Thanks to the generosity of donors to the Echoes of the TN Railroad Foundation, barriers have been bought and placed on many crossings along the rail corridor. It is hoped that neighbors will now see a dramatic reduction in trespassers and noisy traffic.
Additional barriers placed in Scott Count into Campbell County
Members of the Echoes foundation placed additional barriers across Scott County’s public road crossings into Campbell County south of TWRA’s Laco Rd parking lot. Additionally, initial trash cleanup between Cordell Rd and Mill Branch got underway. Stay in touch about future cleanup days.
Local communities join support for project
October 13th, 2025 - The City of Wartburg signs resolution to support trail:
“…connecting communities and providing new opportunities for recreation, tourism, health, and quality of life with the hopes that it one day connects into the Cumberland Trail that travels into downtown…”
October 9th, 2025 - The City of Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Advisory Board sign resolution to support trail:
“Trails such as these preserve scenic corridors, encourage healthy lifestyles, and strength local and regional economies by attracting visitors and supporting small businesses…”
September 17th, 2025 - The City of Oneida Mayor and Aldermen sign resolution to support trail.
September 8th, 2025 - The City of Norris signs resolution to support trail:
“The City of Norris hereby supports the Highlander Trail Rails to Trails project and encourages its development as a means to promote recreation, community health, conservation, and economic vitality.”
Barriers to be placed on crossings
The Echoes of the TN Rail Foundation has used a portion of funds donated to purchase concrete barriers to help solve one of the largest complaints of landowners along the former Tennessee Railroad. These residents had rightly complained of trespassers riding ATVs or driving trucks and other vehicles along the railbed areas that had been cleared of tracks and ties. To stop such unwanted traffic, and with the permission of the Railroad that still owns the land, the barriers purchased will be placed on the railbed at major crossroads. These barriers will be accompanied by signage giving notice that accessing the railbed is actually trespassing on railroad property and subject to prosecution.
We invite the landowners to monitor any improvements in their situations - i.e. less vehicle traffic near their homes or property. It is hoped that once the pattern of abusive traffic is stopped, we will be able to discuss and help resolve other issues landowners may be experiencing while the conversation continues with the railroad and parties interested in buying the land.
Surface Transportation Board Extends NITU thru April 2026
With the Trust for Public Land stepping into the role as primary negotiator towards a purchase of the corridor for a trail, the STB has extended the period of the Rail Banking for another year. The bottom line of this action is that the TPL, or other parties have thru April of 2026 to come to agreement on the purchase agreement for the corridor as a whole - and with Railbanking in place, any reversion clauses of deeds with easements are overruled. Landowners are encouraged to continue studying their deeds and if they do have reversion clauses, then they may be entitled to some minor cash settlements with the federal government via one of the class action law firms offering help.
WIBR Channel 10 shows discussion about project
The following links point to 2 broadcasts on Knoxville’s Channel 10 news. The underlying issues are discussed and good images of some of the track removal areas is shown,
April 25 broadcast - click here
May 1 broadcast - click here
Exploratory Committee + Public Forum Meeting
January 12, 2025
Present at the meeting were various committee members plus some 45 members of the public seeking to be heard about their concerns with the project.
• Welcome Comments - Mike Keeton welcomed all present reminding them that he, like them, is a landowner adjacent to the railroad right of way.
• Review and approve minutes of last meeting(s) - Ralph received motion and second and unanimous agreement to approve the Committee Minutes from prior 2 meetings.
Old-Business
• Status of Tenn Citizens for Wilderness Planning NITU extension - Ralph informed that the TCWP had filed for an extension on Dec 26, 2025 of the NITU and might hear within the week from the STB whether or not the extension is approved or not. If approved, the Railbanking status is extended thru April 2026 allowing additional time for TCWP to negotiate the transfer of the ROW.
• Meet with other trail stewards (Mountain Goat Rail-Trail) - Ralph and John spoke briefly about the meeting held with MGTA (see notes in prior news posting for details). General feeling is that there is much to learn from other trail programs.
• Create non-profit to manage any possible legal/financial needs - Ralph reported that a non-profit organization named Echoes of the Rail has been established in the event that that trail project needs a local sponsor. There has also been created a bank account at UCB to hold funds collected or to buy barriers and signs.
• Draft a website bulletin board to collect/share info with the community - Ralph confirmed that the website is live and available for promotion. www.echoesoftherail.org
• Seek info about barriers / signage to keep ATV / vehicular traffic off the corridor - John reported pricing and options have been explored. The best current option seems to be the use of old ties National Salvage cannot sell.
New Business & Prioritized Actions
• Review suggestions and plans for barriers - Tommy and John reported that the price for bundled ties seems to be the best option and will move forward with talks to buy them and have National Salvage place them at public crossing to discourage unwanted vehicle traffic. Sign material was demonstrated to those present, all agreed they were seemingly well made. Content and final costs is to be determined - hopes are still present that RJ Corman might be asked to contribute since it is their property that is being trespassed on.
• Publish and promote the website, invite comments: Ralph agreed to contact the local papers to have the website URL shared for all to see.
• Work with local governments / Go before the County Commissioners to help answer questions - Mike and Ralph plan to attend the upcoming County Commissioners meeting on Jan 21, 2025.
• Talk with Oneida Aldermen - need to follow up with Mayor Phillips-Jones about opinion of the Aldermen.
• Plan neighborhood meetings for residents - Mike invited all to host local meetings in neighborhoods along the old track. No one stepped forward as yet.
• Plan for valuation of corridor - TCWP has indicated they were working on an appraisal plan to understand what the right of way is worth.
Discussion / Q&A / comments from anyone present
Those present in turn reiterated the opinion of many landowners, that the land adjacent to the property they own should be given to them once the railroad is completely abandoned.
committee members, and Mayor Phillips-Jones, encouraged landowners to research their deeds to know what circumstance their portion of the rail right of way might be bound to. It is believed that if an easement was the initial instrument for allowing the railroad to use the land, then the land could revert to original landowners, whereas if the original transfer was a fee simple [purchase, then RJ Corman would be the owner of the land even after railroad operations cease.
It was discussed during the meeting, but generally overlooked by landowners, that under an NITU, terms of deeds be they fee simple or easements, do not matter, that the 1983 act of congress create the Railbanking systems which would override any reversion clauses and allow RJ Corman to pass title to the entire corridor in a single transaction to a trail manager.
Safety concerns were raised about the use of barriers, issue being that if someone was injured between barriers, safety personnel may have difficulty helping someone.
The concern was noted, and discussions need to be had with National Salvage about this.
People asked how they could reach “railroad” police to report people using the ROW to access their private property.
the number is being sought.
Next meeting of the committee to be held at Oneida City Hall on Feb 16 at 2 pm
Meeting with Patrick Dean with Mountain Goat Trail Association
1/8/24
In order to learn from the experiences of other recently created rail-trails in Tennessee, John McCracken, Ralph Trieschmann, Virginia Bruce and Lori Phillips-Jones had a zoom call with the Executive Director of the Mountain Goat Trail Association (MGTA) centered in Monteagle, TN. https://www.mountaingoattrail.org/
Mountain Goat Trail had different circumstance from what Scott County is considering since the rail bed they are converting to a trail was abandoned in the 1980’s meaning they had to buy land from CSX who owned a large stretch plus from local county ownership as well as a few land owners.
Patrick is a paid full-time employee of the MGTA as Executive Director. His primary job is grant writing and planning the buildout of the trail system a planned 40 mile stretch.
Funding sources include local fundraisers which contribute roughly $75k/ year. Additional money is coming from grants from agencies like Tennessee Dept of Transportation in support of Multimodal transportation; The Diabetes Foundation in support of healthy living; and various tourism and rural development grants from TN.
Patrick offered support as we need it. He invited anyone interested to have a tour of their trail.
Meeting with TCWP Board members
12/20/24
In order to better understand the history of the project and roles going forward, John McCracken and Ralph Trieschmann went to offices of The Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning to meet with members of their board.
It was learned that the organization’s initial filing for an NITU was based on one of their members learning of RJ Cormann’s intent to close railroad operations. They filed in April 2020 and in the time since then have been working with the STB and the railroad to promote and defend the right to convert the corridor into a trail.
The TCWP has plans to file for an extension of the NITU for an additional year beyond the current expiry date of April 2025. [The extension application was submitted on Dec 26, 2024]
To keep the information flowing between the Exploratory Committee and TWCP, it was agreed to share meeting notes and consider adding a member of TWCP to the Scott County Committee.
Follow-up meeting hosted by Dept of Tourism to learn more about rail-trail activities to date
November 19, 2024
As a follow-up to the very brief discussion of a rail-trail in Scott County brought up at the tourism meeting on October 9, 2024, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, hosted another meeting where the full agenda would be an update on actions taken and needing to be taken related to the trail idea.
The meeting was moderated by Jenni Veal, Rural Destination Development Manager for the TN Dept of Tourist Development. Also invited to share information were:
National Salvage representatives, who has begun the work of removing the rails and ties from the corridor,
Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning board members and executive director, the group who has filed for the right to convert the rail corridor into a trail,
Trust for Public Land representative, speaking to the nature of support this organization could provide as its done elsewhere throughout the country
McMinn County Mayor, speaking on his experience of building a rail-trail in his county.
The goal of this meeting was to share in-depth details of the proposed project with the Oneida tourism committee and city and county officials who had been in the October tourism meeting, allowing a chance for Q&A. In addition, County Mayor Jeffers made a public invitation at a recent commissioner’s meeting for other interested parties to attend, specifically landowners who have been or will be affected by the railroad abandonment.
It should be noted that there was no intention by the Department of Tourist Development to hold this meeting in secret, but their thought was that a smaller group would be able to receive all the information being shared and then determine how best to present the issues in a public forum. The fact that landowners attended the meeting and were able to voice their concerns simply helped to speed the process for public discussions to occur, and has lead to the creation of this website and the committee of local members looking to continue the conversation.
The meeting covered many opportunities and issues, which can be found on this site.
TN Department of Tourism Hosts event to discuss opportunities in Scott County - the rail-trail was one such opportunity mentioned
October 9, 2024
A meeting was held and hosted by the Tennessee Department of Tourism where they presented multiple topics surrounding the idea of promoting tourism as an economic growth engine for Scott County. The representatives from the state showed projects that have been successful in other rural areas of TN to generate revenues and tax dollars from tourism.
One of the guest speakers invited by the state was the Executive Director of the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, Nancy Manning. Nancy provided the attendees with an introduction to the project her organization had been working on - i.e. the proposal to transfer ROW ownership of the Tennessee Railroad from RJ Corman to a trail manager who would build and maintain a hiking and biking trail along the 41 miles of the right of way.
Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning get 1-year extension on Notice of Interim Trail Use
THE TCWP filed with RJ Corman’s agreement for a 1 year extension of the initial NITU allowing additional time for negotiations to continue towards a transfer of the right of way to a trail manager.
Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning (TCWP) files for initial Notice of Interim Trail Use (NITU)
April 17, 2020
TCWP filed with the Surface Transportation Board for a Notice of Interim Trail Use (NITU), which was subsequently granted by the STB, effective for 1 year, allowing TCWP time to negotiate a transfer of right of way from the railroad to a trail manager organization.
RJ Corman Files for right to abandon railroad
RJ Corman buys railroad
March 9, 2020
RJ Corman, no longer wishing to operate a railroad along their Oneida Line (formerly the Tennessee Railroad), files with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for the right to abandon the right of way (ROW). Railroads abandon lines when they no longer find rail operations financially viable and wish to relieve themselves of the obligation to maintain the right of way and all liabilities associated with ROW.
With consummation of abandonment, the 41 mile right of way as a single object would cease to exist and underlying parcels might revert to adjacent landowners (depending on deed language, easement terms, etc.) or might be real estate that the railroad owns outright that they could sell as they choose.
Abandonment and the break-up of the ROW is essentially stopped if the STB awards an organization a Notice of Interim Trail Use and an organization can come to terms with the railroad to basically assume ownership of the entire length of the ROW for public use as a trial - where such trail is considered temporary and allows for the chance to rebuild a railroad in the future.