HELENE WASHED THE RAILROADS AWAY.

Immediately after the clouds cleared, Trains reported "Heavy rain makes damage assessment difficult."  The hurricane rains came after a spell of heavy rain, wringing out that atmospheric river.

Communities along the former Southern Railway and Clinchfield Railroad in western North Carolina have seen record-setting rainfalls in the days prior to Hurricane Helene. Now, tropical weather is pouring additional rainfall into the area, creating what local meteorologists are calling a once-in-a-generation storm.

Places along NS’ former Southern S-Line on the French Broad River, and east along the Catawba River toward Old Fort, could see rain totals of 12-14 inches. About 10 inches of rainfall was expected 50 miles away in Spruce Pine on CSX’s ex-Clinchfield on the North Toe River. And Watco’s Blue Ridge Southern, operating west and south of Asheville, passes over many streams and creeks along the I-40 and I-26 corridors. Rainfall amounts are being compared to the historic Flood of 1916 when the French Broad River crested at 21 feet. The National Weather Service expects the river to crest above 30 feet Friday evening, breaking all previous records.

The north-to-south Clinchfield Line, a favorite with ferroequinologists as well as with the sort of modeller who is into coal country railroading, is "largely unrecognizable after historic flood."

It is still too early to determine the full extent of damages, but photos along the famed Clinchfield route are revealing extensive damage exacerbated by the region’s remoteness. High waters are prohibiting emergency responders and railroad officials from gaining access to communities along the right-of-way, and in some cases, roadway and railroad bridges have been compromised or destroyed.

With roadways out of service and railroad washouts prohibiting inspections and repair, CSX’s Blue Ridge Subdivision and much of its Clinchfield are likely to remain out of the service for the foreseeable future. It will be several days, at the earliest, before the railroad is able to provide full details on the impact and next steps.

Widespread damage was seen along the right-of-way between milepost Z 138.0 at Erwin, Tenn., to Spruce Pine, N.C., at Z 182.0, a distance of 44 miles. An approximate 375-foot bridge crossing the Nolichucky River at Poplar is gone, with only concrete piers protruding from swollen muddy waters. The railroad follows the banks of the Nolichucky and North Toe rivers for about 40 miles between Erwin and Spruce Pine. In downtown Spruce Pine, waters were 8-9 feet above the right-of-way, almost up to the roof of the city’s restored train depot.

Coal traffic is much down from previous years, and the two through freight trains using the route are going the great way around either via Nashville or Richmond.

Norfolk Southern's Morris to Salisbury line, with a relatively gentle crossing of the southern Appalachians, runs through Asheville (a passenger train used to terminate there) and that section, which includes connections with Blue Ridge Southern, suffered major damage.

Norfolk Southern says its line between Asheville, N.C., and Newport, Tenn. — heavily damaged by Hurricane Helene — will be out of service until at least late January, while assessment of the route between Ashville and Old Fort, N.C., is ongoing.

In the area hardest hit in late September, on the AS Line between Salisbury, N.C., and Morristown, Tenn., assessments have determined that approximately 21,500 feet of track have been washed out, with more than 50,000 feet damaged by scour and another 15,000 feet of fill failure and slides. Multiple bridges have also been damaged. The segments between Morristown and Newport, and between Salisbury and Old Fort, have been reopened even though public roadways remained unavailable in some areas. The remote nature and mountain topography, coupled with conditions following the storm and resulting flooding, have made it difficult to assess damage in the areas around Asheville and over Black Mountain, the railroad says.

The primary engineering challenges include replacing bridges and restoring track through river valleys. Thus always the risk of following the watercourse closely: Nature does a lot of the engineering but when there's enough rainfall to cause the river to change course, Nature has no respect for your engineering.

Although the recreational Tweetsie Railroad, to the northwest of the affected area, was not damaged by the flooding, it is suspending operations and encouraging contributions to recovery efforts.

An announcement posted on Facebook reads, “Tweetsie Railroad will remain closed for the rest of the fall season to focus on community recovery efforts. We plan to reopen for Tweetsie Christmas on Nov. 29 and appreciate your continued support and understanding.”

The Raleigh News & Observer reports the Tweetsie is running a matching-fund challenge to support Hurricane relief efforts, after making an initial $10,000 donation to the group Samaritan’s Purse. It will match additional donations to any organization working on hurricane relief, up to another $10,000. More information is available here.

Those Christmas trains will begin operating immediately after Thanksgiving, and perhaps people will be in a position to take stock and give thanks.  We'll be following developments along the Clinchfield, where a Santa Train of long standing has been bringing winter relief and good cheer to the mountains.