Marion and Rye Valley

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Good Evening, All!!
Just wanted to thank Gary Price and Ben Blevins for turning me onto this 
abandoned relic from my hometown.
Ben, John Decarolis, and myself walked several miles of the right-of-way 
this past Friday – From the old
Look & Lincoln interchange (West of Teas) over across the top of Pugh 
Mountain where it intersects with the
Curren Valley just below the old Quebec Fire tower.
Let me tell you – this was an absolutely beautiful trip!!!   The hardest 
part was hiking the Appalachian Trail
up to the interchange – the rest was gravy, in my opinion.   Even though 
this railroad has been abandoned
for over 70 years – the roadbed was a great hike – A few trees to go 
over/under.   Unfortunately, we were
getting rained on, so I was afraid to get my Digital Camera out, but there 
are several sights that I HAVE
to get back to photograph.
Just up from the Interchange with the L&L there is a very large fill (the 
AT is still on the roadbed at this point)
that amazes me, just due to the fact that it was prolly done with pick and 
shovel – A lot of work there!!
We exited the AT and headed west around the end of the ridge (above Possum 
Holler – honest) where you
work your way through the first set of  switchbacks up to the upper end of 
the Gorge (good trout fishin)
Several really nice Cuts through there that fascinate me 1) that they are 
still there and 2) all done by hand!!!
Oh yeah, at the very top of the switchback, they were cut into the 
rock!!!  Kinda looked like streets between
buildings!!!  Was absolutely fascinating to me!!!  And these were not 
haphazardly done, even after 70+ years,
they were still up there will very little rock falling into the ROW.
After leaving the switchbacks you work your way up the valley – this was 
the roughest part of our walk,
but only because of the bushes – just duck and walk, not bad at all, except 
for the water down the neck : )
The view was absolutely gorgeous and all three of  us mentioned several 
times that we wished we could
have been in the #29 combine (still on my desk Gary) or the Doodlebug 
running up thru there – musta
been amazing in its day!!!  Lotsa deer (and several deerstands)  Still 
imagining it and the fog rolling
up the valleys
.sorry guys, got distracted.
This led up to one of the neatest spots!  There is a huge fill at the head 
end of the Gorge that
connects two ridges, 40-50feet high and 200 or so yards long!!!   Again, 
for the timeframe constructed,
prolly mostly by hand!!!  Unfortunately, this spot may not be long for the 
world, at least in its “complete”
form – When constructed, a large culvert was placed under the fill for some 
of the Headwaters of the
South Fork of the Holston River – now as 90+ years passed from 
construction, that culvert has collapsed
and the creek is flowing through/around the blockage, eroding the fill 
slowly.   There is a small “sink” in
the fill, but Ben said it was about the same size 10 years ago, so who 
knows how long it will last.
Here is where we hit the larger of the two switchbacks we were to see these 
worked their way up through
a couple of longer cuts (mostly full of water and swampy) of a hundred 
yards long/10-12 feet deep.
Through these, the little rod engine and shays pulled their loads up 80-100 
vertical feet (per my Delorme
TopoUSA figures) in just short of 2 miles – what is that about 4%, pretty 
good for a local shortline -
and they are in beautiful condition all the way up – Great for 
walking.   It was fascinating looking down
from the top of the switchback down at the others below it through the 
woods!!
At the top of the mountain we hit a sad spot (for me) a Beautiful cut and 
the deepest on the line up there
100 or so yards long, at the deepest part 40-50 feet deep, but is basically 
a swampy lake – the Forest
Service cut a road across the hill beside it instead of trying to drain 
it
Oh well
.it still was pretty
to see!!!   Here we hit the Forest Service road, that now rides atop the 
ROW, as does much of Highway 16
from Marion to Currin Valley, and from Sugar Grove over to Troutdale (as 
well as Currin Valley Road and the
road from Troutdale down to Fairwood!!!).  I used to think I was seeing the 
roadbed beside Hwy 16, but it
actually is OLD hwy 16 used prior to the abandonment of the M&RV RR.  That 
goes to show you the work
put into the quality of the roadbed on this line.
If we ever have a “mini-con” in the area, we really should consider this as 
a trip.   The Point to Point distance
(straight line) is just over 1 mile, but the “car-to-car” distance was 
closer to 6 (5.75 per my calcs and only a
small part of the M&RV), but it is NOT a bad hike, a few trees to climb 
under/over, but nuthin I can’t handle
and I am NOT in that great of shape (keep your comments to yourself Ben J) 
– we covered it in about 4.5 hours.
I really should be done in the Late Winter/Early Spring to keep the 
brush/bugs/snakes down and so you can really
see the view, but it’s something you should consider if you are interested 
in the “out of the way” abandoned lines
off of the N&W  and the parts we covered  were all Forest Service, so no 
trespassing issues.
Sorry for the length of this, but I had to share this with you 
guys!!!   Also, Thank you to Gary and Ben for their
work on the book that got me interested in this line and I am looking 
forward to more info from you two and
Tom Blevins on the detailed maps!!   Also (again) please chime in to give 
more info or correct mine – am
running from memory and that is marginal sometimes at best
..
Thanks
David E Crabtree