The empty Georgia Power coal bucket CSX E302-21 (Stilesboro,GA-Evansville,IN/EWVR) slowly lean into the curve on the main 2 track at Wildwood, GA (MP J-143.4 Wildwood) on this warm spring evening. The empty coal bucket is about 2 and half miles from the crest of mountain, ans is managing to stay at the slow rate of speed without any issues. Seeing these empties, and loaded coal bucket remind us of a piece of history that disappear in this small rugged Cumberland Plateau country. Coal was one of the few raw materials that was dug out of the mountain and was shipped all over the country a century ago. Coal that was dug out of the Plateau, and was trucked down where it would be loaded by train in various places between Wildwood, GA, and Whiteside, TN. This location in fact had a third track next to the main 1 track (Not seen in photo), where hoppers were lined up and was loaded through a conveyor belt system via of trucks. Over time mining in the Plateau started to dry up, but it wasn't until Dec 8, 1981 where the fate of mining in this region came to an end. No. 21 Mine explosion near Whitwell, TN which is still talk about to this day, killed 13 coal miner due to failing to effectively enforce regulations that banned smoking materials in mines, which resulted in a major lawsuit by 1983 driving the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company into bankruptcy, and by 1997 mining in this area cease to exist.
