Speers Ferry Virginia
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Speers Ferry Virginia
Researched and Chronicled by Scott Jessee and Sandhi Kozsuch
As if it were the neck of an hour glass of time, this very narrow gap at Speers Ferry Virginia has given us a very unique vantage point over the decades and centuries. One could have witnessed the hundreds of thousands of people traveling the Wilderness Road to the Kentucky frontier in the 1700 and 1800s. Years later thousands of trains loaded with freight, coal, and passengers crossed the Appalachian Mountains funneling through this narrow pass between the Holston and Clinch River valleys.
Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Trail, Railroads, and Highways
Whether you are a history fan, or a railroad fan, Speers Ferry and the adjacent towns have much to see and learn. As far as history, Speers Ferry was a narrow passage way Daniel Boone used to cross the Appalachian Mountains as he blazed the Wilderness Trail/Road in the late 1700s. It is estimated that over 200,000 people migrated to the new frontier of Kentucky using this trail.
In similar fashion, hundreds of thousands of railroad cars have also shared the mountain gap of Speers Ferry, and Moccasin Gap to the South, as they were the key (and only) water level gap through the middle of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Two railroads, the Clinchfield and the Southern, and the Appalachian Highway (U.S. 23) barely squeezed through the narrow valley.
Speers Ferry Railroad Station
Photo: Speers Ferry Railroad Station. Roadside historical marker.
The Speers Ferry railroad station was truly unique as it was almost vertical, rather than the traditional horizontal. The first floor platform served the Southern Railway, and the 3rd floor platform the Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio Railway (Clinchfield Railroad). Passengers could go east to Bristol VA, northeast to St. Paul VA, south to Kingsport TN, and north to Natural Tunnel and Appalachia VA.
As you can see by this Southern Railway survey, two railroads and a highway barely fit within this very narrow gap measured in hundreds of feet. Survey courtesy of Railroad Preservation Press.
Speers Ferry Station Destroyed, June 29, 1933
Read the details in the Kingsport Times, Newspaper.com
Copper Creek Trestles at Speers Ferry
A mile north of the Speers Ferry train station, the two railroads entered the Clinch River Valley and crossed Copper Creek. Always a popular roadside photo spot, Clinchfield/CSX crossed on the high Copper Creek Trestle, and Southern/Norfolk Southern used the lower trestle. Nearby these massive steel bridges is the namesake of Speers Ferry, a narrow section of the Clinch River where Joshua Speer ferried natives and settlers across the river in his wooden boat more than 100 years prior.
Speers Ferry Interchange Track
The Clinchfield and the Southern Railway removed the interchange track in 1936. Freight interchange between the two railroads continued at Frisco JCT to the south, and Miller Yard VA (via Interstate Railroad) to the north.
Clinchfield.org Sources and Resources
- Personal Maps & Memorabilia – Documents, maps and track charts that I have from the CRR, CC&O, and S&W
- Archives of Appalachia
- Book – Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
- Book – Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield’
- Book – Goforth: ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield’
- Book – Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City’
- Book – Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields’
- Book – Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter’
- Book – King: ‘Clinchfield Country’
- Book – Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color’
- Book – Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina’
- Book – Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century’
- Book – Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine’
- Book – Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains’
- Article – Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘
- Article – Flanary: ‘Men Against Mountains, Running Trains on the Clinchfield‘ October 2001
- Video – Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1
- Video – Ken Marsh on railroads and region’s history Video #2:
- Articles – ‘Johnson City Comet‘
- Article – Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
- Article – Classic Trains: ‘Remembering the Clinchfield Railroad‘
- Article – Railway Age: ‘This Coal Road Is Also A Speedy Bridge Line,’ Sept 1, 1952 edition
- Article – ‘Railway Signaling and Communications‘
- Website – Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
- Website – StateOfFranklin.net which hosts Johnson’s Depot
- Website – RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City and for Erwin
- Website – The Radio Reference Wiki
- Website – SteamLocomotive.com
- Website – Clinchfield Railroad 1982 Track Chart at Multimodayways.org
- Website – Newspapers.com
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3Cs Websites
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