East Tennessee Railway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The East Tennessee Railway (reporting mark ETRY) is a short line railroad linking Elizabethton, Tennessee to CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway in Johnson City, Tennessee, 11 miles (17.7 km) away. Since 1996, the railroad has been owned by Genesee and Wyoming, an international operator of short line railroads, as part of its Rail Link group. The railroad uses two diesel locomotives to serve eight industries; the largest customer is North American Rayon.
The current regular gauge railroad is a remnant of a larger, narrow gauge railroad, the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, chartered in 1866 to haul iron ore from Cranberry, North Carolina to Johnson City across the Appalachian Mountains. Through an acquisition and track extensions, the railroad grew to serve Boone, North Carolina and Saginaw, North Carolina. ET&WNC used dual gauge tracks between Johnson City and Elizabethton; eventually the railroad ceased all narrow gauge operations and only operated standard gauge service on this one section. Later, with a change in ownership this limited line was reorganized as the East Tennessee Railway.
[edit] External links
