Eastern Railroad Discussion > Hill Runs over trestles on the ex-VGN before shutdown

With word last week that NS may suspend operations over a portion of the ex-VGN Princeton-Deepwater district in Southern West Virginia, effective today, I made a last minute, quick trip there to try and catch trains climbing the grade to Clark's Gap.

It is an astonishing line, only some of which I was able to catch. Forunately skies were sunny and two "Hill Runs" ran up to the summit; one at 10am and one at about 3pm. I met a very helpful fan from Virginia who helped guide be through the complicated terrian to get more shots.

The video shows both hills runs at various locations east of Elmore Yard. The afternoon run is shown first, because the light was better. Because we were scrambled to get to the next location each time, I never caught the full train, but usually they take 70-100 cars up at a time to make a 170 car train. Both hill runs had 3 engines on the head end and 2 pushers.

1. Was there a yard or mine here? This is just a bit east of Elmore Yard. A cut of empties is on the center, third track.

2. Herndon, WV



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/15 15:04 by inCHI.

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4. Covel, WV

5. Garwood, WV

6. A look under the Huge Garwood trestle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 13:04 by inCHI.

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6. Following the hill run after Garwood trestle, we tried to get up to Weyanoake, when the hill runs are left in a siding to be comibined into a train to head east to Roanoke and points beyond. Our timing was a bit off. So we waiting for the helpers to return past the remote trestle at Micajah... and waited... and waited... and finally moved on. Off course, the helpers passed at that point, at a curve before the trestle. Turns out they had combined the front and rear power and sent it all back to Elmore Yard, leaving the combined cut of coal at the summit without power.

7. The trestle at Micajah to me is one of the most impressive. Oddly, there were new bridge ties on the former second main.

8. This is a fallen searchlight signal at Weyanoake, not because of the closure, but because there are new signals that look recently installed.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 13:05 by inCHI.

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9. More new signals east of Elmore Yard in the morning mist.

10. A lot of work was going on that day, this looked like they were working on the track that connects the Elmore Yard leads to the wye for the Guyandotte Branch. Power for the hill runs is sitting in the distance.

11. Looking east, where both a rail train and helpers were returning from the summit back into the yard.
 

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12. The Guyandotte River Branch leg of the wye at Elmore Yard

13. The next day, I was on my way back home and was less lucky. There was a northbound empty on the P-D to Deepwater, but I only caught it as it squeled around the curves before the bridge.

14. I have always wanted an over under here, which is probably really hard to get.

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13. The empty train pulling into the yard at Alloy, WV, next to a speciality metals plant.

14. A few minutes after this photo, a loaded train headed the other way pulled in, but I missed a photo. Anyone know where it might have been loaded at? There was also an NS crew switching some of the hoppers that are on the plant tracks.

 

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Thanks for covering this ,Great pics !

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Darn good job of coverage of this location.    100 kudos.   Mike in Ohio

Nice shots!  The location of Pic 2 is Bud, WV, and it is Garwood......not Garland, WV.

Jon

Most excellent! !!

Interesting stuff...!! Thanks for sharing.

Awesome collection of photos. Thanks for the share. ron

Thanks, glad people enjoy the photos. The engineering of the route is stunning, and looks so heavy-duty that it is hard to believe it may shut down even temporarily. Since going there I have been looking for every bit of info I can, but so far most of the recent photos have been other sites, so I'm happy to add some here. Searching the Nostalgia & History forum for "Virginian" actually gets very, very few results. Maybe less than a dozen historical photos.

NIce video!  Would love to see longer clips, but I suppose you cut them short so you could drive to the next location to get as many locations as you could.

Thanks for posting.

P Wrote:
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> NIce video!  Would love to see longer clips, but
> I suppose you cut them short so you could drive to
> the next location to get as many locations as you
> could.
>
> Thanks for posting.

Exactly. I was partnering with the other fan and trusting in his wisdom on timing, which proved to be correct. Both hill runs moved a bit faster than I expected (maybe because they were shorter cuts) and we barely made it to each location. Getting to Micajah after Garwood failed entirely on one try because it is so complicated and none of the 1-lane roads over the mountain really have signs!

Really nice work there…thanks for sharing. In answer to some of your questions…
 
1. This is called Tralee, and is the former location of the Tralee Colliery, owned by the Semet-Solvay Division of Allied Chemical Corp.
 
9. This is looking east at ALPOCA Interlocking.
 
11. The interlocking signal here is named 'No. 1 Crossover'.
 
14 (the second one). Most likely loaded at Power Mountain Coal near Drennen on the West Virginia Secondary Track (former Conrail). This is off WV Route 39 between Belva and Summerville.
 

wag2200 Wrote:
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> 14 (the second one). Most likely loaded at Power
> Mountain Coal near Drennen on the West Virginia
> Secondary Track (former Conrail). This is off WV
> Route 39 between Belva and Summerville.
>  

Thanks for the info. Just to clarify, the loaded train that was pulling into Alloy was coming from the direction of Charleston. I know there are some other mines in that direction but discussion I had seen indicated they were only loading by barge, but maybe this train shows it is not the case.

You may be correct that the loaded train came from one of the mines to the west, but as you say, I was not aware of any of them having loaded lately except by barge. It’s possible that with the ongoing trackwork (seen in the foreground) that one of the Power Mountain trains was taken further west (perhaps to Dickinson Yard) and the power swapped ends there. I really don’t know…
 
Also…#2 was taken at Herndon, not Bud (although there is an overhead crossing there as well). The old school building is barely visible in the background. Same bridge as on the cover of H. Reid's "Virginian Railway" book.