One, following George's Fork Creek just east of the community of Windom southward for 2 miles (3.2 km) into the Black Mountains, was built by the Tennessee Eastman Corporation in 1923 and was used to haul timber for 2 years, until 1925, when it was removed.
The other line, at 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length, followed Cane Branch Creek from a point just west of Micaville south to a feldspar crusher on the eastern slope of the Black Mountains.
From Burnsville east, as well as from Bowditch to Micaville, the Black Mountain Railway continued to haul feldspar, lumber, and general commodities.
Although the Black Mountain Railway had managed to limp through the Great Depression and World War II, traffic had declined to the point that, by 1951 the railroad's parent, the Clinchfield, had wished itself to cease paying the interest on the original $40,000.00 in notes.
The ICC granted the request in 1954 on the provision that the line was offered for sale to an individual or a group of locals from Yancey County.
As the news of the potential abandonment was made known, citizens begin a fundraising drive to sell common stock in order to raise $70,000 for the purchase of the railroad as well as a new diesel locomotive to operate over the line.
When not in use, Yancey number 1 was stored at Burnsville in a small insulated engine shed that was built on a section of the former right of way toward Eskota, near the line's depot which served as the railroad's headquarters.
Number 1 was then sold to the Sigri Great Lakes Carbon facility in Morganton, North Carolina as an industrial switcher.
More flooding in 1977 damaged sections of the track in spots as well as weakened the piers and pilings on the bridge over the North Toe River.
The number 3 was sold off by 1980 to Centex (now PulteGroup) and a former Narragansett Pier Railroad Vulcan Iron Works 65-ton locomotive was purchased.