Here is a video featuring stories from Everett Posey and Tommy Chambers about the legacy of Scott County and the Tennessee Railroad specifically.
-
The life and times of the Tennessee Railroad
October 22, 2022
By Independent Herald
In the year 1889, the Paint Rock company began construction of a railroad from the Oneida depot on the Cincinnati Southern to Morning Glory, which was located near where Stanley Creek empties into Paint Rock Creek. This was the beginning of the Tennessee Railroad, and the intent was for a short-line railroad to haul the coal out of the valley along Paint Rock Creek.
As recently as 1980, 125 cars filled with coal were being pulled over the Tennessee Railroad each day. Coal shipping continued on the railroad until 2004, the year that Norfolk Southern — a successor of Southern — declared its intention to abandon the railroad once and for all.
[In 2010] The Tennessee Railroad was sold to RJ Corman for $3 million. One of Corman’s first moves was to put a stop to excursion train traffic on its rails…More than two years ago, RJ Corman filed a notice that it would abandon the Tennessee.
-
County mayor urges public forum for proposed rails-to-trails program
December 3, 2024
By Ben Garrett
HUNTSVILLE | Scott County Mayor Jerried Jeffers on Monday urged County Commission to hold a public forum to allow citizens to sound off on a proposal to turn the former Tennessee Railroad into a trail for hiking and bicycling.
Speaking to County Commission’s Community Development Committee near the end of Monday’s monthly work session, Jeffers said the issue is one that “isn’t going away anytime soon.”
Tennessee Citizens For Wilderness Planning, an Oak Ridge-based non-profit, has proposed to turn the 41-mile rail line, which is being abandoned by R.J. Corman, into a “rails-to-trails” program, creating a tourism-friendly recreational venue similar to the popular Virginia Creeper in southwest Virginia and the Eureka Trail near McMinnville, Tenn., among others.
-
Scott County Volunteers Form Exploratory / Advisory Committee
December 8, 2024
In an effort to bring the planning conversation around a possible rail-trail in Scott County into the hands of local residents, a committee of volunteers was created.
The objective of the committee is to discover the facts of the issues at hand, determine options that exist, share findings with the public and become available for planning whatever next steps might be - if any.
