Ghost Railroads of Tennessee

Book excerpt: Professor Sulzer introduces us to both the mighty and the humble lines that once traversed this important railroad state. Here we meet Tennessee's own Nashville & Chattanooga (later called the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis) and the Tennessee Central. We also come across the Dummy Line, the Jerkwater, and the Tweetsie. We follow the story as 4,078 miles of rail in 1920 dwindles to 2,969 by 1975. But this is not a mere compilation of dry statistics on track closings and running schedules. It is a book full of the life and vigor of Tennessee's economic arteries. Although Tennessee's mining and logging resources were depleted and the rail lines abandoned, the isolated towns and villages find their voice in Professor Sulzer's storytelling.