the Interstate (which operated in Virginia only) was still independent of the Southern, and had used the union station in Norton–by 1930, the Interstate was freight only. I believe that by the time you arrived, the Southern was operating the Interstate. According to the SPV atlas, the L&N’s line into Norton has been abandoned east of Big Stone Gap, and also from Cumberland Gap to Hagans. The section between Hagans and Big Stone Gap is reached by trackage rights over the V&SW (Sou) from Moccasin Gap and over the Sou from Frisco Yard (connection with the CC&O) to Moccasin Gap. The trackage rights arrangements in that area are quite interesting, especially where the line of one road (CSX or NS) has advantageous grades in one direction and the line of the other road has better grades in the other direction. A good bit of the Interstate and the V&SW has been abandoned.
Sad, but there you have it. So Norton today is an NS-only town.
I had heard about the Cumberland Gap line closing. Did you know that a highway and tunnel (25E IIRC) now bypass Cumberland Gap in favor of Harrogate, TN? The actual Cumberland Gap path that Dan’l Boone and such traversed has been “greened” or “wilded” or whatever the term may be – the old federal highway has been ripped out and replaced with a trail. If you want to travel over it you have to hike it. Not that I’m opposed to that idea.
After the above posts about the odd connections and switchbacks in this area, I did a quick search of the Trains “Index of Magazines” (at the bottom of this page) for articles by Ron Flanary, and here’s what I found:
On location: Appalachian conquest Trains, March 1996 page 62
CSX’s Corbin Division main line
( CSX, “FLANARY, RON”, KENTUCKY, RAILFANNING, TENNESSEE, TRN )
Back in June 1994 we visited some relatives in Richmond, KY, and went down to Berea, Kentucky for an afternoon. My wife & daughter visited the shops in town*, while I hung out at the former depot next to the CSX main line: http://www.berea.com/a-map-of-berea Not terribly busy - I think 2 trains (1 coal, 1 general freight) went through at a pretty good clip. I seem to recall either the Chamber of Commerce or Visitors Center or a cafe was also at or near the depot, and separated from the tracks by a chain-link fence. Supposedly it’s the last L&N station still standing, per the website: http://www.berea.com/ - “Berea - The Folk Arts and Crafts Capital of Kentucky”.
Corbin is a good place for coal-train watching, and a beautiful area to visit. Be sure to notice the herb and spice jars in the kitchen of Harlan Sanders’ pressure-fried chicken restaurant!
The Louisville and Nashville in the Appalachians
by Ron Flanary
Published in 1990, Old Line Graphics (Silver Spring, Md. (1604 Woodwell Rd., Silver Spring 20906)
The Louisville and Nashville in the Appalachians
Ron Flanary
The March 1996 Trains “On Location” article that I referenced above notes (on page 66) that “Norfolk Southern’s ex-Southern CNO&TP “Rathole” several miles to the west” [though I think it’s more like maybe 20 miles], and that, “Visitors to the region looking for big-time mainline rail action would be advised to split their time between CSX and the Rathole; both routes offer great scenery and heavy traffic.” So, here’s a list of some Trains articles on the “Rathole” as well - the first one is referenced in the Corbin article quote above:
On location: Tough course for the Thoroughbreds Trains, January 1995 page 72
Norfolk Southern’s Cincinnati-Chattanooga Rathole line
( “DANNEMAN, MIKE”, DIVISION, KENTUCKY, NS, RAILFANNING, TENNESSEE, TRN )
Hot Spots: Southern’s Rathole Trains, August 1989 page 60
Danville, Kentucky, to Oakdale, Tennessee
( “HODUN, DON”, HOTSPOT, MAP, PHOTO,
Didn’t the Oneida & Western [OWTX] run their L&N based SD40-2’s with their coal cars and cabooses (1979-1987)? The OWTX didn’t last that long as the South East Coal Company [SECX] did (1979-1993).
PHOTO,