The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc. Southeast Chapter Newsletter No. 54, August, 1999 SOUTHEAST LIMITED SPECIAL TRAIN TO THE LAND OF THE SKY by Lyle Key A decade old promotional campaign for tour- temporary reprieve with Southern Railway’s de- ism proclaimed: “Asheville, it will lift your spir- cision to decline a contract with Amtrak and con- its!” I thought that was a clever slogan for a tour- tinue operating its own passenger trains. For a ist Mecca nestled amid the mountains of western time, a local version of the Asheville Special en- North Carolina, and I must admit that the Land of dured between Asheville and Salisbury, and dur- the Sky always has held an almost mystical at- ing the latter years of the ‘70’s, it was supplanted traction for me. In addition to Asheville’s natural by a seasonal excursion train that ran from Ashe- beauty and cool mountain air, one can’t help but ville to Old Fort and return. By the end of that be impressed with the palatial splendor of the decade, Southern had signed an operating agree- Biltmore House, the genteel comfort of the ven- ment with Amtrak, and Asheville like so many erable Grove Park Inn, and the literary shrine that other towns had been relegated to “freight only” was Thomas Wolfe’s boyhood home. status. Wolfe was quite taken by the awesome spec- On Sunday, April 25, 1999, a passenger train tacle of mountain railroading in and around his again will run from Knoxville to Asheville, and hometown, and haunting passages about steam era my wife and I are among the almost one-thou- railroading are interspersed throughout his nov- sand excursionists holding tickets on the chartered els. It certainly is easy to see how Wolfe or any- Amtrak special. The long Amtrak train has been one else would be impressed by descending billed as the Carolina Special, but it bears little through the loops between Asheville and Old Fort resemblance to the Carolina Special operated by on the Washington-bound Asheville Special or by Southern Railway in the ‘60’s. When I was a stu- listening to a road engine and a helper pounding dent at the University of Tennessee, the old Caro- up Saluda Mountain with a heavyweight Skyland lina Special typically ran behind two and some- Special en route from Florida to Asheville. times three FP-7’s, and like many passenger trains Hundreds of communities in the United of that era, it featured a garden variety of head States lost rail passenger service with the advent end cars. Passengers were accommodated in of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, but Asheville got a heavyweight coaches or a streamlined 10-6 FRONT COVER: Before Southern Railway finally relented and signed an operating agreement with Amtrak, it continued its long tradition of providing rail passenger service to Asheville. During the first few years of Amtrak, Southern’s Asheville service consisted of a daytime “turn” from Asheville to Salisbury and return. The train didn’t have convenient connections with Southern’s Washington - Atlanta trains in Salisbury, and consequently, it was lightly patronized. With the blessing of the North Carolina Public Service Commission, Southern replaced the Asheville - Salisbury train with what was in essence a regularly scheduled tourist train that made a daylight turn from Asheville to Old Fort and return. Southern resurrected the Skyland Special name for the Old Fort train, and it’s shown arriving in Old Fort in the late ‘70’s. Note the dome car on the end of the train. Photo by Lyle Key SOUTHEAST CHAPTER OFFICERS: The Southeast Limited is James A. Smith Chairman published bi-monthly by the William F. Howes, Jr. Vice-Chairman Southeast Chapter of the Paul V. Newtson Secretary Railway & Locomotive Historical Society James H. Wilk Treasurer P. O. Box 664 Clifford J. Vander Yacht Editor Jacksonville, FL 32201 2 ABOVE: In this magnificent photo from 1948, Frank Ardrey captured all the drama of steam-era railroading in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Southern’s Skyland Special is shown climbing Saluda Mountain en route from Jacksonville to Asheville. The heavyweight passenger train is being hauled up the step grade by three big steam locomotives: Southern 2-10-2 #5045 is on the point, 4-8-2 #1462 (the road engine) is coupled to #5045’s tender, and 2-10-2 #5047 is pushing from the rear. Photo by Frank E. Ardrey, Jr. sleeper. The latter car operated between Cincin- and Asheville (10 Rmtte 6 DBR); Cincinnati, nati and Columbia, South Carolina, before being Asheville, and Greensboro (10 Sec 1 DR 1 Cpt); cut back to the Cincinnati - Knoxville run. A and Louisville, Asheville, and Columbia (8 Sec 5 heavyweight diner-lounge was added to the train DBR). A diner operated between Knoxville, Ashe- between Knoxville and Asheville until it was ville, and Columbia, and a dinette-coach was as- eliminated in 1966 or ’67. signed to the North Carolina section between If we turn back the clock another decade to Asheville and Winston-Salem. Over the ensuing the mid-’50’s, the Carolina Special split into North decade, the Carolina Special lost its North Caro- Carolina and South Carolina sections in Asheville lina section and evolved into a still respectable, with the former operating as far east as Greens- but much shorter, train between Cincinnati and boro and the latter running all the way to Charles- Columbia, S.C. ton. In April, 1955, for instance, the Carolina The pre-dawn darkness still holds sway on Special handled sleeper lines between Chicago, Sunday, April 25th when we arrive at the loading Asheville, and Charleston (8 Sec 5 DBR); Chicago area alongside the Tennessee River in downtown 3 Knoxville. The train is waiting on a former Southern Railway/Norfolk Southern branch that now belongs to the Knoxville & Holston River Railroad, part of the Gulf & Ohio short line family. And what a train it is with two Amtrak Genesis locomotives and 19 passenger cars which include a mix of Superliner and heritage equipment: Amtrak 22 and 88 Genesis locomotives Amtrak Superliners 33047 Sightseer Lounge 34077 Coach 34096 Coach 34018 Coach 34062 Coach 38063 Diner 34092 Coach 34026 Coach 38014 Diner 34064 Coach 39034 Transition Sleeper Watauga Valley 539 Coach Watauga Valley 500 Coach Watauga Valley Moultrie Diner (ex-ACL) laeger & Southern New River Valley Diner-Lounge* PPCX Chouteau Club Diner-Lounge ex-SAL Hollywood Beach 5 DBR/Sun-Lounge Lancaster & Chester J. Pinckney Henderson Sleeper-Lounge** Gulf & Ohio Tennessee Business Car *Rebuilt Southern Ry. 14-4 sleeper Tennessee Valley **Rebuilt MKT coach Railroad pursuant to a trackage rights arrangement. We get settled in Bedroom E on former SAL Further downriver, we pass under the busy bridge Sun-Lounge Hollywood Beach, and at 7:07 am, on CSX’s Knoxville - Atlanta main line. CSX we begin easing down the river in a westerly di- painted this bridge UT orange in the mid-’80’s, rection. Our departure is a mere seven minutes and the unusual color is still visible though no- late which isn’t bad for a train that had to load ticeably faded. almost 1,000 passengers without the benefit of At Third Creek, the track leaves the river and station facilities or platforms. An orange sun is turns north on an alignment between the creek on rising over the hills south of the river; an appro- the left and the CSX main line on the right. On priate color in this community that’s so closely this spring morning, there’s lots of honeysuckle linked to the orange clad athletic teams of the in evidence along this segment of the Knoxville University of Tennessee. The train soon passes & Holston River. At 7:25, we roll onto NS’s Chat- the boat docks used by the famous “Vol Navy” in tanooga - Knoxville main line and cross CSX at the fall and the orange “Vols” sign mounted atop grade. A southbound CSX intermodal train is the south stands of Neyland Stadium. Even the waiting patiently north of the crossing. awning over business car Tennessee’s rear plat- While a student at UT, I made many trips form sports alternating stripes of UT’s distinctive over this line aboard Southern’s Pelican, Birming- orange and white. ham Special, and Tennessean. Many things have The Amtrak special also rolls beneath two changed since then, and one is the proliferation of railroad bridges that cross the river. The first serves graffiti on bridge abutments and freight cars. At NS’s Maryville Branch, and that one once was 7:34, we pass the old Southern Railway passen- shared by the long abandoned Smoky Mountain ger station. This handsome structure once seemed 4 doomed by a fire, but it now is nicely restored and or one of its sister cars while en route from Wash- productively employed as headquarters for an in- ington to Jacksonville aboard Seaboard’s Silver terior decorating firm. Meteor. Today, the unusual Sun-Lounge is owned Beyond the station, I’ll be covering new mile- by Dr. Art Cushman of Nashville where it fre- age. I’ve always regretted that I never got around quently shows up on the consist of The Broadway to riding the old Carolina Special, but thanks to Dinner Train. On the previous day’s trip to Ashe- the East Tennessee Railway Club, I’m getting a ville, a couple get married in Hollywood Beach’s second chance to ride a train between Knoxville lounge! and Asheville. The train reaches the south end of NS’s ex- At 7:38, a volunteer in a handsome pansive John Sevier Yard at 7:45, and on the left conductor’s uniform comes by to lift our Knox- side of the train, one can see the Beverly cutoff.