Eastern Railroad Discussion > New River Train & other West Virginia happenings

I've ridden this route several times, and I highly recommend it for those who haven't. As others have posted, as wonderful as the New River Gorge is to photograph trains, you can't really "chase." You just have to pick your spot(s) and wait, but there are numerous to choose from. I started at Hawk's Nest (Lover's Leap overlook) on Saturday, and #1 shows a ballast train that came by as I was waiting for the New River Train. #2 shows the star attraction that passed by a short while later. #3 shows the soon-to-be-retired C&O signals at Thurmond.

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#4 shows the 1922 coaling tower that still stands in Thurmond. #5 shows a wb empty coal train that passed through. For those of you who haven't been to Thurmond, I can't recommend it enough, either. It's great to ride through, but do yourself a favor and drive there sometime, and just take some time and walk around. #6 shows an eb loaded coal train at Prosperity on the old NYC line that runs along the right-descending bank of the Kanawha River (across from the ex C&O). I have to admit it surprised me to see eastbound coal loads on this line, I would have through everything went west. But earlier in the day we saw a towboat with loaded coal barges going up the Kanawha as well, so I was all mixed-up.

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Went back out on Sunday, and the passengers on this trip were treated to more sunshine than on Saturday. #7 shows the New River Train again at Hawk's Nest, but this time from the overlook off of U.S. 60. Unlike on Saturday, the train didn't cross the bridge because of the westbound freight shown in #8.

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#9 shows the main line passing under the New River Bridge at Fayette Station. Nothing came westbound but a few moments later an eastbound appears on the other side of the river and I barely got over in time to catch it. I think I'll be contacting CSX's corporate offices to see if they can make it mandatory that, on sunny days in the fall, only new BNSF units can lead through the Gorge. 8477 looks like he just came from the paint shop.

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Appalachianrails Wrote:
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> I'm assuming the first three photos were from
> Saturday? If they were, I was on the train car
> hosting. The train stopped temporarily at Hawks
> Nest on Saturday to throw a flower wreath into the
> river in honor of some of historical society's
> members that passed away earlier this year.


We saw it stopped on the bridge and wondered why. That's nice to know they did that.

really great pictures. I need to go there when I retire.
jim

My favorite is Pic 7!!!

how about someone posting the consist of the 30 car special?

Great pictures... One of our favorite places to railfan on the old C & O is Thurmond when we go to West Virginia... I never get tired of just walking around and looking at the old buildings, the river, and coal tower...

Whenever i think of Thurmond and the New River territory, I'm always reminded of a quip by an old author by the name of Howard B Lee, who wrote "Bloodletting in Appalachia", who was the WV Attorney General in the early 1920's during the mine wars in WV... He said that when he graduated from Marshall College (...now the famous university...) and came to work as a school teacher in Thurmond (...he soon left and went to law school...) that there was a card game that had went on continuously in the old hotel for over 30 years; day and night... He also said that the citizens commonly said:..."...There is no Sunday west of Hinton, and no God west of Thurmond..."... Thurmond and the New River are a great, historic part of America... It's sad that the people are gone now; thankfully the railroad is still there...

leroy

BaltimoreOhio Wrote:
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> Went back out on Sunday, and the passengers on
> this trip were treated to more sunshine than on
> Saturday. #7 shows the New River Train again at
> Hawk's Nest, but this time from the overlook off
> of U.S. 60. Unlike on Saturday, the train didn't
> cross the bridge because of the westbound freight
> shown in #8.


Thats kind of special to stay on that side of the river, in all my travels over the years I don't think we ever didn't cross the river. I have done the New River train, Amtrak etc. since the 1980's!

Yes and we got skunked down at Hawks Nest on Sunday. We drove down from Ansted to the bottom. New River train went east on #2 and all we got was coal mty's west on #1. GRS



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 11:09 by bridgeportsub.