Station at Johnson City

The old Clinchfield station in Johnson City, TN continues to draw me in. The station is in bad shape but they are trying to save it. The roof is almost gone. The Clinchfield and ET&WNC (Tweetsie) met at that station. NS & CSX still travel the old Clinchfield line in front of it today. The old state foundry was blocks up the street. Kingsport intermodal yard is not far away (15 miles by rail) and the Jonesbourgh the oldest town in TN with many old structures is on the line. So in my fantasy layout the end of steam meets deisel intermodal around Johnson City. Since the ET&WNC is no longer around except for some great old tunnels and decaying bridges I decided the part of ET&WNC I would model would be steam, coal, lumber, foundry, etc. I have pictures of all the old structures. There is a church camp in Doe Creek Gorge that is a great place to visit where you can walk or ride through history. On the Clinchfield side I am going to do CSX modern coal and NS intermodal. The only place they meet is Johnson City and all within a 20 mile stretch of track. I now need to decide if I am going to do the ET&WNC in narrow gauge being faithful and limit my options or HO. The track between Johnson City and Elizabethton was dual so maybe I do dual. I plan another picture trip next week when I get back for Thanksgiving to Kingsport to capture more of the modern stuff intermodal, chemical Eastman, another old foundry and station. I wish I knew where to get more detailed rail maps than the route map one with some indication of siding and yards.

By the way I am thinking about spring training through TN, NC, VA, & WV. I'd start at Great Smokie and end up at Cass with Doe and the Mine museum among others in between. Flea bag hotels"