3Cs | Warriors’ Path State Park

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Warriors’ Path State Park – 3Cs Railfan Guide

Warriors' Path State Park

Researched and chronicled by Scott Jessee and Sandhi Kozsuch

Whether you are interested in the Clinchfield, CSX, or the 3Cs Railroads, Warriors’ Path State Park is the perfect destination for a railfan. The roadbed and active rail line of today and yesterday travel through the park. In several locations the two are only several hundred feet apart. Warriors’ Path also offers excellent camping, boating, golfing, hiking, tennis, soccer, a playground, disc golf, and many other activities.

The 3Cs has many visible large cuts, fills, and stone culverts. Several holes of the disc golf course is built on, or across the abandoned roadbed.

The active CSX/Clinchfield tracks have multiple vantage points for excellent railfanning and photography. Six to eight trains run per day.

Click here for the Google Interactive Map which will help you locate the railroads. Yellow represents the CSX/Clinchfield, Blue the 3Cs.

Use the numbers on the map for the 3Cs Guide below.

3Cs Roadbed Guide for Warriors’ Path

  • 1) Roadbed enters the park through the campground
  • 2) Large fill with stone culvert (see photo below)
  • 3) Main entrance road to the park uses the 3Cs grade for a short distance
  • 4) Many 3Cs cuts up on a high ridge, paralleling Hemlock Road, overlooking the lake
  • 5) Valley crossed with large CRR fill. 3Cs fills on either side of the valley. Timber bridge would have been built here. Disc golf hole #14 is between the 3Cs fills. (See photo below)
  • 6) Large cut between valley and Warrior Drive (see photo below)
  • 7) 3Cs and CRR/CSX cross Warrior Drive (see photo below). The 3Cs crossing is where the present metal park gates are located.
  • 8) Stone culvert under 3Cs fill (see photo below)
  • 9) 3Cs exits the park through large cut, now part of hole 4 of the disc golf course (see photo below)

3Cs and CRR/CSX Photos in Warriors’ Path State Park

Photo for #2 – 3Cs large fill and stone culvert

3Cs Railroad Stone Culvert - Warriors' Path State Park

Photo for #5 – Large valley with CRR/CSX fill and where a 3Cs timber trestle was planned

Valley is used for disc golf hole #14. 3Cs fills on both sides of disc golf.

Clinchfield and CSX Railroad at Warriors' Path State Park

Photo for #6 – 3Cs large cut near Warrior Drive

3Cs Railroad Cut near Warrior Drive Kingsport TN

Photo for #7 – Crossing of Warrior Drive for both 3Cs and CRR/CSX

Clinchfield and CSX mailine, and 3Cs railroad grade at Warriors' Path State Park

Photo for #8 – Stone culvert at bottom of fill

3Cs Railroad Stone Culvert at Warriors' Path State Park

Photo for #9 – Large 3Cs cut now used for disc golf hole #4

3Cs Railroad Grade at Warriors' Path State Park

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For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

  • Personal Maps & Memorabilia: Documents, maps, timetables, and track charts
  • Associations, Historical Societies and their Archives
  • Archives of Appalachia: ETSU, Johnson City TN
  • Newspaper Articles: Newspapers.com
  • Magazines/Online: ‘Trains‘, ‘Classic Trains‘
  • Books
    • Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
    • Appalachian Region
      • Grant: ‘The Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Rail Road’
      • Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City
      • Huddleston: ‘Appalachian Crossings – The Pocahontas Roads‘ and ‘Appalachian Conquest‘
      • Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina‘
      • Timko and Young: ‘Appalchian Coal Mines and Railroads, Vol. 1, 2, & 3‘
      • Roberts: ‘Sand Patch, Clash of the Titans‘
      • Yanosey: ‘Tidewater Triangle’
    • Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
      • Calloway: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Diesel Years‘
      • Griffin: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Standard Railroad of the South‘
      • Goolsby: ‘Atlantic Coast Line Passenger Service, The Postwar Years‘
    • Baltimore & Ohio Railway
      • Jacobs: ‘The History of the Baltimore & Ohio’
      • McGuirk: ‘Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the Potomac Valley‘
      • Ori, Salamon and Oroszi: Baltimore & Ohio/Reflections of the Capitol Dome‘ and ‘Baltimore & Ohio/Sunburst Trail to Chicago’
    • C&O Railway/Chessie System
      • Dixon: ‘Chesapeake & Ohio, Superpower to Diesels‘, Chesapeake & Ohio in the Coalfields, ‘C&O Allegheny Subdivision‘, and ‘Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – A Concise History and Fact Book‘, and ‘The Chessie Era’
      • Dorin: ‘The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’
      • Huddleston: ‘Riding the New River Train‘
      • Ori – ‘Chessie System‘
      • Paton: ‘Allegheny with an A’
      • Turner: ‘Chessie’s Road‘
    • Clinchfield Railroad
      • Beach: ‘The Black Mountain Railway’
      • Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield‘ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield‘
      • Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields‘
      • Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter‘
      • King: ‘Clinchfield Country‘
      • Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color‘
      • Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century‘
      • Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine‘
      • Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains‘
    • CSX Railroad
      • Springirth: ‘CSX Transportation Heritage‘
    • ET&WNC: Listed on the website’s ET&WNC pages
    • Interstate Railroad
      • Wolfe & Wolfe: ‘Appalachian Coal Hauler’
      • Wolfe: ‘The Interstate Railroad‘
    • L&N Railroad
      • Castner, Flanary & Dorin: Louisville & Nashville Railroad The Old Reliable‘
      • Flanary: The Louisville & Nashville Cumberland Valley Division
      • Flanary, Oroszi & McKee: ‘The Louisville & Nashville in the Appalachians‘
      • Oroszi & Flanary: ‘Dixie Lines, The Louisville & Nashville Railroad‘
    • NC&StL Railway
      • Prince: ‘Nashville Chattanooga & St Louis Railway‘
    • Norfolk Southern
      • Esposito: ‘Norfolk Southern Railroad’
      • Lindsey: ‘Norfolk Southern 1995 Review‘
    • Norfolk & Western Railway
      • Newton: ‘Rails Remembered, Volumes 1-6
      • Warden: ‘Norfolk & Western: Diesel’s Last Conquest‘ and ‘Norfolk & Western’s Passenger Service’
      • Wolfe, Wilson & Mandelkern: ‘Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line‘
    • Pennsylvania Railroad
      • Jacobs: ‘The History of the Pennsylvania Railroad‘
    • Seaboard Air Line, Seaboard Coast Line, Seaboard System
      • Calloway and Withers: ‘Seaboard Motive Power‘
      • Carleton: ‘Locomotives of the Seaboard System‘
      • Griffin: ‘Seaboard Coast Line and Family Lines Railroad‘ and ‘All Lines North of Raleigh‘
      • Johnson: ‘Through the Heart of the South‘
    • Southern Railway
      • Davis: The Southern Railway, Road of the Innovators‘
      • Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi. The Southern Railway‘
      • Webb: ‘The Southern Railway System: An Illustrated History‘
      • Wolfe: ‘Southern Railway Appalachia Division‘
    • Virginian Railway
      • Reisweber: ‘Virginian Rails’
      • Wiley & Wallace: ‘The Virginian Railway Handbook‘
  • Online Article: Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘; Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
  • Online Videos: Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1 | Video #2:
  • Websites:

3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org