CSX Releases Clinchfield Heritage Unit

CSXT 1902 becomes the 20th unit on the heritage roster

Image Source: Joe Hinrichs on LinkedIn

CSX has today unveiled its tribute to the Clinchfield Railroad, CSXT 1902.

The locomotive, painted at the CSX shops in Waycross, Georgia, follows the design of her 19 sisters with a cab that resembles any other on the CSX roster before fading in to the famous Clinchfield grey.

Though the locomotive carries the road number 1902, referencing the year the Clinchfield’s immediate predecessor was founded, attempts at building a railroad over what would become the Clinchfield can be traced back to the 1830s with the idea of a direct route from the Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1902, George L. Carter purchased the Ohio River and Charleston Railroad which had been building what would become Clinchfield lines. Mr. Carter at the time was attempting to develop the southwestern Virginia coalfields and a railroad to take his coal to market was the missing link in his plan. His railroad, now named the South and Western Railway, is considered to be the immediate predecessor to what we now know as the Clinchfield. In 1908 the road was renamed the Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio. In 1909 the line made it to its eastern terminus of Spartanburg, South Carolina, just shy of 300 miles from the western terminus of Elkhorn City, Kentucky.

This railroad was built to very high standards in an effort to expedite schedules with a lower operating cost. Such a plan worked and the Clinchfield was (and one day will be again) a key through route for successor CSX Transportation. Perhaps the most stunning statistic concerning the Clinchfield’s route is the 55 tunnels along the route make up a whole 4% of the property.

With said property now completed, the Clinchfield was largely independent until being included in the Family Lines System in 1972. It operated technically independent until 1983 when the Seaboard System merged all of its railroads together in to the new CSX Transportation

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Clinchfield is the annual Santa Train. Begun in 1943 as a partnership between the railroad and the Merchants Association of Kingsport, Tennessee, the Santa Train has taken many forms over the years but the heart of the train remains the same, spread cheer and give back to the communities the railroad is a part of every day. CSX still runs the train from Shelby Yard, KY to Kingsport, TN, using the consist from the Officer Car Special.

Unfortunately any mention of the Clinchfield would be incomplete without mentioning the devastating impact Hurricane Helene had not only on former Clinchfield but the communities it served. Many miles of railroad were destroyed and the rebuild effort will take months. The same can be said for many communities that now are faced with the prospect of rebuilding themselves.

We here at White Oak Rail are thinking of our friends in Clinchfield country and we hope that although progress might be slow at times, that they can move forward and that one day life will return to a semblance of normalcy, led no doubt by a train blowing for a crossing for the first time in months, perhaps one led by that familiar grey scheme that has come to symbolize central Appalachian railroading for many.