Johnny, were the NW tracks on the VA or TN side of town? Maybe both
Johnny, were the NW tracks on the VA or TN side of town? Maybe both?
My wife is from Kingsport TN. Once I went to Bristol TN for the NASCAR race.
I always thought N&W formally ended to the northeast, at the interstate border, with Southern in Tennessee.
You have the right idea. The station was on the north side of State Street–and the track at the station was Southern (formerly the East Tennessee and Virginia). I do not know how far north the Southern property extended–perhaps at least to the connection with the line to Appalachia.
Downtown, the state line runs down the middle of State Street. There are markers (many now are covered with new pavement surface) in the middle of the street. East and west of downtown, the street curves to the south. Not far from downtown, there is a cemetery on the north side of the street in which no one living in Virginia may be buried.
I bit on that last statement when I was a freshman in college. Remember, it is not good policy to bury living people.
Johnny is correct. Growing up I was misinformed that each RR’s tracks changed at the middle of state street. The first correction clue came when SOU RR installed CWR from Piney Flats to Bristol. The CWR installation continued to just past the switch ( switch previously removed ) that led to the Appalachia division track. Previously East Tennessee and Virginia RR. N&W track went north of that point.
Was able to confirm that by checking a tax map.&n
I may be wrong, but I believe that N&W crews did all the switching on 41, 42, 45, and 46. As I recall, 17 and 18 were not switched; the other trains had Pullmans and headend cars taken off or added. I never counted the tracks across State, but four does seem to be the right number. Oh, do not stop a friend who is drkiving across the tracks just for conversation–the man in the tower would start ringing his bell and lowering the gates.