CTC Signals of the Clinchfield Railroad
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Clinchfield Railroad CTC Signals
Initial 1949 CTC Installation
Installation of the Centralized Traffic Control system on the Clinchfield Railroad began in 1949. The northern 122 mile segment of the railroad, Erwin TN to Elkhorn City KY was put into service in 1950.
Up until this time the Clinchfield had used timetables, train orders and manual blocks, and a few short sections of semaphore automatic block signaling.
18 sidings were signaled and power operated switches were added. The passing sidings are around 7 miles apart and on average hold 85 cars.
Signals and switches were controlled by a console in the Dispatchers office in Erwin TN. A normal day in this northern 122 miles segment of the Clinchfield saw around 30 train movements in 24 hours. It is a mixture of coal and freight manifests, as well as one passenger train.
(Photo: First mainline signal as you travel north out of the Erwin yard)
‘Railway Signaling and Communications’ Article
An excellent article in the February 1950 edition of ‘Railway Signaling and Communications’ provides all the details of this initial installation.
More information about the Clinchfield Railroad’s signals will be added in the coming days.
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
Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org