The Asheville Yard (MP 141.0) is on the north side of the double track, CTC main line, (here in Yard Limits), with the line turning east at the south end of the yard, past the passenger station at Asheville (MP 138.9), the wye at the junction with the line to Spartanburg at Biltmore (MP 138.0), where there is a depot on the south side, the local speed limit is 20 mph, Yard Limits end and the line is single track, ABS, TO, with overall speed limit 60 mph for intermodal trains and 45 mph for freight trains, continuing east, past MP 138.2 to MP 137.5, where the speed limit on curves is 25 mph, MP 137.5 to MP 136.6, where the speed limit on curves is 30 mph, and the line turns east-southeast, MP 136.6 to MP 136.2, where the speed limit on curves is 30/25, and the line turns east-northeast MP 136.2 to MP 134.8, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, MP 134.8 to MP 129.3, where the speed limit on curves is 40/35, the 1,920 ft. siding at Azalea (MP 134.1), where there is a spur, and a detector at MP 133.2.
The line turns just north of due east, past the spur at Swannanoa (MP 129.9), MP 129.3 to MP 128.3, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, MP 128.5 to MP 123.3, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, the 6,060 ft. siding at Grovestone (MP 126.5), where there is a yard, a detector at MP 125.2, the spur at Black Mountain (MP 125.1), the Southern railway’s “Loops” that form the tortuous descent of the Blue Ridge between Ridgecrest and Old Fort, taking 13.5 route miles to cover a linear distance of only 3.5 miles. Even so, the grade averages 2% over the entire descent, with the overall speed limit being 30 mph for intermodal trains and 15 mph for freight trains on the entire grade from MP 123.3 to MP 111.1.
From the 2.650 ft. siding at Ridgecrest (MP 123.0), the Eastern Continental Divide, where there is a spur, the line continues just north of due east, past 1,832 ft. Swannanoa Tunnel (MP 122.1), 260 ft. Burgin Tunnel (MP 121.8), where it turns curvily northeast, past MP 121.6 to MP 112.6, where the speed limit on curves is 20/15, and 494 ft. High Ridge Tunnel (MP 121.3), and turns north, past 77 ft. McElroy Tunnel (MP 121), and 589 ft. Licklog Tunnel (MP 120.7), northeast past 123 ft.Jarrett's Tunnel (MP 120), west to the 5,450 ft. siding at Coleman (MP 118.6), where there is a spur and a clockwise horseshoe across a stream to the east again, through Mud Cut to the north and around another clockwise horseshoe over another stream at Graphite (MP 118), back to the south, east across another stream, and south again, then east, around another clockwise horseshoe at High Fill (MP 117) to the southwest and then northwest to Round Knob (MP 116), around a counter-clockwise horseshoe, over a stream, and southeast past Andrews Geyser (to the northeast), curving counter-clockwise north-northeast and clockwise south-southeast, south past Dendron (MP 114.7), and south-southeast, exiting the Loops area through MP 112.6 to MP 111.3, where the speed limit on curves is 25/15, turning east-northeast past 212 ft. Point Tunnel (MP 112.5) and then just north of due east again.
From MP 111.1 to MP 108.9, the speed limit on curves is 50/45, turning south and then curvily just north of due east again past the 7,980 ft. siding at Old Fort (MP 109.7), where there is a yard and full line speeds (60/45) resume, MP 108.9 to MP 107.2, where the speed limit on curves is 40/35, MP 107.2 to MP 103.9, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, a detector at MP 107.0, the 2,645 ft. siding at Greenlee (MP 105.1), MP 103.9 to MP 101.5, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, a turn south and then east-northeast between MP 101.5 and MP 100.8, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, MP 100.8 to MP 97.5, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, the yard at Marion (MP 99.6), a detector at MP 99.0, and the 11,715 ft. siding at Clinchcross (MP 97.5), where there is a yard and connectors in the northeast and southeast quadrants with the CSX (ex-Clinchfield) line, which passes beneath the ex-Southern line.
Between MP 97.5 and MP 96.8, the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, and between MP 96.8 and MP 92.8, the speed limit on curves is 45/40, past Nebo, turning curvily east past MP 92.8 to MP 92.2, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, MP 92.2 to MP 90.6, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, MP 90.6 to MP 89.8, where the speed limit on curves is 25 mph, MP 89.8 to MP 88.6, where the speed limit on curves is 35 mph, the 7,310 ft. siding at Bridgewater (MP 89.4), where there is a spur, MP 88.6 to MP 83.2, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, a detector at MP 87.0, Glen Alpine (MP 84), MP 83.2 to MP 81.9, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, MP 81.9 to MP 81.7, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, MP 81.7 to MP 80.8, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, MP 80.8 to MP 80.6, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, and MP 80.6 to MP 80.1, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45.
The line turns east-northeast, past MP 80.1 to MP 79.4, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, the yard at Morgantown (MP 78.6), MP 78.4 to MP 78.2, where the speed limit on curves is 35 mph, MP 78.2 to MP 76.7, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, a detector at MP 76.8, and MP 76.7 to MP 70.0, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, turning southeast past the 3,000 ft. siding at Drexel (MP 73.7), where there is a spur and furniture plants and just south of due east past Valdese (MP 71.0), MP 70.0 to MP 67.4, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, just north of dues east past the 12,150 ft. siding at Connolly Springs (MP 67.9), where there is a spur, southeast on the curve from MP 67.4 to MP 67.1, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, past MP 67.1 to MP 65.2, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, and east-southeast on the curve from MP 65.2 to MP 64.9, where the speed limit on curves is 45 mph, past MP 64.9 to MP 58.0, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45.
There is a detector at MP 62.9, and the spur at Hildebran (MP 62.5), where the line turns just north of due east, past the junction with the Caldwell County Railroad, trailing in on the north side at Hickory (MP 58.1), where there is a spur and several furniture plants, and the line turns curvily east, with the former route of the erstwhile Carolina & Northwestern (original owner of the Caldwell County) paralleling to the south, MP 58.0 to MP 54.7, where the speed limit on curves (including a sharp clockwise one) is 45/40, MP 54.7 to MP 50.3, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, the 7,567 ft. siding at Oyama (MP 53.9), where there is a yard, and a detector at MP 50.6.
The line turns south from MP 50.3 to MP 50.1, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, past MP 50.1 to MP 48.1, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, and Conover, where there are several furniture plants, to the yard at Newton (MP 48.2), and then northeast, leaving the former Carolina & Northwestern r-o-w to head south, on the sharp turn from MP 48.1 to MP 47.2, where the speed limit on curves is 15 mph, and passing MP 47.2 to MP 46.0, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, MP 46.0 to MP 45.4, where the speed limit on curves is 45 mph, and MP 45.4 to MP 37.6, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, turning east past the 13,470 ft. siding at Claremont (MP 42.5), where there is a spur, the spur and detector at Catawba (MP 38.3), where a line to the Marshall Power Plant heads southeast and there is a bridge over the Catawba River, and runs along the north side of the lake formed on that river by a dam downstream.
The speed limit on curves is 50/45 from MP 37.2 to MP 35.2, and the line turns northeast past MP 35.2 to MP 34.8, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, MP 34.8 to MP 33.0, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, MP 33.0 to MP 32.8, where the speed limit on curves is 40/35, the 7,628 ft. siding at Eufola (MP 32.8), MP 32.8 to MP 30.2, where the speed limit on curves is 45/40, MP 30.2 to MP 7.2, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, and a detector at MP 29.1, and turning east, with the Alexander Railroad trailing in from the northwest, to the yard at Statesville (MP 25.8), where a spur to Troutman heads south, and then just south of due east, past a detector at MP 19.0, the spur at Elmwood (MP 18.0), Cleveland, the 7,048 ft. siding at Barber (MP 11.6), where there is a yard and a flat crossing with the Danville District (L-Line) between Winston-Salem and Charlotte, with connectors in the northwest and southwest quadrants, a spur at Hoechst-Celanese Fiber Industries (MP 9.0), MP 7.2 to MP 6.0, where the speed limit on curves is 40 mph, Rock Cut (MP 6.0), where Hurley School Road bridges overhead, MP 6.0 to MP 4.3, where the speed limit on curves is 50/45, a detector at MP 4.8, and the start of double track, ABS, current-of-traffic, at Majolica (MP 2.1), and the line from Asheville joins the Southern Main Line at a wye on the west side at Yadkin Junction (MP 0.0 on the Asheville line), just north of Salisbury.