CSX added flood wall to the Clinchfield rebuild along the North Toe River

When Hurricane Helene wiped out most of the Clinchfield route in late September 2014, I read quite a few comments on Facebook wondering if CSX would bother to rebuild the route. They did rebuild it.

Dan Gurley posted six photos with the comment: "Views of the new flood wall being installed along the CSX Blue Ridge Subdivision. The structure begins at Pigeon Roost Creek and runs north along NC 197 to where the highway crosses the tracks to go to Poplar. The flood wall then continues north along Huntdale Rd. most of the way to the community of Huntdale. The line suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Helene and is still undergoing extensive repairs nearly a year later. CSX plans to reopen the line to through service in the early fall. Look closely at the trestle in the second pic and you still see Clinchfield Railroad spelled out."

Dan Gurley shared

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David Pressley: Still boggles the mind how much vegetation is simply...... gone.

Dan Gurley: David Pressley I know, right. There are views there I've never seen in my lifetime.

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[CSX had to haul a bunch of rock into this area to rebuild what got washed away.]

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[The wall also acts like a retaining wall which reduces the amount of rock that CSX had to haul to the area.]

A view of the bend in the river in Photo 3 a few months before the hurricane.

Street View, Apr 2024

At the top of the bend in the middle of this excerpt is the bridge over Pigeon Roost Creek. The wall goes southwest down to Huntdale. I include the top of the bend on the left because that is where CSX had to build a new bridge.

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