Big South Fork Scenic Railroad

“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower

The second part of my trip to Kentucky involved riding the Big South Fork Scenic Railroad (BSFSR). You board the train in the small town of Stearns, KY. While waiting for the train ride to start, I checked out the McCreary County Musuem. They’ve got an extensive collection of about anything you could imagine. There was an old bank vault, old typewriters, tools and equipment used by the coal company, etc.

Barthell Mining Camp
The train passes through a reconstructed version of the original old mining town of Barthell. Several old buildings line the tracks on either side, as well as a few old rusted trucks that are no telling how old. To see more of these, scroll down to the end of this post for a gallery of images.

Blue Heron
I’d have to say the highlight of the train ride for me was seeing the Blue Heron Mining Camp. It was built in 1937 by the Stearns Coal & Lumber Company, and was in service till 1962. This site has been preserved and is run by the National Park Service.

As long as you don’t mind heights, walking across the coal tipple bridge is pretty amazing. I’m estimating it’s probably 100 or more yards across, and at least 100 ft. high. On one end of the bridge and up the hill a ways is the entrance to the Blue Heron mine. You can walk in a little ways, but otherwise it’s gated and sealed off. Going in the opposite direction, the bridge crosses the river and appeared to connect with an old road bed, perhaps leading to more mines.

Coal cars hauled coal out of the mines across the bridge and emptied it into a large hopper. The coal tipple is comprised of a series of shoots, screens, conveyor belts and a crusher. During this process coal was separated by size before being loaded into railroad freight cars below.

Other Scenic Railroads
David Holt published a couple of documentaries on these that aired on PBS a few years back. One was called “Great Scenic Rail Journeys“, and the other ones was “Great Scenic Railway Journeys“. We have one here in NC as well called The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. I did that one several years ago, and it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re near Bryson City. ~MB

Photographic Notes:
Nikon D90 with 18-200 mm VR 3.5-5.6 lens. All images © Matt Bennett Photography.

Share on Facebook
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Leave a Reply