The route runs for 16 miles (26 km) through lush countryside in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

There is also a gift shop and snack bar with picnic shelter as well as hiking trails in Blue Heron.

[2] The adjacent McCreary County Museum (admission included in train ticket) demonstrates life in Kentucky's coal company towns during the first half of the 20th century.

In 1904, the K&T changed their corporate charter name to the Kentucky & Tennessee Railway Company, in order to finance the extension of the line to Worley, White Oak Junction, Cooperative, and Bell Farm.

The steel trestle was found in Upstate New York, shipped to Stearns, and installed upside down to meet the requirements.

It was named in honor of the town's founder, Justus S. Stearns, and operated from 1974 until its closure by Blue Diamond Coal in October 1987.

Number 102 was the second of four Alco switchers K&T purchased from the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in late 1963.