The Haysi Railroad Company (reporting mark HRR) was a terminal/switching railroad that owned and operated seven miles of track from Haysi, Virginia, to Vicey, Virginia. The railroad was known most for its unusual motive power.

History

The Haysi Railroad was founded in February 1970, after the Clinchfield railroad completed its Greenbrier Branch from Haysi-Vicey Virginia. HRR was controlled by the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

and

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

(later Family Lines System holding company in November 1972). It served coal mines in and around Haysi, Virginia. On June 1, 1983, the Seaboard System merged the Haysi Railroad, ending its existence as an independent entity. In 2007 the last of the coal operations on the line shut down, and since then the line has been unmaintained by CSX, virtually abandoned.

Motive power

The Haysi Railroad probably was best known for its unorthodox motive power, which included an EMD F7B that was built in February 1949 as

Clinchfield Railroad The Clinchfield Railroad was an operating and holding company for the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway . The line ran from the coalfields of Virginia and Elkhorn City, Kentucky, to the textile mills of South Carolina. The 35-mile segmen ...

F3B #852, and later upgraded to an F7B in January 1952. The Haysi Railroad had acquired the B-unit on April 6, 1970, renumbered it to #1, and equipped it with radio controls and a makeshift cab and bell in 1972. The B-unit was HRR's sole locomotive until February 1977, when it leased four EMD SD18's and four SD9’s from the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range. The SD9’s were leased by the Louisville and Nashville, but were sent to HRR. The locomotives were returned to DM&IR in 1989. #1 is now preserved as VLIX #852 at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, albeit in rough shape.

References

Defunct Virginia railroads Railway companies disestablished in 1983 {{US-rail-company-stub