Welcome to the Trainscapes segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Trainscapes will feature train content including videos of trains and behind the scenes action of trains and locomotives. Some people have an interest in seeing trains, and we here at Geek Alabama aim to please the train lovers!
Welcome to Cowan, Tennessee – home of the steepest CSX railroad grade in the Volunteer State. It’s also one of the oldest mainlines in the southeast, built by the Nashville & Chattanooga Railway between 1849 and 1859. The difficult terrain over the Highland Rim and Cumberland Plateau resulted in countless delays, preventing the railroad from reaching Chattanooga for nearly a decade.
Without a viable path around Cumberland Mountain, the 2,228-foot-long Cowan Tunnel was constructed between 1849 and 1852, the longest in the world and an engineering marvel when it opened. Although the milestone tunnel allowed the railroad to punch through the mountain, it came with another problem: the steepest railroad grade in North America.
The grueling climb included a 2-mile, 2% grade from the north and a longer, 15-mile approach from the south with grades up to 2.5 percent. The crest is located within the tunnel. It was much too steep for a single 4-4-0 locomotive so Cowan became a helper district with the NC establishing a yard and shop facility north of town.
172 years later, Cowan is still a helper district despite the evolution of diesel locomotive technology. Although modern locomotives are much more powerful, trains have gotten longer and heavier, forcing CSX to keep the helper district active. The modern-day NC mainline is known as the Chattanooga or “Chatt” Sub, running from its namesake to Nashville, a distance of 140 miles. The line sees approximately 15 dail freight trains, most requiring a manned helper at Cowan.
On the evening of April 7th, we found Chessie Heritage Unit 1973 and AC4400 no. 503 assigned to job H383. Unveiled in June 2023, the 1973 wears a unique Heritage “Mullet” with the standard YN3 design covering the nose and cab while the long hood wears the iconic Chessie scheme. The mullet design was conceived by former CSX EVP of Operations Jamie Boychuk, who demanded the locomotives represent CSX more prominently.
The decision to decorate the heritage units this way has been controversial, with most railfans disdaining the design because the front of locomotives resemble a standard CSX GEVO, making it hard to photograph the throwback paint of CSX’s predecessors. Nonetheless, many still document the heritage locomotives because they’re different – which is why we ended up trackside in Cowan.
Categories: Trainscapes Stuff
