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;
- Delorme Atlas and Gazeteer.
- Kodak 3.2 MB “easy share” camera.
- Uniden scanner
- Old Yashica 35mm range finder camera( not used this trip)
- 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