East Tennessee Railway

What's not to love about a pair of first generation switchers in a Southern Railway-inspired paint scheme, rambling over the rough and tumble trackage of the venerable ET&WNC? The East Tennessee's switching trackage twists and turns around Johnson City like a snake in a maze, and the slow pace of the pike means that chasing one of their trains is a real pleasure. Lots of tankers and freshly painted boxcars are on the move in the summer of 2011, so that's a good sign. Great times chasing #214 all over town with my brother-in-law and my budding-railfan nephew, age 3. Fascinating crossing over the former Southern Railway main, now Norfolk Southern: not a diamond, as one might expect, but a pair of switches with facing points. As such, for a just a moment on every move out to the switch some chemical plants, the little East Tennessee enjoys a dozen yards of mainline running. Seems right: Southern paint on Southern rails, at least for a stretch. Now here's a Genessee & Wyoming road I'm glad is being overlooked by the corporate orange paint department. Go green and white!