CSX freight trains Q696/Q697 are now operating between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Hamlet, N.C., via the former Clinchfield mainline through eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina. Eastbound CSX Q696-24 recently completed its first run via the railroad’s Big Sandy Subdivision to Pikeville, Ky., and south on the Kingsport and Blue Ridge subdivisions through Kingsport, Tenn.; Erwin, Tenn.; and to Bostic, N.C., before going the rest of the way into Hamlet.
Its westbound counterpart, CSX Q697-24 arrived in Russell Yard in Russell, Ky., on Tuesday using the same route from the east.
Sources familiar with railroad operations say the Clinchfield routing is temporary and the two daily freights’ routing is expected to be temporary.
The two daily freight trains aren’t the only moves to run the full length of the Clinchfield in recent months.
CSX, amid an operational restructuring under the guidance of new CEO E. Hunter Harrison, has run unit trains westbound across the Clinchfield in recent months. While an occasional move across the full length of the Clinchfield is not as unusual move in recent months, the railroad has yet to reestablish crew bases on each end of the Clinchfield, sources say.
The temporary reestablishment of the Q696/Q6967 trains will, for now, serve as the only regularly scheduled daily trains on the route.
Trains News Wire has reached out to CSX for comment on the routing change.
EHH had tried to cancel the CP Holiday Trains right after he went there. Fortunately, he was talked out of being such a Scrooge … hopefully the Clinchfield Route Santa Train will also escape the wrath of Darth Hunter!
Clinchfield Route is also home of the Santa Train. Is there a likelihood EHH will cancel that long standing tradition?
Circuity matters to intermodal. Even highway routes Midwest-Carolinas are circuitous. But the Clinchfield is too slow (grades and curvature) and too expensive to make double-stack capable, even though it’s a good mileage shortcut.
Hamlet-Charlotte-Atlanta on the other hand will remain important (despite the razorback hill-and-dale profile) provided EHH doesn’t kill the new Rocky Mount ramp. It’s also important to the short haul international IM service between the Port of Wilmington and Charlotte.
Local CSX workers claim CSX is going to notch the tunnels for double stacks on the Clinchfield. So new Wilmington intermodal could run past Charlotte to Bostic then up the CRR.
I would not be at all surprised if Mr. Harrison canceled the Santa rain; after all, it brings no revenue in.
Fred Frailey, a report on railroads without COAL.
CSX also runs 692 and 693 Spartanburg to Kingsport. The traffic comes from and to Waycross via Augusta. This train handles Tennessee Eastman traffic. We see it regularly behind the Hub City Railroad Museum using the 1963 tunnel that connected the Clinchfield, C&WC and P&N.
As a layman and shareholder, I have pondered the wisdom of stranding the assets of the Clinchfield and the Charlotte subdivision and not exploring other ways to use these valuable rail links. While the Clinchfield’s tunnels would only permit single stack trains, EHH’s penchant for longer trains should work here. This is a natural routing for intermodal trains from the upper mid-west (Cincinnati) to the booming south mid-Atlantic destinations of Charlotte, Wilmington, Spartanburg, Charleston & Savannah. CSX made a tremendous investment in upgrading the Charlotte subdivision in 2015-16 to handle substantial priority traffic. To walk away from this investment as opposed to maximizing its utilization is tantamount to malfeasance.
I am sure there are many times when Class 1 railroads quietly wished they had not been so aggressive with abandonments. The wholesale slashing of former B&O and Pennsy routes across Ohio comes to mind.
Most recently, the CP line from Smiths Falls to North Bay was cut. I suspect it won’t be long before his onetime transcontinental route is sorely missed.
Perhaps someone is whispering in Harrison’s ear about the long-term value of the Clinchfield’s trans-mountain line.
“Abandonment is forever.”
Dr. Edwin Paul “Pete” Patton
I’d bet if they ran a tourist train on that route, they’d have tons of riders. Too many rules, cost and hassle to go thru?? If CSX (or any Cl.1 RR) ran a train with passengers, it should be front page news anywhere.
“The two daily freight trains aren’t the only moves to run the full length of the Clinchfield in recent months. ” If they ran the full length of the Clinchfield, they would run to and from Spartanburg. I have the impression that the writer of the story needs a primer on the Clinchfield.