Clinchfield Railroad Grades

The creation of the Clinchfield was the vision of industrialist George L. Carter, who understood that to make his massive coal holdings profitable, he needed an efficient and reliable transportation artery. In 1905, Carter appointed M. J. Caples as General Manager and Chief Engineer. Caples, an experienced engineer from the Norfolk and Western Railway, was tasked with designing a heavy-haul route that could support accelerated schedules and reduce operating costs. His audacious goal was to build a railroad through the mountains with a maximum grade far lower than was common for such terrain.

The standard for mountain railroads of the time often involved grades of 2% or more, requiring expensive helper locomotives and significantly slowing train movements. Caples’ standard called for a ruling grade of just 1.5% against southbound (loaded) traffic and an even more impressive 1.2% against northbound (empty) trains over the most challenging sections. The majority of the mainline was built with even gentler grades of 0.5% or less. This was an engineering standard unheard of for a railroad crossing four major watersheds and the width of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The result was so remarkable that Scientific American declared it “the costliest railroad to cross the Appalachian Blue Ridge Mountains”.

The Blue Ridge Loops

The most famous and visible example of the Clinchfield’s commitment to low grades is the stretch of track known as “The Loops,” located on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Altapass, North Carolina. To descend over 1,200 feet in elevation from the summit at Altapass to the foothills at Sevier, North Carolina, Caples’ engineers devised a masterpiece of railroading. Instead of a direct, steep plunge, the track winds back and forth in a series of great loops, allowing for a remarkably gentle 1.2% grade.

This section of the railroad required an extraordinary amount of cutting and tunneling. The Loops feature 16 of the railroad’s 55 tunnels, along with numerous fills and cuts, all designed to maintain the consistent, low grade. From a distance, the tracks can be seen looping back upon themselves, with 16 miles of track separating points that are only two miles apart as the crow flies. The loops were an engineering marvel of their time and remain an impressive feature today, visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Clinchfield Grade Profiles

The following three profiles and maps are just the initial information on the grades of the Clinchfield Railroad. Use your browser zoom controls to zoom in and view in more detail.

Profile of the CRR – Before Highline Constructed

Profile and Map of the CC&O

http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CRR/CRR%20Track%20Chart%201982.pdf

Profile and Map After 1970

Clinchfield.org Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the Clinchfield Railroad. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Clinchfield.org. Much of the content on the website is verified across multiple sources.

• Associations:
  • Carolina Clinchfield Chapter National Railway Historical Society
  • Louisville & Nashville Railroad Historical Society
  • George L. Carter Railroad Historical Society
  • Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society
• Personal maps, timetables, track charts, and memorabilia
• Archives of Appalachia – ETSU, Johnson City TN
• Books:
  • Beach: ‘The Black Mountain Railway,
  • Drury: ‘The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
  • Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield’ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield
  • Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City
  • Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields
  • Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter
  • King: ‘Clinchfield Country’
  • Marsh: “Clinchfield in Color’
  • Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina
  • Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century’
  • Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine’
  • Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains’,
  • Wolfe: ‘Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line‘ and ‘Southern Railway Appalachia Division,’
  • Young: ‘Appalachian Coal Mines and Railroads in Color.’ Volume 1: Kentucky, Volume 2: Virginia
• Magazines – ‘Trains‘ , ‘Classic Trains‘
• Newspaper Articles – Newspapers.com
• Online Articles:
  • Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
  • Classic Trains: ‘Remembering the Clinchfield Railroad‘
  • Railway Age: ‘This Coal Road Is Also A Speedy Bridge Line,’ Sept 1, 1952 edition
  • ‘Railway Signaling and Communications‘
  • Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘
  • Flanary: ‘Men Against Mountains, Running Trains on the Clinchfield‘ October 2001
• Online Videos – Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1, Ken Marsh on railroads and region’s history Video #2:
• Websites:
  • Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads,
  • Johnson’s Depot hosted by StateOfFranklin.net,
  • RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City and for Erwin, The Radio Reference Wiki
  • SteamLocomotive.com
  • VirginiaPlaces.org – Railroad History of Virginia
  • Multimodalways.org

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3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org