165:. This railroad was leased by the Beaver Dam Railroad and operated under its control as one unit. In 1910, the 1.386 miles (2.231 km) long Virginia section previously operated by the Virginia Carolina Railway was leased to the Beaver Dam Railroad, which assumed its operations, at an annual rate of $ 300. In the early 1910s, the companies which had originally provided the need for the Beaver Dam Railroad began to pull out as timber supplies ran short. Thus, in 1918, the Tennessee section of the railroad was abandoned, leaving only the short Virginia section. However, this section would continue to operate under the Beaver Dam name into the 1920s by the Smethport Extract Company serving its plant near Damascus. At this point, the railroad only operated 1.386 miles (2.231 km) of single track mainline and 0.129 miles (208 m) of yard or siding track, yet it did not actually own any track or property (except for one steam locomotive and a passenger car).
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The
Backbone Rock tunnel was a short tunnel on the Beaver Dam Railroad's Tennessee section, blasted through in 1901 from a rock cliff that stood in the way of the railroad's progression. At only twenty-two feet in length, the tunnel was known locally as the "shortest tunnel in the world." After the
157:, around 1900 and would soon come to use the Beaver Dam Railroad for its products. The line from Crandull to Damascus, a distance of about ten miles, was completed by 1902. A six-mile extension, the Crandull and Shady Valley Railroad, was incorporated on December 15, 1909, to extend the line from
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In the late nineteenth century, the Empire Lumber and Mining
Company began logging operations in northeastern Tennessee. To transport finished lumber from the company's sawmill in Crandull, Tennessee, the Beaver Dam Railroad was incorporated on August 6, 1900, and constructed from Crandull to the
225:'s smokestack. To fix this problem, a section of the cliff was hand-chiseled out to increase the tunnel's clearance in order to allow trains to pass through. After the Tennessee section of the Beaver Dam Railroad was abandoned in 1918, the tunnel was widened for the use of
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411:"Interstate Commerce Commission reports: reports and decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States"
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Tennessee-Virginia state border (a distance of 8.52 miles (13.71 km)), where a connection with the
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currently maintains a recreational center and campground near the old tunnel, which is located in the
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tunnel was bored and the tracks laid, it was found that the tunnel was not tall enough to clear the
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would be made. Originally, the portion of the line from the
Tennessee-Virginia border to
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Green Gold: The Story of the
Hassinger Lumber Company of Konnarock, Virginia
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History of
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870
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362:. American Railway Association. pp. 371–373.
246:Rolling Stock on the Beaver Dam Railroad (1916)
216:Backbone Rock Tunnel as it is today with TN 133.
359:Proceedings of the American Railway Association
124:in the early 20th century between the towns of
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415:United States Interstate Commerce Commission
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324:. Moody Publishing Company. p. 63.
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491:American companies established in 1900
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321:Poor's and Moody's Manual Consolidated
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296:leased from Virginia-Carolina Railway
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506:Railway companies established in 1900
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356:American Railway Association (1906).
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464:. Arcadia Publishing. p. 57.
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384:. Lulu.com. pp. 52, 53, 57.
439:. U.S. Department of Agriculture
437:"Backbone Rock Recreation Area"
335:Summers, Lewis Preston (1903).
435:United States Forest Service.
421:. L.K. Strouse: 125–136. 1921.
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511:Railroad tunnels in Tennessee
458:Warmuth, Donna Akers (2009).
341:. J. L. Hill Print. p.
496:Defunct Tennessee railroads
461:Washington County Revisited
270:Norfolk and Western Railway
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501:Defunct Virginia railroads
318:Moody Manual Co. (1916).
227:Tennessee State Route 133
147:Virginia-Carolina Railway
134:Tennessee State Route 133
235:Cherokee National Forest
163:Shady Valley, Tennessee
378:McGuinn, Doug (2008).
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196:36.59389°N 81.81500°W
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155:Sutherland, Tennessee
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231:U.S. Forest Service
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110:short-line railroad
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126:Damascus, Virginia
51:Dates of operation
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27:Headquarters
443:December 2,
285:both owned
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114:U.S. states
65:Track gauge
485:Categories
303:References
268:owned. Ex-
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186:81°48′54″W
183:36°35′38″N
279:Passenger
122:Tennessee
59:Technical
45:Tennessee
159:Crandull
118:Virginia
98:10 miles
84: in
41:Virginia
22:Overview
290:Freight
140:History
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257:Notes
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207:tunnel
108:was a
95:Length
37:Locale
273:4-6-0
466:ISBN
445:2012
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251:Type
128:and
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