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Photo: Big South Fork Scenic Railway
The Big South Fork Scenic Railway takes visitors on a train ride into history. From the historic mining and timber town of Stearns, Ky., the train descends through the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area to the Blue Heron Mine. Abandoned in 1962 after 24 years of operation, Blue Heron today is an interpretive historical site, where the stories of those who lived and worked there are told through audio recordings in "ghost structures" — representations of where the original buildings once stood.
The train is pulled by Engine No. 14, a restored steam locomotive originally put into service in the 1940s. The 90-ton engine was built during World War II.