The TR-Line in Western North Carolina
Introduction
Virtually all of the tours in Frograil are for those who want to enjoy touring the railroad routes of America. A great deal of that enjoyment comes from seeing trains -- hopefully plenty of them -- in new and different places. This tour is quite different. It runs thru lovely countryside, certainly, but there are no major yards, no junctions, engine facilities, or even a train. Western North Carolina is the scene for the TR-Line, an obscure, 18-mile line between the ex-Saluda line town of Hendersonville and Pisgah Forest.
We present a tour by Brandon Hampton of a line that has been severed (as of 2007, per Mike Harmon), because the major paper mill it served has been closed.
Contents And Navigation:
About This Tour:
WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE: From a particular starting point, this text will allow you to follow the instructions given, drive to a ex-railfan site, then to the next, etc. etc. The photographic/ lighting considerations for each site will usually be mentioned. Since this is primarily a tour for photographers, these comments will be extensive. You'll be told about area attractions, such as tourist and historic sites, as well as restaurants which are trackside or otherwise worthy of note.
WHAT YOU WILL NOT FIND HERE: This is a railfan guide, not a photo collection. There are already many excellent and enjoyable railroad photo sites available, and one more really wouldn't add much value to the general railfan. Besides, photos take up a lot of memory, and your humble Webmaster has to pay for memory.
You will also not find fancy graphics, as this is a tour guide, not an exhibition of HTML or graphics expertise. You'll be able to load these pages quickly and print them without waiting a week for each page to print. Also, you'll conserve toner in the process.
Contributors:
Major contributors to this effort include:
Brandon Hampton. Complete text for this entire tour.
Tony Hill, Webmaster -- the guy who makes Frograil go.
Train Gifs. All train gifs used within this tour are from the Ed Bindler's train gifs site, which is here.
Help
If you'd like to contribute to this, or any other tour, please contact me at webmaster@frograil.com, and let me know what you'd like to do. We'll work together: You supply the data/info, and I'll do the HTML stuff and upload it. You'll get a chance to review the fruits of your efforts before the general public sees the finished product, so you can let me have your corrections, additions and changes.
Supplemental And Back-Up Data
Abbreviations
Area Attractions
Mapwork
Railroad -- General
Railroad -- Geography
Railroad -- Traffic
Security
The Railroad -- General. This was the Norfolk Southern, ex-Southern, branch from Hendersonville to Pisgah Forest in western North Carolina. It's had almost as many names as miles: Transylvania Line, Pisgah Forest Line, Brevard Line, or Toxaway Line, and the TR-Line. It once went a good bit further southwest to Toxaway Lake. For the past 30 years, the tracks have gradually been cut back, until the end of operations which saw only one custormer, the remains of the Ecusta Paper Plant in Pisgah Forest, just north of the tourist destination town of Brevard.
The Railroad -- Geography. Not far from the mind-boggling engineering required to punch I-40 thru western North Carolina, and the legendary Saluda grade just to the south, you'd understandably be inclined to opine that this must be one heckova rugged piece of railroad. Between Hendersonville and Pisgah Forest; however, this is not the case, and your 15-year old Chevy sedan will have no trouble following the tour. On the other hand, if you're going to do this in full winter, be ready to battle significant snowfall.
You'll travel through farmland, river bottoms, and wide open fields, and you'll see an abundance of scenery along this historic line. You will not, however, have to go up and down mountains, and execute perilous S-curves and switchbacks to do so. This is a lovely tour, not a workout.
The Railroad -- Traffic. In the very recent past, it looked as if this line was dead. Ecusta had completely closed down, and there was no other traffic on the line. However, in 2004, portions of the mill re-opened, and at least some traffic was being generated. In 2007, however, NS piled the "Dirt Pile of Doom" over the TR Line's tracks just west of the switch going into Hendersonville.
Area Attractions. The TR Line is in one of the finest vacation destinations in the east. From Asheville to Brevard to Dillsboro, there are B&B's, great food, hiking, trout fishing, ORVing, resorts, skiing, and probably many I forgot to mention. The Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are a hunting and fishing paradise.
Mapwork: Some of the tour is not easy if you have no detailed map for back country roads. I definitely recommend you get a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, study it before your trip, and copy pertinent pages for your field work. You can find information here about Railfan Maps that are available.
WEBMASTER'S NOTE: I do not recommend, or even condone, walking along the tracks, as this means trespassing or exposing yourself to danger. You will have to be creative, in some instances, to avoid trespassing while getting to the detailed locations included herein, but you will either have to be creative or not visit those sites. At no point in this tour guide, or any other tour which is part of Frograil, is it recommended that you trespass or expose yourself to danger. If you are a fool and have a leg cut off (or worse), don't come crying to me: You have been warned. Trains are big, powerful, and often surprisingly quiet. Don't end up being a statistic.
Railfan sites
The Tour
[WEBMASTER'S NOTE: All text for this tour is from Brandon Hampton. Please note that train service over the line ended in 2007.]
Hendersonville -- Station. From I-26, take exit 49 to follow US-64 into Hendersonville. Take a left onto Harris Street, and then go south 3 blocks to 4th Avenue East, and take a right to go to the vicinity of the Southern station. To the south of 4th Avenue, you'll see the Saluda line split, with the line we'll be following peeling off to the west. This is MP 0.0 of the TR Line, and the beginning of this tour. The local from Asheville, P44, switches in the vicinity of the station (in the 4th Avenue area), down all the way to the north of 7th Avenue, and will sometimes go even further south to Shepherd Street, where a cement plant occasionally needs cars.
The area between 4th and 7th avenues is a good spot to take pix, as it is right beside the tracks. Do watch your back, however, because vagrants frequent the area.
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Hendersonville -- Church Street. Travel further west on 4th Avenue, through downtown, to Church Street, which is US-25 southbound thru Hendersonville. This is a one-way street, and you'll take a left to go all the way down to just before crossing the tracks, which have come well south and west of the station area. You can park in the auto parts store's lot just north of the Church Street crossing. There is a great view of the curve of the tracks, as the train comes thru the crossing.
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Hendersonville -- 5th Avenue. If you want to be a Combat Railfan, you can print out maps of Hendersonville, and tack northwest to crossings of Kanuga Street, Spring Street, Whitted Street, 3rd Avenue, and 4th Avenue. However, Brandon recommends going north on King Street (the one-way, northbound US-25 at the east end of the auto parts store's parking lot), all the way to 5th Avenue. Take a left onto 5th Avenue -- the old City Hall is on the northwest corner -- and drive for about 1/2 mile, to a crossing of the TR Line. This is not a particularly good photographic location, but serves as a good reference point for those of us heading further west, and on out of the city. It is also a good place to get trackside, if you know the local will be going thru shortly.
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Hendersonville -- White Pine Drive. Continue across the tracks and take a right onto White Pine Drive. This will follow the tracks north for another half mile or so. There are some spots for good shots along the way, and crossings at Glasgow Lane, Daniel Drive, and perhaps a few that don't make the map. However, this is a busy street, not a bucolic by-way, so pay attention. At the first major right turn, go over the tracks to US-64, and then turn left to continue west via US-64.
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Horse Shoe -- East. As you continue on US-64 west, the tracks will be in the bottoms to your left. There are some side roads you can take that take you down to the tracks, and each crossing offers its own perspective. These include Durfee Avenue, Bonaire Drive, Turley Falls Road, Yale Road, Kilpatrick Road, and Hunters Glen Lane. You'll have to be the judge of the photo-worthiness of these crossings. Eventually, you'll get to an intersection with Battle Creek Road.
You can park in the Horse Shoe Hardware parking lot just west of the crossing, and get some good shots of a westbound coming thru the crossing.
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Horse Shoe -- West. Continue west on US-64 to the first traffic light. Bear right onto Banner Farm Road just prior to reaching the traffic light, and another crossing is just about 1/4 mile on down. After working the crossing, you'll need to head back towards US-64. Ignore Old Highway 64, as it will dead end just about 1/4 mile to the west, and never gets near the tracks.
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Etowah -- Cummings Road. As you come into the Etowah area, you'll see Cummings Road go off to your left. This is your signal to be alert for an excellent straight ahead shot of the tracks crossing over the French Broad River. As Cummings Road and the bridge come into view, there is a pull-off to the right. Park. Your shot is below the road, and at the point where the tracks cross the river. You'll need a moderate zoom lens, and the best view is to the west. However, you can also get a pretty good westbound shot to the east, while looking down the tracks to the right.
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Etowah -- Industrial Park Drive. US-64 will cross the French Broad, and shortly after that, you should turn right onto Morgan Road. After a quarter mile or so, Industrial Drive [Webmaster's note: This is shown as Summerwind Drive on MapQuest] will go off to the right. Industrial Drive has the only crossing in this part of the Etowah area.
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Etowah. Retrace your route from the Industrial Drive crossing, and then turn right onto Morgan Road. This will take you back to US-64. Take a right to continue west, and you'll almost immediately cross the tracks. This is the Etowah crossing. Just past the crossing, there is a very good BBQ restaurant on the right side of the road, called the Bar-B-Q Shack. It's in a fairly large building, and has EXCELLENT ribs [capital letters via Brandon, not the Webmaster, who has not eaten there, but is looking forward to it!], and it is open pretty much all week for dinner.
In the vicinity of the crossing itself, there are some decent photo ops, and there is also the remains of an old spur or siding. Because it's fairly short, it was probably not used as a passing siding, but it could well have been a team track, log or pulpwood loadout, or any number of other such things.
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Blantyre -- Grove Bridge Road. After you cross the tracks in Etowah, heading further west, take a left onto Old US-64. This is a lazy loop fairly close to the tracks, which takes you 3 miles thru the countryside before re-joining US-64. There are several interesting crossing that might provide you with neat shots, including (in order from east to west) Etowah School Road, Timberline Drive, Little Mountain Drive/Tower Road (MapQuest shows these as separate roads, but that may not be the case on the ground), Walters Road, Eade Road, and Armstrong Road. Brandon especially recommends Tower Road. The tracks run thru a short straight stretch -- a rarity out here -- with pine trees on both sides. It looks as if the trains won't even fit thru this section, and he feels it would be a neat shot to catch one here.
Note that at some of the crossings mentioned in the previous paragraph, parking is difficult. Flat land and wide shoulders are at a premium, so be prepared to park away from the crossings and hoof it back to the tracks.
Take the left at US-64 to head further west, and you'll note the tracks have also turned to the left, as they are now parallel to US-64. Watch for the sign telling you that you've entered Transylvania County, and you'll see 2 DOT gravel piles. There is a small road there with a crossing, but it is private and not a railfan location. The next road to the left is Grove Bridge Road. This is a great spot for getting trains. Park in the nursery parking lot, and you are afforded a view with the railing curving in such a manner as to allow panoramic shots of the entire train.
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Penrose -- Valley Green Road. After Grove Bridge Road, you'll note a straight stretch of about a mile, and 2/3rds thru this stretch, take a left onto Old Hendersonville Highway. Note that this road is also referred to as Old US-64. There is one crossing, Valley Green Road, which offers an interesting view of the tracks. Parking is difficult at the crossing, so you'll probably want to park on Old Hendersonville, and walk the 100 yards to the crossing. Note that MapQuest shows another, un-named crossing southwest of Valley Green, but it may not exist on the ground.
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Penrose -- Crab Creek Road. Old Henderson Highway will end at Crab Creek Road, and you should turn left to get to the crossing. As things go up here, this is a fairly major road, and the crossing is fairly built up. There is an APAC asphalt plant, and an old siding for it just to the east of the crossing. This is a decent spot for pix. Go back up Crab Creek to Old Hendersonville Highway and turn left to continue the tour. However, if you need some life support, cross Old Hendersonville Highway, and continue north a very short distance to US-64. There is a convenience store at this intersection.
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Davidson River. From the Penrose area, head west on Old Hendersonville Highway. In many areas of this drive, the tracks will be very close, and good photos are possible. However, this road is used by locals who know the area, and they drive fast. Don't be dawdling along playing railfan while serious log trucks, dump trucks and cars are trying to exceed 55mph. There are some un-named roads that appear on MapQuest, but many are not on the ground. There's a pulloff to the left where Enon Crossing Road comes into Old Hendersonville Highway, but the road itself is private south of the highway. There is a private wooden bridge that crosses the tracks, and you might be able to work that into a shot without trespassing.
Two miles beyond Enon Crossing Road, in the area Glade Creek Road, is another potential spot for photos, but parking is again a problem. Another half mile will take you to an electrical substation, and the tracks will come up hard to your left just before the substation. This spot is the site of another old spur/siding, which can give you a little wider photo field than some other areas might.
As you have probably figured out, you have been going steadily southwest for the past few miles. The road will make a rather abrupt turn to the northwest, and this point is identified as Davidson River, by both DeLorme and MapQuest. Just before this curve, Everett Road goes off to the left, and has a crossing. Beyond the intersection of Everett Road and Old Hendersonville Highway/Old US-64, the road towards Pisgah Forest is called Everett Road by both DeLorme and MapQuest, but is known as Old US-64 on the ground. Eventually, the road will swing once again to the southwest. At the apex of this curve, the road crosses the tracks, and you can get photos there. However, a better place is to continue past the crossing, and take the first right onto Davidson River Road. [NOTE WELL: During periods of very heavy rain, the area next described is subject to sudden increases in river depth. Avoid the area completely during and immediately after such rain events.]
About 200 yards down Davidson River Road, the railroad crosses both the street and the river on the same trestle. This 169 foot trestle was displaced about 18 inches during the hurricane-relating drenchings in 2004. This trestle is quite photogenic, and a shot of the local heading towards Ecusta would be a prize.
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Ecusta Yard. Get back down to Everett Road, take a right, and head to Ecusta Road, and then take another right to enter the "yard". The crossing on Ecusta Road is the place to sort out what you're looking at. The 3 tracks on the left go up about 1/2 mile to the end of the line. To the right, the first track is the line returning to Hendersonville (the "main line"), and after that, there is a single track that expands out into about 4 sidings.
You can park in the Cason Builders Supply parking lot between the sets of tracks. This lot is not on railroad property. This is an excellent place to watch switching.
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Ecusta Yard -- North. Continue north on Ecusta Road for about 150 yards, and you'll see the Pisgah Forest elementary School. Turn into the entrance, and bear around to the left, toward the Transylvania County Recreation Department. This will parallel the upper west end of the yard tracks, and this is usually where the crew does switching for the plant itself. This is a good area for photos.
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Frograil expresses gratitude to Brandon Hampton for this interesting and enjoyable rail tour. Please let me know if you have additions, corrections or suggestions to this text.