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CSX brings holiday event to area hit hard by Helene damage
THE EXCITEMENT WAS PALPABLE. With the first sound of the air horn on its Clinchfield heritage unit, children screamed, anticipating the arrival of the CSX Holiday Express train in Erwin, Tenn., on Nov. 21, 2024.
Preceding the 82nd running of the famed Santa Train between Shelby, Ky., and Kingsport, Tenn., on Nov. 23, the Erwin event was meant to bring Christmas cheer and hope to the many families to the south, along the Nolichucky and Toe Rivers, an area decimated by Hurricane Helene in late September. The 40-some miles immediately south of Erwin through the Nolichucky Gorge and upstream on the Toe River to Spruce Pine, N.C., suffered damage that is difficult to fathom. Miles of track through the gorge south of Erwin were draped into the river, the roadbed and…