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Are you sure about that? As a shareholder, I have not seen any such, and as such, I am opposed to rebuilding it, but as a lifelong railfan -- GO FOR IT.

@railroadman32257 I can't think of the guy's name but he said that the government is making them do it because the line is between two states.

@@ericposey1986 But Eric, that would be the line west of Asheville which they are rebuilding. This line runs originally from Salisbury to Asheville, while the line on into Tennessee came later. As I said elsewhere though, this was my favorite ride, although I was pretty busy manning the recorders, when we tested the rocking of coal cars monthly over this line, & track gauge & such at the same time. In those busy times, there were coal trains, merchandise, locals, and a passenger train, now it is (or was) a local train as needed. This line does not cross state lines.

As if we care what you think about the music psychopath.

Not yet, anyway. Hopefully that will all change after next month.

I doubt we will hear anything of what will become of the loops till they finish working on the line west of ashville

The section of Old 70 seen here has been closed for many years and is primarily used by cyclists and walkers. Mill Creek road is repaired now and passable between Ridgecrest and Old Fort.

@ The loops would make a great rail trail! I don’t see it coming back as a rail line though.

I agree. I don't see Norfolk Southern spending the amount of money it will take to rebuild the line between Asheville & Old Fort.

Yeah i suspect the line will lie dormant/abandoned unless the NCDOT or NC railroad company provides funding or buy the line I hope this happens since lately the have been getting serious about passenger rail and have paid to upgrade other NS lines such as double tracking the danville and charlotte districts between Greensboro and Charlotte. And the also provided funding for short lines and business in western NC to repair their rail connections

please make more videos

@@foscoe2496 I’m on it.

Outside of Asheville, NC.

@@johnhenryNC Okay, thanks, Greetings from Budapest, Hungary.

@@RR98guy Greetings from the foothills of North Carolina. 👋

@@RR98guy Greetings from Florida. Seach for Asheville, NC on Google Earth. Mark the spot and then search for Old Fort, NC and mark that spot. The railroad goes through the middle of Old Fort exiting slightly to the northwest. Trace it, and first you come to Point Tunnel, then the Andrews Geyser (actually a fountain monument to the builders of the railroad). Around there, you will see the BIG "S" curve that comprises the loops. Then continue and the railroad bears up into and out of a valley. This is approximately Coleman. Then there are several tunnels, LickLog, Jarretts, etc. and finally Bergen. Then a long stretch along the side of the ridge and finally Swannanoa Tunnel which passes under the edge of an assembly ground, Actually Ridgecrest, A Baptist retreat area. Then on to Asheville. The issue is there is little or no industry between Marion, NC, a few miles east of Old Fort, and Asheville.

Between Ridgecrest and Old Fort North Carolina

We can’t allow that!

Get out of here with that stupid shit. That will never happen.

@@bryanmarshall8124 Good job! The trail will 100% not work! The cost $$$ to build a trail on that route will be equivalent to ACTUALLY REBUILDING that route.

Yes

More on this ns loops

@@foscoe2496 there will be a part 3.

@@bryanmarshall8124 thank you

Very challenging. Lots of trees, high wind, and weak signals.

@@bryanmarshall8124 I mean to say, it's not completely ruined like the river-lever routs line were.

I agree! I was imagining the track from above Andrews Geyser to be IN the geyser! Still doubt they’ll fix it. It’s reason for being has disappeared.

​@tomt9543 NS has no choice but to fix it. They are required by contract to keep the route viable. It's an agreement between them and the DOD. Been that way for years.

@ That didn’t help Saluda! It’s been sitting unmaintained for decades with track hanging 100’ in the air at places! That’s were the creative “Railbank” term comes in! Not abandoned, but not used or maintained. Same deal on the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/Charlotte line. Unused and unmaintained for decades from W-S towards Clemmons, but not abandoned! Abandonment and not repairing it are two totally different scenarios! NS would tell the feds they could move military equipment faster via the routes they’ve been using since 2020 when they stopped running trains between Linwood & Asheville and sent everything through Roanoke and Bristol.

Lol Thanks for sharing!

It is a heard breaking situation. However if I am not mistaken, there is a military contract with the railroad to keep the line open.

That's sad to see.

@@railroadman32257 my hope is that the state or NC railroad company provides funding since people have been wanting Amtrak service to ashville and latly NC has been getting pretty serious with passenger rail projects

I measured R & R on the unit trains ?????

@@mshum538 The as-delivered SilverSides gondolas were famous (or infamous) for their rocking back and forth tendency and starting around 1965 there were derailments of trains that had them. I hired on at the Test Department and after it was determined that a derailment of the YellowLead unit train was not caused by bridge deflection, i.e. sagging, and my boss had observed wheels lifting off the rails as a train passed, we knew something had to be done. So my assignment was to determine the cause and then our mechanical folks had to find a solution. The cause was the roughly 39 ft. spacing between the truck centers of the car, and the 39 ft. length of jointed rail. Around 15mph, this caused a resonance affect in which the car rocked further and further until sometimes it just tipped over taking more with it. The solution in the short run was snubbers (big shock absorbers, same function as those on your car) and center plate extension pads at a cost of about $1500 a car in 1965 dollars. But until welded rail was installed, we tested the coal trains on critical routes every 30 days by putting a gov't surplus gyroscope on the end of a car and with that measuring the rocking angle. Anything greater than 4 degrees off vertical was bad. So for some time, we tested the Belmont Train, Andover, VA to near Charlotte, NC by way of Ashevile & Saluda, and the Catawba train, Andover to near Statesville by way of Asheville & the Loops.

@@railroadman32257 Having 40 years in the industry I remember having the same “ harmonic rocking “ with the 100 ton high cube covered hoppers on jointed rail on certain curvatures, which they were granted the name “ swinging sways “ …

Ok I will add that in the description.

@@bryanmarshall8124 And great video.

You can find it easily on Google Earth. Just search for Old Fort, NC and it will zoom in on the community. The railroad comes in from the east and exits toward the northwest. You can easily follow it all the way to Asheville. On the thought that it might not be rebuilt, I digitized the route off G.E. yesterday and plan to add it to my revised Clinchfield route in ORTS, i.e. from just east of ClinchCross to Asheville. It will surprise me if it is rebuilt, but if NC is serious about adding a state train to Asheville, then maybe the state will assist in some way. They did this when some revisions were made where the CSX "A" line crosses the old SAL line to the coast because they plan to add a passenger train from the coast to at least Selma & Raleigh. I worked on the signals for that route when I was employed by a signal contractor, before I retired the 2nd time.

Old Fort NC on Interstate 40 due east of Asheville.

@@Greatdome99 Thank you

Thank you for the award! I’ll put some John Denver on the next one just for you.

@@bryanmarshall8124 Sounded more like funeral music to me, which might be just too appropriate.