Almost one year to the day after Hurricane Helene wiped out much of CSX’s Blue Ridge Subdivision between Erwin, Tenn., and Spruce Pine, N.C., this portion of the former Clinchfield Railroad was placed back in service. On Thursday morning, September 25, 2025, coal train C758 (Bailey, Penn.-Terrill, N.C) departed Erwin, and rolled south through a ceremonial ribbon placed at the Poplar, N.C., bridge over the Nolichucky River. It was a welcome site to CSX employees and contractors, who worked tirelessly through this $450 million, 60-mile-long rebuilding project.

It was also fitting that CSX assigned its Clinchfield heritage unit, ES44AH 1902, to lead the train out of Erwin. This locomotive had been brought into Erwin five days earlier on Train U248, an extra local called out of Bostic, N.C., to work a couple of customers along the route. As of opening week, CSX had several other unit trains planned to traverse the Blue Ridge Sub, such as coal train C404 (Danville, W.Va.-Brice, N.C.). Manifest traffic, one to two trains each way daily pre-flood, was expected to resume in early October.

—Scott Lindsey