During the steam era, a total of 128 locomotives saw service on the Clinchfield, ranging from the 39-ton 4-4-0 to the 500-ton Challenger. This pictorial history begins with the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway Locomotive Roster (nine pages), complete with number, builder, date, etc. Remarks such as 'retired' and 'scrapped' are noted along with other pertinent information. The final two pages contain a "Locomotive Engineers Seniority List for 1947," which gives dates employed and promoted.

In this work, the most comprehensive of its kind, the author examines in engaging narrative and wonderful photography the development of the area’s complete railroading industry—Class 1 railroads, short lines, industrial and mining roads, and logging lines. Added to the textual histories are more than three hundred photographs and illustrations, including timetables and maps for most of the lines discussed.

As general manager for Erwin, Tennessee-based Clinchfield Railroad, Thomas D. Moore found an eighty-six-year-old vintage 4-6-0 ten-wheeler steam engine--the Clinchfield No. 1. Miraculously, the engine had escaped the cutter's torch when, in the mid-1950s, the railroad retired its steam fleet, shuttered passenger service and embraced the diesel era. Moore wanted the No. 1 fully restored and its long life on the rails--which had included being the first train to reach the victims of the 1889 Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood--celebrated as a goodwill ambassador for the railroad. The revived Clinchfield No. 1 led beloved excursion trains that visited seven state capitals, bringing joy to passengers from the Appalachian Mountains to Tampa, Florida. Join authors Mark A. Stevens and A.J. "Alf" Peoples on the journey of the real-life little engine that could.

In the early days of World War II, nine young men from the small town of Erwin, Tennessee (population 3,350), volunteered for service in the United States Army Air Corps, proud to defend their nation and democracy. None of them served together, and all were shot down at different times in different places. Yet, incredibly, with more than 50 prison camps scattered throughout Nazi Germany, all nine captured airmen were sent to the same one—Stalag Luft IV.