From the Chattanooga Choo-Choo (former Terminal Station), the track heads east-southeast, with yard tracks on the north side of the line, where the Terminal Station carriage sidings used to be, to a the apex of a wye at CT Tower (still standing on the Choo-Choo grounds), where the route turns south-southwest, with an old tower on the west side of the NS main line, north of the south leg of the wye onto the four track Norfolk Southern main line south from DeButts Yard, with the CSX main line just to its east, past a signal bridge on the main line, south of the south leg of the wye, a bridge over Main Street, a set of double-slip switches forming crossovers among the tracks south of the south leg, NS MP 163, a signal bridge south of the crossovers.
There is a wye on the east side at 23rd Street, with the former Southern (East Tennessee & Georgia) line coming west-southwest from the vicinity of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at East Chattanooga, another signal bridge, with the combined NS and CSX lines seven tracks wide, followed by an acute angled flat crossing between the CSX and NS main lines, with a five track yard behind a fence on the west side, that then trails in as the CSX main line curves away on the west side, still north of I-24. The two track former Central of Georgia line now used by the Chattanooga & Chickamauga Railroad (CCKY), as well as NS, bears away to the south-southeast, also just north of the dual I-24 road bridges overhead.
There is a signal bridge, on the three-track wide NS line on an embankment, with extra track on the west side at the north end of the NS Shipps Yard, also used by the CCKY, which is at least five tracks wide on the west side. The route to the TAG line continues south-southwest, with Shipps Yard on its west side, bearing away southwest at the south end of that yard, as the two-track NS line continues ahead, with the TAG line bearing south-southwest again at a location where a spur to Vulcan Materials heads away west-northwest. There is a flat crossing with a CSX (former Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis, and before that Western & Atlantic) line at 33rd Street, and a grade crossing with the eponymous street on the south side of the flat crossing, after which the NS main line bridges overhead.
The single-track TAG line (now operated by the CCKY) edges south, past silos and a cement plant on the west side, extra track on the west side serving that plant, two grade crossings (one of them is W 37th Street), a street alongside to the east, industry on the west side, a grade crossing, housing on the east side, a grade crossing, industry on both sides, extra track on the east side, extra track on the west side, the extra track on the east side trailing back in, another extra track trailing in on the east side, a grade crossing, and Alton Park, where the CSX (ex-NC&StL) line trails in on the east side.
There are two extra tracks on the east side, serving an industry, and two extra tracks on the west side, serving an industry, as the line edges south-southwest again, past a grade crossing, a petrochemical plant on the east side, a spur on the east side curving away, the main line runs through woods, an acute angle grade crossing, the Velsicol plant straddles the track, three east-west grade crossings, a north-south grade crossing, a grade crossing with an east-west street, and a grade crossing with a north-south street, before Yard Limits end and the line crosses the state line into Georgia.
The line continues south-southwest, past petrochemical tanks on the west side, a grade crossing out in the fields, a grade crossing, Thurmans, a jog southwest, an angled grade crossing, a grade crossing, a bridge over a stream, a dirt track on the east side, a grade crossing, and then a jog south-southwest again, Yates Bleachers on the west side at Flintstone, an acute angle grade crossing, a grade crossing, streets alongside to the east and the west, a dirt track grade crossing, a grade crossing, Moonsboro, a grade crossing, a street alongside to the west, an angled grade crossing (MP 10.4), a grade crossing, a highway alongside to the west, a grade crossing, extra track on the west side, a road alongside to the west, a grade crossing with a house driveway, a dirt track grade crossing to a truck garage, and a dirt track grade crossing to a farm on the east side.
A Central of Georgia branch once crossed on the flat at Cenchat, there is an angled grade crossing, a dirt track grade crossing in the woods, Wessboro, a dirt road grade crossing with a dirt road on the east side, High Point (summit of the line, ~MP 15), a grade crossing, a dirt track grade crossing to a house on the east side, Henrys, a dirt track grade crossing to a farm on the east side, Cooper Heights, a grade crossing, two dirt road grade crossings, a grade crossing, an embankment, extra track on the east side, a grade crossing at a road intersection, Cassandra, where the line turns southeast, a grade crossing, a culvert, a grade crossing, a stream alongside to the northeast, and then east past a cutting, a dirt track grade crossing, a stream alongside to the north, a grade crossing, a street alongside to the north, and a plant making latex carpet backing on the east side at Kensington, just north of MP 22.
The line then heads south and southeast to the current end of the line at Hedges (Estelle), and once continued west-southwest to Gadsden, AL.