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At one time the rathole between Cincinnati and Knoxville on the Southern. It was called the rathole because of the amount of tunnels.
One conductor out of Denver described the pre-Moffat route as the "kind of like a Jacob's Ladder configuration"Some of the more interesting trackage is no longer in use as it has been replaced by tunnels. Here highlighted in green is the original route over Stevens Pass in Eastern Washington state later replaced by a series of Cascade Tunnels, the longest (#2) now used by the Empire Builder:
View attachment 12274
This next one, highlighted in blue, is the circuitous route replaced by the Moffat Tunnel on the route of the California Zephyr:
View attachment 12277
For those who understand topographic maps, the reasons for a strangely shaped route segment becomes crystal clear.
Disregard. Googled up a 1921 Southern Rwy map and it seem like a significant portion of that route doesn't show up on recent topographic maps. And searching the USGS Historical Map Collection for older maps is too much of a strain on my old eyes.Did this route go down through Covington, Berry, Winchester, Corbin, La Follette and Rocky Top?
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