CSX temporarily renumbered a diesel to 576 to tow NC&StL No. 576 at Nashville Saturday. The two paused at Union Station.
John Biehn
NASHVILLE — Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 4-8-4 No. 576 is safe at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum today after pausing over the weekend for photos en route at Union Station.
The locomotive had been moved by truck out of Centennial Park in January to a location on the Nashville & Western short line, where work ensued to reunite the engine and tender and prepare it for being towed across CSX tracks to the museum. For the diesel power, CSX temporarily renumbered CW44AC No. 527 to No. 576 and added a NC&StL emblem on the nose for the occasion.
Restoration of the steam locomotive is expected to take two years and cost as much as $2 million. Once completed, it would run the Nashville & Eastern short line.
What a tribute
Seaboard abandoned the Far East end of the line to prevent Southern getting a chance at the Nashville line if they ever spun off the line (like it eventually did). They were afraid of the competition. Remember the old L & N did everything in its power to oppose the old Tennessee Central at every turn.
So the restoration is estimated at $2M and two years – I am willing to bet, by the time it gets completed – it will take at least twice the expected time and twice the expected money!
What a beautiful station building. I’m guessing there once was a train shed where the parking lot is now.
There were two short sighted decisions: 1) Building Interstate 440 on the TC’s Nashville beltline right-of-way, a “bypass” now surrounded by Nashville’s midtown development; and 2) Not selling TC’s Nashville-Harriman line in one piece to either Southern (preferred) or L&N to offer Nashville-Knoxville single line rail service. .
Hats off to CSX for joining in 576 journey to restoration1
If it wasn’t for the short sighted decision in splitting the Tennessee Central fifty years ago, 576 could have rolled from the Nashville and Western directly onto the Nashville and Eastern. Both former TC trackage.