Eastern Railroad Discussion > Bluefield, West Virginia?

Hi all, I had a great time in Lynchburg, Virginia this past Saturday and
wanted to say thank you for the help! Now I'm thinking about West Virginia.
Mainly because I have never been there and also because it looks like I can
be in Bluefield in a little over three hours so it would be an easy day trip.
It looks like Norfolk Southern land from what I can tell? I think the main
line gets over 70 trains a day? Can anyone tell me if that's correct and more
important do you think it's worth a three hour drive one way? Many thanks!


Jay

Yes it sure is worth the 3hr drive to Bluefield for a day trip! No where near 70 trains a day. Maybe 18-22 trains a day on a good day and that's per 24 hrs. Don't have a lot lot more to say other than get your classic N&W signal shots now while you are there.

70 trains a day is a bit ambitious, but it's busy enough through there. Yes, it's all Norfolk Southern, still quite a few N&W signals around, and north of there through Keystone and Welch you'll find lots of little old mining towns that still eke out survival to varying degrees.

It could be several dozen trains in a day along the "Pokey", but that would be counting helpers polishing the rails as well as full size coal and manifest trains. There's a few intermodals every day, as well as autorack trains.

Key point to remember is that Bluefield is the diverging point not only for the Pokey mainline to Williamson and beyond, but also for the Clinch Valley District (CV) to St. Paul and deeper into Appalachia coal country. The CV doesn't see nearly the volume of traffic that the Pokey does, but it does feature numerous coal branches that can spit out a coal train or require a hopper train to load without much warning.

St. Paul is also where the NS Clinch Valley meets up with the CSX Kingsport Sub (aka Clinchfield North End) and ultimately the NS Appalachia District.

General rule, if you see a train heading down the Clinch Valley, drop what you're doing and chase it as best you can. There are some fantastic photo opportunities all along that line, and because of the low volume, it is woefully under-represented in most contemporary railfan circles.

Stay at the Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff !

Bill Miller
Galt, ON

Look at the old coaling tower there
hollywood
NS B-Line MP 74

Next to the ex-B&O line from Grafton to Cumberland, (which is now low volume and all coal except for one merchandise, mostly chemicals each way) the 'Pokey' is the toughest busy main line that crosess the Alleghenys. It used to be close to thirty moves per day; but I do not know how much coal has dropped. There should be one or two more merchandise trains each than mentioned, an auto rack train, and often grain or ethanol unit trains. It has a much better variety of traffic than the ex-C&O to the north, which is all coal, some oil now, and other unit trains, but only one carload freight each way and it can be quite small, plus AMTK the days it runs. The Pokey is well worth the visit both east and west of Bluefield, and can be followed in most cases if you have good maps. My recommendation is that you visit after the leaves are off the trees, early April is good because days are longer than the Fall. The line has many very sharp curves, tunnels and bridges. It is hard to follow west of Welch to Williamson, but this is river grade and helpers are not used on the coal and grain trains, generally the only commodities that are shoved.

The reason NS had no trouble managing the ex-PRR/PC/CR Horseshoe curve route was that is was easy, even with twice as many trains, triple track and cab signals, compared to the 'Pokey'. I wish i could return to the Pokey for a day or two.

Let me apologize for saying 70 trains a day. I'm not the experienced railfan like the people on here.
I usually pick a spot that I can railfan AND do some urbexing, my two favorite hobbies. Then I go to
the site pictured and see how many trains pass or supposedly pass through a town. As you can tell this
one is off quite a bit (I used Bluefield VA as opposed to West Virginia since I thought they were the same).

I'm really interested in this Pokey Line. I've never even heard of it (well not by that name) and I'm
excited about it. It sounds awesome and I bet a dollar to a donut there are some old buildings along that line
that would make some great photos. All I have to do now is find some free time do ride up there. If you have more
ideas please pass them on as I'm printing them out for reference. Thank ya'll so much, I appreciate it! : )


Jay

---

As Bill Miller said, stay at the Elkhorn Inn. It a very unique spot and there are some neat photo spots between there and Bluefiels along Hy 52. Also west of E I toward Welsh.

Bill Turner
Hamilton Ont. (ps the Elkhorn Inn has a ATCS system set up)

Of course, Bluefield was all one town until the Civil War, when the counties that became West Virginia broke away from Virginia and became part of the Union. Before that, Bluefield only straddled a county line.

The railroad is indeed difficult to access west of Iaeger, WV, to Williamson, but there's plenty to do between Iaeger and Maybeury.

Do visit the Pokey. Some old buildings, maybe plenty. I think it is the most involving and fascinating busy RR mainline in the east, and I'm a PRR/PC/CR guy!

urbexing,
I had to look it up.

Good chance you can get shot trespassing in the hollers or POKEing around a small town as an outsider. Not everyone in them parts takes too kindly to outsiders.

nsrlink Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> urbexing,
> I had to look it up.
>
> Good chance you can get shot trespassing in the
> hollers or POKEing around a small town as an
> outsider. Not everyone in them parts takes too
> kindly to outsiders.

Very true and it can happen anywhere. Two rules apply in urbex, one is
if you can't get in through an open window or door you turn around and
leave. You never, ever break anything to get in. The second and most important
one is you take only pictures and leave only footprints. Some of the best
photos I've ever seen come from abandoned buildings. Abandoned buildings that
are now gone forever. You learn to be very discreet and how to hide in plain
sight....


Jay

In case you were wondering the "Pokey" they all are referring to is the "Pocahontas Division" of Norfolk Southern.

nsrlink Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> urbexing,
> I had to look it up.
>
> Good chance you can get shot trespassing in the
> hollers or POKEing around a small town as an
> outsider. Not everyone in them parts takes too
> kindly to outsiders.

I've found the people in that region to be far more accommodating than the ones in the areas where "progress" has been more rampant. A friendly smile and a firm handshake down in Appalachia will be reciprocated, and as long as you are straight-up and honest, they'll usually let you do whatever you want within reason.

On one occasion, I had a fella give me the combination to a locking gate at a lumber mill so I could take night photos of the N&W CPLs behind the mill. Another time, a lady let a friend of mine and I drive into and practically camp in her backyard for night photos of trains crossing over the Big Sandy River. The only expense I incurred was to give them prints of the photos; which ended up hanging prominently in their office and home respectively.

The thing to be mindful of however, the illicit drug trade is thriving down there. So be very careful where you tread, lest you end up standing in someone's pot-patch or "warehouse".

I see why the train count is so high, but I still think it is too high. Depot Street crosses the tracks just before the Norton line diverges, and it is at the very west end of Bluefield yard. So you get all the roads trains on both lines, and there are frequent lite helper moves on both lines, plus probably some yard moves to serve industry. About five miles west of that junction is a small yard called Flattop. Coal trains set off and pick up there and there may be shuttles between there and Bluefield. Almost any main or important branch will have some M of W track equipment moving around, so it all adds up.

And you could have a situation like we have here, where after every train that passes the gates go down again then right back up. They never seem to be able to fix it. So we have about 20 trains a day there, but I'm sure there are more than forty activations!

hoydie17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've found the people in that region to be far
> more accommodating than the ones in the areas
> where "progress" has been more rampant. A
> friendly smile and a firm handshake down in
> Appalachia will be reciprocated, and as long as
> you are straight-up and honest, they'll usually
> let you do whatever you want within reason.
>
> On one occasion, I had a fella give me the
> combination to a locking gate at a lumber mill so
> I could take night photos of the N&W CPLs behind
> the mill. Another time, a lady let a friend of
> mine and I drive into and practically camp in her
> backyard for night photos of trains crossing over
> the Big Sandy River. The only expense I incurred
> was to give them prints of the photos; which ended
> up hanging prominently in their office and home
> respectively.
>
> The thing to be mindful of however, the illicit
> drug trade is thriving down there. So be very
> careful where you tread, lest you end up standing
> in someone's pot-patch or "warehouse".


You are right about the smile and handshake Sean. It's worked
several times for me. I'm always up front with people and
give them some prints if they ask or at least give them a link
to where they can see the pics.

I've had a couple of times that a cop would drive up while I'm
checking a place out. After talking a while they would end up giving
me some more places to check out. I have been very lucky in the fact
that the worst I've encountered are some homeless people here and there.

The downside to urbex is there are thousands of people doing it. I'm
old school in the fact I rarely if ever give out locations. The new
generation with all their instagram, facebook, etc post locations all
over the internet and ruin it for everyone....

You advice about where not to go is great appreciated!


Jay

Thanks tp117! That's why I always ask on here because I can get a
truthful answer instead of going by something as a guide. On that site
it's like ok there are 100 trains a day but that can't be right so I'll
figure half that and hope for the best. I think I'll focus more on
the Pokey now. :)


Jay