Johnson City, Tennessee in 1941

Pretty sure it’s 1941…

A small group of snapshots taken at the dual-gauge yards of the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina in Johnson City, Tennessee on a sunny summer day in 1941. The scenic and delightful little operation featured immaculately maintained locomotives, and a suprisingly progressive approach to business, including their own trucking line and very early "piggyback" flatcars. Two narrow, and one standard, gauge locomotives are featured. Starting with number 14 next to a stack of new driver tires, number 11 being hostled and moved about in the yard, and finally number 205 taking on water. Number 14 is a narrow-gauge 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" that was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, construction number 52406, in September of 1919 and was the last brand new steam locomotive the line bought. In 1942 she would be sold to the White Pass & Yukon Route for the use in the war effort, but was destroyed in a roundhouse fire at Whitehorse, Yukon in 1943 and scrapped. Her older near-identical sister, number 11, was built in June of 1916 and carried construction number 42862. She would be the last locomotive to operate on the narrow-gauge portion of the line in October of 1950, and despite being set aside for preservation, was scrapped in 1952 when the local municipalities turned her down for display. The final locomotive is standard gauge switcher number 205 which was built for the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, construction number 29768, in December of 1906 and was originally rostered as number 104. Later renumbered to 13, she was sold to the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina in 1940, then to the Cadiz Railroad in 1953, then the Crabtree Coal Company, and was finally scrapped in 1956 after half a century of service.

Enjoy, Taylor