It's a humid morning here in the Tennessee Valley as you can hear the light rain fall, and the light fog dissipate in the morning dew. You can feel a cool draft blasting out of the west portal of the 1858 built Whiteside Tunnel as the 10:40am Missionary Ridge Local emerge from the tunnel on it's final mile of the first half of the round trip. Instead of this 986ft long historical tunnel being day-lighted, the Southern Ry by-pass this section of the Missionary Ridge, and built a double track main a few mile north around the contour of the ridge, abandon the 3 mile section of the ex: East Tennessee & Georgia Ry route in the late 1950s, and early 60s. The Whiteside Tunnel has been part of the National Register of Historic Places since August of 1978.
