Two stars on board — Marty Stuart, Clinchfield 100

When the 77th running of the CSX Santa Train winds through the coalfields Saturday, there will be a couple of stars on board.

The headliner is five-time Grammy winner and platinum-selling country music legend Marty Stuart. But railroad enthusiasts will take note of the Clinchfield 100, now fully restored and returning for the historic trip after 30 years away.

Look for both, plus the Jolly Ol’ Elf himself, when the Santa Train and all the goodies make Dickenson County stops in Haysi at 8:07 a.m., Clinchco at 8:40 a.m. and Fremont at 9:08 a.m.

Local rail authority Dennis Reedy of Haysi said he recalls the old rail car from when he was a little boy and it was part of the Santa Train.

But much has happened in ensuring years, reports the Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum, which purchased the Clinchfield 100 from its owner in Florida in June 2013.

Since its construction, the car has changed names and hands a number of times. In its roughly 108-year history, Car 100’s passengers have included railroad officials, business leaders and even Santa Claus. Car 100 began its run in 1911, when the all-steel coach car was built by the Pullman Co. for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Originally, the car was known as the ACL 985.

Around 20 years after its construction, what would come to be known as Car 100 was rebuilt by the ACL’s main passenger shop in Rocky Mountain, N.C., into a full-operating dining car by the ACL, which dubbed the car the “Orlando.” Until 1951, the Orlando operated as a full diner car on the ACL’s main line between Washington, D.C., and Miami.

The car, which is around 82 feet long and 10 feet wide, could comfortably haul around 20 people and that many meals were served and much poker was played in the Orlando’s heyday, the Watauga Valley rails group reports. Aside from its dining area and kitchen, the car also had room for three bedrooms. 

In May 1951, the Clinchfield Railroad purchased the the diner car and brought it to Erwin, Tenn., to undergo renovations for its conversion to an office car. Car 100 had its first test run in August 1953 and first official run three months later when it began service as the official car on the Clinchfield Santa Train, which it would do until 1983. 

According to railroad society President Mike Tilley, Car 100 was also used for business beginning in the early 1950s while under Clinchfield Railroad ownership. 

“In 1968, Mr. T.D. Moore took over the general manager’s job of the Clinchfield Railroad and put new life into Car 100,” Tilley said, creating a 14-car excursion fleet that operated from November 1968 to May 1979 hauling passengers over the Clinchfield.

When the Family Lines System absorbed the Clinchfield Railroad in the 1970s, Car 100 was painted to reflect the Family Lines grey, red and yellow color scheme. Car 100 was later retired and transported to the CSX office in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1983 to be evaluated for use as a CSX fleet car. 

It was stored at the CSX West Jacksonville Office Car track for the next year, when it was sold to a private party. Car 100 was again sold to Florida resident Bill Beddell around 1985. Ten years after this, Car 100 was moved to the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway in North Carolina and was subsequently moved again to the Lancaster & Chester Railroad in Lancaster, S.C.

In July 20, 2013, Car 100 was purchased by the Watauga Valley Railroad Museum in Jonesborough, TN and moved from Lancaster to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, N.C., for restoration. It rolled out of the paint shop on Jan. 14, 2014. CRR 100 has been under a 3 year restoration project and is now ready to do what it did for almost 30 years, hauling Santa Claus down the Clinchfield.