Operations

During the railroad's early years, two daily round trip runs were made between Knoxville and Sevierville (one on Sunday). The business lost by the "Slow & Easy" to improved freight trucks, along with the mid-1930s opening of U.S. Highway 441 (Chapman Highway), no doubt resulted in the reduction to one round trip train daily, except Sunday. Ironically, at least some of the bulk materials used in the construction of Chapman Highway had to be delivered by the railroad.

As luck would have it, the convenience of delivering truckload freight via Chapman Highway sealed the Smoky Mountain Railroad's fate a quarter-century later.

Through the years, employees of the "Slow & Easy" adopted some rather unorthodox operating practices which, along with God's help and a whole lot of baling wire, enabled the daily trains to reach their destinations. In the line's final years, these techniques very likely kept the crews alive (or at least uninjured) as they operated over uneven rails, crumbling abutments and weakened trestles.

Some, but definitely not all, of their methods of operation are described below.

• For the first few years of the railroad's existence, no locomotive turntable was installed at Sevierville. Consequently, after arriving in Sevierville, iron horses were switched to the rear of the train, coupled cowcatcher-to-car, and operated in reverse over the entire 30-mile return run to Knoxville. (This routine was documented in the "Time Tracks" episode of WBIR-TV's The Heartland Series.)
  
  
• Trains returning from Sevierville descended into the "Slow & Easy's" Knoxville terminal, located in the Second Creek valley, by means of a switchback. In order to move the locomotive to the correct end of its train for the next departure for Sevierville, the crew was required to execute a well-choreographed "flying switch" of the cars into the terminal during the switchback. This maneuver was a fixture of the railroad's operations for its entire existence.
  
  
• Several years after "Slow & Easy" trains began running, Crusher Wye was constructed in south Knox County to allow for the turning of locomotives and to serve the Royal Knox Marble Company quarry. With the addition of Crusher Wye, train crews performed still another "flying switch" operation near the end of each return run from Sevierville. They would first uncouple their engine; then, while turning the locomotive on the wye, a conductor or brakeman would allow the cars to creep forward on the mainline. By the time the cars reached the opposite side of the wye, the engine had already reentered the mainline, cowcatcher-forward. The crew would then recouple the cars to the cowcatcher and run their locomotive in reverse over the final few miles to Knoxville.
  
  
• During the last few years of Smoky Mountain Railroad passenger service, track conditions were so bad that veteran conductor Ike Linebarger resorted to drastic measures to keep his trains from derailing. If his antique combine car, #102, bounced too violently along the Smoky's uneven rails, Linebarger took to pulling the emergency air, activating the train's brakes to slow it down. In at least one recorded instance, a new engineer, unaccustomed to Linebarger's technique, noticed the resulting deceleration and simply throttled up!
  
  Shortline legend - Veteran conductor A. P. (Ike) Linebarger, "Slow & Easy" employee for the duration of its existence (1908-1961), at the handbrake of combine #102. (Knoxville Journal newspaper clipping)
  
  
• Sevierville's A. J. King Lumber Company was a major shipper on the Smoky Mountain Railroad. At some point, the King company constructed a large warehouse on top of the "Slow & Easy" trackage in eastern Sevierville. The placement of this warehouse required a King employee to open the large warehouse doors each time a train was passing through. In effect, the warehouse was the only "tunnel" on the "Route Of Ol' Smoky."
  
  Only Slow & Easy "tunnel" - A. J. King Lumber Company warehouse, east Sevierville, through which the Smoky Mountain Railroad trackage passed. (Joe Holloway photo)
  
  
• Freight train derailments were so common in the Smoky Mountain Railroad's waning years that a flatcar containing pry bars and other rerailment tools was pushed in front of the diesel locomotive on every run.
  
  
• Probably the most famous (or infamous) of the railroad's safety precautions was taken at its wooden trestle across Boyds Creek. This span, 85 feet high and over 100 feet long, was the highest and longest on the "Slow & Easy" route. The bridge was seriously weakened by dozens of carloads of heavy building materials shipped to the Douglas Dam construction site (1942-1943). To prevent injury to or deaths of crews in a feared catastrophic collapse, trains routinely stopped just prior to the trestle. Two crewmen would walk across the structure ahead of their charge. The third member would then set the locomotive throttle to slow and jump down from the cab as the train began its crossing. As the third crewman walked across behind, the other two would reboard the train and stop it so the follower could also reboard.
  
  

While some of these practices may have prompted more than a few chuckles from area residents and railfans, alike, they enabled the line's hard-working crews to safely get the job done. That the "Slow & Easy" was able to continue operating until 1961 serves as a lasting testament to its dedicated, independent-minded employees.