These photos came through on my flickr rss feed. I've not seen many photos of this operation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10520947@N ... 530937993/

I noticed this shot of a pair of tank engines and wondered what ever became of them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10520947@N08/4041471074/

Some info I found on he web...

"After the fire, a dispersal auction was held. in 1996, of all the railroad equipment. The shop building for the railroad did not burn in the fire. Some of the other buildings were still intact, as well. The locomotives did not, nor did all the cars, burn in the second fire described in the web site. I was at that sale, working for Ford Bros. auctioneers, Somerset, as rail equipment consultant and auctioneer. The two small steam locos were purchased by John Caperton, a rail enthusiast from Louisville. The larger loco was purchased on behalf of the Big South Fork Scenic Railway at Stearns, where it is currently undergoing restoration to operating condition. The cars, in bad repair, were, I believe scrapped, and the shop equipment, parts, etc. sold to a number of buyers, including the KY Railway Museum, Tennessee Valley Railway Museum, Diversified Rail Services, etc. "
Bill

I occasionally served as fireman along with Bill Johnson in the waning days of Tombstone Junction. After dragging that train up an 8% grade a few times each day, it made for some learning.

As known elsewhere, UNION RR #77 / M&NF #14 is now at Stearns, KY. It is now K&T #14, and is torn down for restoration.

John Caperton of Louisville owns one of the tank engines, and it is currently stored at KRM. John may have donated it to KRM...I don't know.

The other tank loco apparently went to the California State RR Museum and has been made into a "cutaway" display. I think I'm correct here, but if I'm wrong somebody can correct me.

An interesting Story: The track crew from Big South Fork Railway (just a few miles away) had the contract to remove and salvage the track. The trainset was at the top of the hill, and the track crew was working at the bottom. While using a torch to cut the safety cables between the loco and cars (they "permantly" coupled the train together with cables in addition to the couplers due to the steep grade), the cars' wooden bodies were accidently set on fire and not initially noticed. The track worker at the locomotive got the cars away from the locomotive, but then they began rolling uncontrollably down the hill. The track crew had to bail out to safety as a burning train rolled past them, and piled up at their "end of track" at the bottom of the hill.

To this day, if you go to the bottom of the hill where the track was, there are sevaral car frames and trucks......

Also:

For those who never saw Tombstone Junction, here's an example of how tight the curves were:

1) Several places on the railroad the handrail at the rear of the cab bumped and scraped the handrail at the front of the tender.
2) One day we derailed the center blind driver on a curve. Both the lead flanged driver and the rear flanged driver were on the rail....the center one just walked off the outside of the inside curve rail.