Black Mountain

Company History: The Black Mountain was established in 1907 to build an 8 mile line from a connection with the South & Western (later Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio) at Kona, North Carolina through Micaville to Bowditch to serve a sawmill there. Five years later, construction resumed from Micaville to Burnsville and on as far as Eskota along with a 2 mile logging branch. There was talk of extending this line all the way to Asheville another 40 miles to the south. But in 1913, the company defaulted on $40,000 worth of notes and control was passed to the Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio. CC&O continued to operate the line under the Black Mountain flag. In 1926 depleted timber reserves led them to abadon the line beyond Burnsville. Other short branches were built and abandoned over the years. Traffic included feldspar, lumber and the usual package freight and passengers so common in that era. By 1951, the Black Mountain was not earning enough to cover their interest payments and they applied to abandon the railroad. In 1954 the ICC granted permission provided they first try to sell the line. Local citizens raised $70,000 to buy the Black Mountain from the CC&O (by then CC&O was a paper railroad jointly leased by ACL and L&N and operated as the Clinchfield Railroad) and a 45-ton switcher from GE. The line resumed operation as the Yancey Railroad in 1955. Black Mountain #1, a 4-6-0 acquired from CC&O in 1913 was returned to the Clinchfield eventually becoming their famous “One-Spot” and leading fan trips and Santa Trains in the 60s and 70s.

Successor/Parent History: This 13 mile North Carolina shortline was launched in 1955 by local interests to save the route of the Black Mountain Railroad from abandonment. It ran from a connection with the Clinchfield in Kona, NC to Micaville, then split with one line going to Burnsville and the other to Bowditch. For most of its history, the locomotive fleet consisted of two GE switchers, #1 "Blackie" and #2 "Puddles." Both are shown in the photos. The Yancey was struck by serious washouts in the 70s. Although the line was rebuilt, they never fully recovered from the loss of traffic and finally shut down at the end of 1982.

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