Modeling the Southern in HO

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I was looking at some system maps and was thinking of moding the Southern Railway from Knoxville to Bristol Tn/Va. I need to know if this line ran any passenger service. Did this line use any of the 2-8-0 2-8-2 4-8-2 and any of the big steam equipment 2-8-8-2? Did this line have any coal mines on it? I was thinking of doing a 12'x 20' dobble deck with a coal mine line. Is there a good place to look and see on the net to see what type of industries that the Southern may have switched on this line?

-- Greg (Southern4501@hotmail.com), August 25, 2003

Answers

Greg,

Passenger service on this line comprised three trains in each direction: The Tennesseean to Memphis, the Pelican to New Orleans and the Birmingham Special to Birmingham. All three originated in Washington, D.C. with through connections from and to New York. They operated on the Southern from D.C. to Monroe, Va, where the N&W took them to Bristol, Tenn. at which point the Southern was again the operating road. N&W engines were exchanged at Monroe and Bristol for Southern engines until 1957 after which the Southern engines operated through. This line was an important link in the western mail delivery system when the railroad passenger trains carried the mail.

There is an excellent article about the operations at Bristol in the March 2004 issue of TRAINS magazine. Good luck!

-- Ray Brown (bbrown21@columbus.rr.com), June 04, 2004.


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