WIP Murphy Branch

[Shortliner]

These two shots are a pre-alpha shots of the Murphy Branch that runs from Blue Ridge, GA to Asheville, NC. I'm just here showing the major grade in Blue Ridge, GA. However I am wondering if the grade really is this steep. However, this route will put hair on your chest as you climb the steep grades over the Appalachia Mountains.

MurphyDrop1.jpg

MurphyDrop2.jpg

[Pkmanca2010]

What is your grade on this route ??

Is Murphy Branch real line ??

I like the Mtns in the screen print .

But , I would be scare to drive a train over this line

the heaver the grade , harder it is to keep a train under control .

Steven Presnal
Los Osos, Ca

[Trainguy76]

You need to average out the grade, that second picture shows the track in an unrealistic fashion.

[landnrailroader]

The maximum gradient on the Murphy Branch, east of Murphy was 4% except for a little bit of nearly 5% at one
point near Andrews in the Nantahala Gorge. The line, west of Murphy was an L&N line, and you can obtain a
book on the L&N Georgia Division from the Louisville & Nashville Historical Society that has some very good
B&W images and a lot of data on the line. The L&N line did not have anything over 2% but it had scads of timber
trestles, some dizzingly high.

I don't recall exactly when the L&N line was abandoned, but as late as the early 70s, the Southern still operated
into Murphy from Asheville and I personally tested the line with the Southern Geometry car in that period. The
Great Smokey Mtn. RR operates a tourist line as far as Andrews at the present and I believe the track is still in
place from there to Murphy.

If you want a grade as steep as the one in the screen capture, then include the Graham Cty. RR which ran
from Topton, near the top of the Nantahala grade on the SR to Robbinsville. It had grades up to 8% but it
used a Shay. The particular Shay still exists at the NC RR Museum in Spencer, NC.

Google Earth is pretty good for determining elevations provided that you zoom in close and of course it is
also useful if you are using the RWdecal program. You can also use Google earth to measure a linear path
and what I do in situations where I don't know the actual grade, is to take the elevation at two points, and
measure the path distance between them. This will give you an average % of grade.

If you want to stir the souls of old SR officers like myself, also be sure to include D.W.Brosnan's summer home
located at Almond, about a mile west of the bridge over the Little Tennessee R. There was a short siding
to handle 2 or 3 office cars there. Twice a year a "pep talk" was given there, and for three days 1/2 of the
officers were there, then there was a vacant day, then 3 days with the other 1/2. What this really was
was a backwoods A--- Reaming Session. Bros was famous for firing a man there, and then providing no
transporation for the luckless soul back to civilization as he just washed his hands of the hapless employee.
The only time I was there, which was the last Almond meeting, in Nov.'65, Bros did not attend account of
having to testify in DC the first three days, but in my three days, he had all of us Test Department men
sit on the front row. Then he pointed us out and said "THESE ARE MY FRIENDS, THEY TELL ME THE TRUTH".
Which did not endear us to anyone else.

J. H. Sullivan
(aka landnrailroader)
(retired from CSX, worked for SR 6/65-8/78)