ClassicTrainsMag.com 63A
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Railway’sdouble-trackW
ashington–Atlanta^main^line^longvexedinterchange^between^the^ClinchfieldR
ailroadandits^ end- to
- e
ndconnec-tionswithits^parentA
tlanticC
oastL
ine^(inthe^formof^ ACL
’s^Charleston&
W
esternC
arolina^subsidiarythatwasfinallymerged^intoA
CL
in19
59
)^ andwiththe^South^Carolina^Divisionof^ thePiedmont^ &N
orthern.T
heconnection^wasmade^bycrossovers^inthe^Southern’s^busymains,^ withlongdelays^tointerchange^moves.^
In19
63
,^ atunnelanddeeply-excavated^ap-
proacheseliminatedthisconflict.^
1
SouthernR
ailwaystationThis^had^beenajoint^ station^withC
RR
andC&
W
C,
butboth^those^roads^had^ended^passen-
ger^ serviceat^ Spartanburg^by19
66
,^ C
linchfieldinM
arch19
55
andC
&
W
C^
inF
ebruary^19
32
(mixed^trainserviceafter^ that^ didn’t^ usethe^sta-tion).^ S
partanburg’s^fourthrailroad,the^Pied-
mont^ &N
orthern,as^anelectricinterurban,^
didn’t^use^the^steam- ro
adstation.2
E
arthenwall^ of^ cutNotethe^steep^angle^ofreposeof^ thecutwall.^Civil^ engineersdecide^based^onsoil^ character-
istics^ whetheracutwillwithstand^ananglethissteep^orwhethertheymust^ usearetaining^wall.^M
odern^practice^wouldbe^toseed^suchaslopewithplants^havinggood^characteristics^for^holding^soil^inplace(seeitems^9
and^12
).
3
P
iedmont^ &N
orthern^connectionThere^wasawyeconnection^between^the^AC
L^
and^P&
N^
routes,^ andthispowerhadjustdeliv-
eredtothe^C&
W
C^
and^thentookthe^P&
N^
por-tion^oftheir^ cutthrough^thatwyeandshoved^it^intothe^P&
N^
yard.^ T
heseshort^interchange^moveswere^made^without^ acaboose.^ T
his^trackage^wasbuilt^and^owned^bythe^Spartan-burgTerminalC
o.,^ incorporatedby^the^AC
L^
fami-lylines^in19
54
for^ thepurposeof^ building^the^tunnel.^ T
heterminalcompanywasthenmerged^in
to
A
CL
.^ P
&
N’
s^
So
ut
h^
Ca
ro
lin
a^
Di
vi
sio
n^
or
ig
in
at
-
edmuch^textiletrafficthatwouldbe^routednorthon^the^CR
R.
D
ieselizedin19
54
,^ P
&
N^
wouldby19
63
be^abletomake^itsdeliveries^intoC
RR
’s^yard,^ whereasthatwouldnothave^beenpracti-cal^ when^P&
N^
had^onlyelectriclocomotives.^
The^normalpractice^beforeU
.S
.^ r
ail^ laboragree-
mentschangedin19
72
wasthatrailroadsdeliv-
eredinterchange^carstoeach^other^ andre-
turnedlight.^The^same^19
72
agreementsallowedroadcrews^togo^rightthrough^toaconnection^if^their^ trainwasblockedtoallowit,^ butin19
66
interchange^wasdone^byaC
RR
yardcrewandinthiscase^using^roadpower,^ whichrailroadsoften^did^if^the^interchange^cut^ washeavy.^
4
A
tlanticC
oastL
ine^connection^FormerlyC
harleston&
W
esternC
arolina.5
C
linchfieldF
9 A
r^ No.8
04
Builtas^anF
3 A
inD
ecember^194
8
(unofficiallyan“F
5 A
,”^
sinceF
3 sdeliveredthrough^most^ of^19
48
hadwhat^ wouldbecome^F^7
electricalequipment^ andacarbodythatlookedlikewhat^wouldbecome^the^F^7
body,^including^the^stain-less- s
teelfilter^ grilles^belowthe^eaves;the^F^7
wasofficiallyintroduced^inF
ebruary^19
49
).^
The^F^3
- to
- F
9
upgrade^ofN
o.^80
4
wasdone^byE
M
D^
and^includedthe^characteristicF
9
side^panel^withalouveraheadof^ thefirst^ porthole,^asseenhere,^ covering^anadditionalair^filter.6
H
ancockairwhistleThisdesign^—
asingle^whistleelement^ project-
ing^horizontallyforward^fromasquare^reflector—
wasan^alternative^tothe^usual^ air^horn.^ T
his^producedamore^pleasing^sound^thanachime^air^ horn,butH
ancockair^whistles^were^not^widely^usedbecauseof^ concerns^thattheycould^not^ be^heard^asreadilyas^anair^horn.
7
F
3 B
,^ F
7 B
,^ or^ F9 B
Thiscouldbe^one^ofthree^models,^asall^three^had^the^same^three-portholeside^panels.^ C
RR
ha
d^
5
F^3
As
,^1
5
F^7
As
,^3
F
3 B
s,
11
F
7 B
s,^
an
d^
5
as
-
builtF
9 B
s,^along^withits^solepassengerdiesel,^FP
7 A
2
00
.^ T
his^five-unit^consist^ representedone-eighthof^ CRR
’s^entire^freightF
- u
nit^ fleet.
8
F
9 A
r^ No.8
06
Builtas^anF
7 A
inO
ctober19
51
,^ it^ wasrebuilttoF^9
specsinN
ovember^195
5
after^ awreck.^ T
his^consist^ happenstoinclude^CR
R’
s^onlytwo^F^9
Ar’s.9
C
oncrete^retaining^wallUsedwhen^the^resultingslope^ofacutwouldbe^too^steep^tobe^formedof^ earth.
10
T
unnel^ portalThe^tunnelisapproximately^70
0
feetlongandpassesunderM
agnoliaandC
hurch^streets^inaddition^tothe^Southerntracks.^ T
hecrosssec-
tion^ofthe^tunnelbeingbroaderat^ thebase^thanat^ thetangent^ points^ofthe^archisunusualbecause^railroad^tunnelclearances^are^usuallyconstrainedby^the^top^corners.Inthiscase^the^designingengineer^ probably^ used^the^angle^ofthe^wallstocreate^buttresses^ forthe^top^arch,^ to^carry^the^weight^ above.^
11
C
oncrete^tunnelabutmentThisisaspecialformof^ retainingwall^ used^toholdback^material^ at^ thetunnelentrance.^Bridg-es
a
lso
o
fte
n^
ha
ve
a
bu
tm
en
ts
,^ w
hi
ch
a
re
si
tu
at
-
edbelowthe^endsof^ thespan^and^support^ thespaninadditiontoholdingback^material^ in^the^bridge“dump”,the^fill^ whichconstitutes^the^bridgeapproach.12
D
rainage^ditchInthe^three^years^sincethe^tunnel’s^construc-tion,the^ditch^has^started^tofill^withmaterial^washed^down^fromthe^wall^ of^ thecut.^ R
estor-ing^the^cross^ section^ofdrainage^ditches^isafrequent^ railroadmaintenancetask.^ I
f^ this^isnotdone,^ waterpondsinportionsof^ theditch^and^theninfiltrates^the^subgradeunderthe^track.^ In
thiscase^wherewaterflows^down^tothe^level^ of^the^tunnelfromboth^directionsitisusuallynec-
essarytohave^sump^pumps,^ whichinthis^casecould^discharge^intocitystormsewers.^Close^collaboration^between^railroad^engineers^and^the^cityengineerswouldhave^beenneeded^for^all^ aspectsof^ theproject,^ andthe^citywouldhavewelcomedthe^opportunitytogetrail^traffic^offbusy^ChurchS
treetinparticular,^ whichcar-
ries^ U.S
.^ H
ighway2
21
andS
tateR
oute5
6.
13
H
ome^signalThe^absence^ofanumber^ plateindicates^ ahome^signal.^ Intermediateblocksignals^usuallyhavemilepost- b
asednumber^ plates.^The^same^day,A
CL
delivers^tothe^Clinchfieldwithasix- u
nit^ consistof^ GeepsandF
7 s.^ A
sus-
tainedgradeof^1percentwasrequired^togetthe^relocated^track^topass^beneath^the^Southern