Evergreen Sunrise
With this being my first time capturing the Blue Ridge Southern & with it being a cold, clear morning, I had to go for the obligatory shot of T31 crossing the Pigeon River with the Evergreen Paper Mill in the background. This as been a classic shot to get since the Watco took over the eastern end of the Murphy Branch since T31 would always switch the yard & mill in the morning. Makes me glad I got this one out of the way early because less than 2 months after I took this shot, it was announced that the mill would be shutting down by the end of June that year, with the last sounding of the noon whistle occurring in late May. With its closing, not only does BLU lose its biggest customer & the majority of their traffic, but another chapter in the story of the Murphy Branch, as well as Asheville Railroading yet again comes to a close. To think, this mill was a big reason as to why Saluda lasted up to 2001. Heck, to think that as recently as 2014, this line was still owned by NS & Asheville saw somewhere around or close to 20 road trains a day. Now, BLU only has GP39-2s on site as all of the six axles now live in Alabama, what's essentially left of the W-Line (Saluda) in North Carolina at least is only used for car storage, & NS only runs 2 road trains a day for Asheville on the river line. Worse, only 1, maybe 2 if P87 is still a thing, local(s) run the Southern Loops on the eastern side of Asheville as no road trains run the Asheville District anymore as of 2020. What a shame for such a fantastic region for railroading. 1-16-23
Evergreen Sunrise
With this being my first time capturing the Blue Ridge Southern & with it being a cold, clear morning, I had to go for the obligatory shot of T31 crossing the Pigeon River with the Evergreen Paper Mill in the background. This as been a classic shot to get since the Watco took over the eastern end of the Murphy Branch since T31 would always switch the yard & mill in the morning. Makes me glad I got this one out of the way early because less than 2 months after I took this shot, it was announced that the mill would be shutting down by the end of June that year, with the last sounding of the noon whistle occurring in late May. With its closing, not only does BLU lose its biggest customer & the majority of their traffic, but another chapter in the story of the Murphy Branch, as well as Asheville Railroading yet again comes to a close. To think, this mill was a big reason as to why Saluda lasted up to 2001. Heck, to think that as recently as 2014, this line was still owned by NS & Asheville saw somewhere around or close to 20 road trains a day. Now, BLU only has GP39-2s on site as all of the six axles now live in Alabama, what's essentially left of the W-Line (Saluda) in North Carolina at least is only used for car storage, & NS only runs 2 road trains a day for Asheville on the river line. Worse, only 1, maybe 2 if P87 is still a thing, local(s) run the Southern Loops on the eastern side of Asheville as no road trains run the Asheville District anymore as of 2020. What a shame for such a fantastic region for railroading. 1-16-23