Knoxville, Sevierville & Eastern Ry. • Knoxville & Carolina R.R. • Tennessee & North Carolina Ry.
Image Gallery
Like many other fans and students of the Smoky Mountain Railroad, we got our first real look at its operations in Chapter 1 of the late-Elmer Sulzer's classic book, Ghost Railroads Of Tennessee. The photographs and detailed captions from Sulzer's work naturally prompted us to search for more images and information about our favorite fallen flag line. We have been very successful in doing so in the three decades since first reading Sulzer, collecting several 3-ring binders full of material from local libraries and newspapers. Most of all, though, we have been blessed by the generosity of our fellow Smoky admirers. Many of them have sent us a wealth of "Slow & Easy" information. We are greatly indebted to them for their kindness in doing so. Many of their contributions will be incorporated into this redesigned website in the near future.
That being said, images and stories of the Smoky Mountain line are still very rare and hard to come by. So, we invite you to E-mail us if you have any such treasures you wouldn't mind sharing with other fans. As always, our goals are to educate the public regarding the Knoxville-to-Sevierville route, and, of course, preserve its history for future generations.
Below are a few more glimpses of the now-legendary shortline which once "Penetrated The Heart Of The Smokies."
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Sometime in 1908 or 1909, a Revilo Construction Company crew builds the Knoxville, Sevierville & Eastern Railway. Here, the crew, KS&E flatcar #130 and an unidentified iron horse are located near Porterfield Gap Road. (Courtesy Sevier County Heritage Museum) |
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Once erroneously described on a post card as the first train to arrive in Sevierville, this KS&E train was actually photographed over two years later on June 10, 1912. (G.P. Vance, Jr. photo, courtesy of Sevier County Public Library) |
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Proudly posing before Sevierville's brand new KS&E depot are Jack McAfee (left) and Tom Stafford. Although the typewritten caption states this facility was opened by Stafford in 1909, the first train did not reach Sevierville until January 1910. Further, that historic first run stopped at a "temporary depot" on the A.C. (or A.H.) Love farm, just west of this location. By all accounts, however, this station was opened very shortly thereafter. (Courtesy Sevier County Public Library) |
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Unidentified men transfering freight from a "Slow & Easy" boxcar into a twin mule-powered buckboard, Sevierville (date unknown). (Courtesy Sevier County Public Library) |
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Two young railfans visit Tennessee & North Carolina Railway #102 (ex-#5) on the leased Knoxville Division (Smoky Mountain Railroad), August 1936. #102, a Lima Prairie, was scrapped for its iron during World War II. (Otto C. Perry photo) |
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Looking southeast at Smoky Mountain Railroad's Sevierville terminal in 1947. The lead originating at lower left passes the enginehouse and water tank (spout visible behind enginehouse) and terminates with the line's "Armstrong" (non-motorized) pit turntable. Visible, from left, are boxcar #502, unidentified flatcar, retired combine #100, and Baldwin 2-8-0 #107. Behind #107 in the enginehouse is believed to be Baldwin light 4-6-2 #110. Elevated coal ramp is at far right. (H. Reid photo) |
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More than a decade later, probably about the time of the Smoky Mountain Railroad's final run (1961), this opposite view of the one above was captured on film. The photographer was standing on the turntable looking northwest. Featured here are, from left, abandoned combine #100, the water tank and rear of the enginehouse, the SMRR caboose (far right center), an abandoned boxcar, the tender for Baldwin 2-6-0 #206, and the 206 herself. (Courtesy Alton Underwood) |
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Standing northwest of Sevierville on Old Knoxville Highway near Reed Schoolhouse Road, Mike Runey catches Smoky Mountain Railroad Baldwin 2-8-0 #107 and her westbound mixed train crossing the bridge over Gists Creek in the late-1940s. Veteran conductor Ike Linebarger stands watch in the open door of combine #102. This location is now surrounded by Eagles' Landing Golf Club. (Mike Runey photo) |
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In one of our favorite "Slow & Easy" photos of all time, SMRR Baldwin 4-6-2 #110 and its shortest of possible mixed trains creeps westbound toward Knoxville in the afternoon sun, late-1940s. The photographer climbed a considerable hill to capture the little Pacific crossing a small bridge near Ewing. Conductor Linebarger, once again, has taken his position in the door of combine #102. Just out of the frame to the right is the present-day Eagles' Landing Golf Club; to the left, the mouth of Cannon Hollow. (Photographer unknown) |
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Hauling an uncharacteristically long (six-car) mixed train in the late-1940s is Smoky Mountain Railroad 2-6-0 #206. This was one of two "Slow & Easy" images featured in Lucius Beebe's volume, Mixed Train Daily. (C.M. Clegg photo) |
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In 1942, University of Tennessee student Grady Fox snapped this classic shot of a Smoky Mountain Railroad mixed train executing a "flying switch" on the riverfront Knoxville Belt trackage. This maneuver was necessary for trains returning from Sevierville as they entered the SMRR's Knoxville terminal. The photo was taken from the east grandstand of Shields-Watkins Field (now Neyland Stadium, home of the Tennessee Volunteers), looking south. Although obscured by trees, the locomotive appears to be Baldwin 2-8-0 #107. At lower right is the southeast corner of the end zone; at left center is the Louisville & Nashville's spur leading to its Knoxville depot; at top is the Tennessee River. (Grady Fox photo) |
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U.S. Army Technical Sergeant Robert W. Richardson poses with Smoky Mountain Railroad #206 as the Baldwin Mogul is about to reverse direction on Sevierville's "Armstrong" (man-powered) turntable. The date was November 1942, during the "Slow & Easy's" support of TVA's Douglas Dam construction. (Bob Richardson photo) |
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Scanned from a 1948 Model Railroader magazine, this early-1940s image is, nonetheless, priceless. Shown here is a Smoky Mountain Railroad mixed train, pulled by Baldwin 2-6-0 #206, transferring U.S. Mail at the Knoxville terminal. In the background, the Atlantic Ice Company is visible on Cumberland Avenue. (C.L. Bandy photo) |
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In 1948, H. Reid recorded Smoky Mountain Railroad #206 and its eastbound mixed train crossing the Southern Railway's Tennessee River bridge at Knoxville. Such trains had trackage rights over the Southern's K&A branch from downtown Knoxville to Vestal, 2.2 miles distant. At Vestal, "Slow & Easy" trains onto their own trackage for the meandering 28-mile run to Sevierville. Just above the lead flatcar, the University of Tennessee's Ayres Hall belltower is a recognizable landmark. (H. Reid photo) |
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A lady poses with two children before Smoky Mountain Railroad's legendary Pacific #110 and veteran combine #102 in Knoxvile during September 1953. Just over a year remained before the "Slow & Easy" transitioned to diesel power in late-1954. (Courtesy Jerry Dowling) |
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On a sunny Knoxville morning about six years later (1959 or 1960), Smoky Mountain Railroad 44-ton diesel #440 sits coupled to freshly-painted boxcar #504. Also at the Main Avenue terminal is retired Pacific #110, whose headlight was already claimed by thieving souvenir-hunters. (Miraculously, her original headlight was returned to the locomotive's present owner, Mr. Terry Bloom of Indiana!) At lower left is the derailment tool flatcar which, in the "Slow & Easy's" last years, accompanied every train between Knoxville and Sevierville. (Courtesy Jerry Dowling) |
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Only a few short months before the last run of the Smoky Mountain Railroad, its only locomotive still in service, G.E. 44-ton diesel #440, is seen here at Knoxville in late-1960. At far left is retired Baldwin 4-6-2 #110, already minus its stolen headlight (later miraculously recovered!). Between #110 and #440 is the Smoky Mountain's last Knoxville depot, a rented Southern Railway section house. (Tom G. King photo) |
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Sadly, February 1966 brought the death of the venerable "Slow & Easy." Here, the well-worn light rail of the Smoky Mountain Railroad is pulled up at Shooks, thereby stranding the abandoned Baldwin 4-6-2 #110 alongside U.S. 441 (Chapman Highway) for the next six years. To add insult to injury, the scrap rails were snagged for a song by West Virginia's Midwest Steel Corporation, a previous SMRR-owner which unscrupulously milked the railroad of all possible assets and drove it into bankruptcy. (Thomas Lawson, Jr. photo) |
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