Eastern Railroad Discussion > Kenova WV ----> South ??????

Yup, the desert rat is going to cross the "Big Muddy" to do some railfanning with Brother Dave in October. We plan on having a Sunday afternoon and all day Monday to explore the area south of Kenova. What kind of traffic can we expect to see (both NS & CXT)? Would anyone care to offer some good photo locations in the area? We did the pokey Sub from Bluefield to Welch back in 2010 and really had a ball! Now we want to try the other end.

Old Bob out in Lost Wages

I would highly reccommend going to the Pokey again while you are down there. A bunch of Heritage Units are being used in helper service.

Nolan Majcher
Broadview Heights, OH
Nolan Majcher Photography

IRP Wrote:
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> I would highly reccommend going to the Pokey again
> while you are down there. A bunch of Heritage
> Units are being used in helper service.

Remember, he said he is going in October. That's assuming there will be that many heritage units in Bluefield by then as there currently is. That could change and go from some as helpers to none.

Expect to see more NON-coal / unit train traffic on NS' Kenova District (aka The Pokey). NS will see intermodal, autorack, manifest, coal and grain trains. On CSX's Kanawha Sub, you will see mostly coal and other unit trains with some manifest and intermodal (single stack) sprinkled in.

Neighboring Kenova to the west is
Catlettsburg, KY. At this locale, CSX's Big Sandy Sub diverges from the Kanawha Sub and heads south towards Elkhorn City and the former Clinchfield. Again, this line sees mostly coal, grain and unit trains with a few manifest trains.

I'm not sure of the current levels of coal traffic on either NS or CSX but the safer bet is NS due to more scheduled trains on their line.

-NS-
Kenova District
Intermodal:
217, 218, 233, 234, 236, 29G
Autorack:
272
Manifest:
188, 189, 194, 195, 17M, 18M

-CSX-
Kanawha Sub Via Kenova
Intermodal:
Q135, Q136
Manifest:
Q302, Q303, Q316, Q317

Big Sandy Sub Via Catlettsburg
Manifest:
Q696, Q697, Q698

Andrew

Posted from iPhone



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/15 09:49 by florida581.

florida581 Wrote:
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> Expect to see more NON-coal / unit train traffic
> on NS' Kenova District (aka The Pokey). NS will
> see intermodal, autorack, manifest, coal and grain
> trains. On CSX's Kanawha Sub, you will see mostly
> coal and other unit trains with some manifest and
> intermodal (single stack) sprinkled in.
>
> Neighboring Kenova to the west is
> Catlettsburg, KY. At this locale, CSX's Big Sandy
> Sub diverges from the Kanawha Sub and heads south
> towards Elkhorn City and the former Clinchfield.
> Again, this line sees mostly coal, grain and unit
> trains with a few manifest trains.
>
> I'm not sure of the current levels of coal traffic
> on either NS or CSX but the safer bet is NS due to
> more scheduled trains on their line.
>
> -NS-
> Kenova District
> Intermodal:
> 217, 218, 233, 234, 236
> Autorack:
> 272, 29G
> Manifest:
> 169, 188, 189, 190, 194, 195, 17M, 18M
>
> -CSX-
> Kanawha Sub Via Kenova
> Intermodal:
> Q122, Q135, Q136, Q139
> *note* Q122 and Q139 run 1x a week.
> Manifest:
> Q303, Q304, Q316, Q317
>
> Big Sandy Sub Via Catlettsburg
> Manifest:
> Q696, Q697, Q698
>
> Andrew
>
> Posted from iPhone

Q122 doesn't run anymore. It was abolished recently.

Q139 doesn't run on the C&O anymore. Random baretable trains will run as needed as X115 or X116.

I think you mean Q302 for Q303's counterpart.

Also, there have been as needed manifests running on the Sandy and off the B&O at Guyandotte as S800 (eastbound) and S801 (westbound). These trains handle the carload traffic that the regularly scheduled manifests couldn't take with them during the week.

The NS Kenova is your best bet.   Seeing anything moving on the CSX Big Sandy sub would be a stroke of real luck.   
On the NS, there are plenty of interesting locales all the way down to Matewan so that you wouldn't be on the road all day long to get to Bluefield.  There are currently quite of number of CPLs although they may be gone by your Fall trip.  

190 doesnt run anymore either

Posted from Android

Baxtersta Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The NS Kenova is your best bet.   Seeing anything
> moving on the CSX Big Sandy sub would be a stroke
> of real luck.   
> On the NS, there are plenty of interesting locales
> all the way down to Matewan so that you wouldn't
> be on the road all day long to get to Bluefield.
>  There are currently quite of number of CPLs
> although they may be gone by your Fall trip.  

Believe it or not there are days the Big Sandy Sub is busier than the Kanawha at times.

As far as the CPL's, they are all gone between Portsmouth (which won't last long if they're still up, they're supposed to be cut over sometime soon) and Kermit.  At the north end of Kermit (Grey Eagle) a CPL guards southbound from the single track to 2-track main.  Past there, westbound CPL's are at Panco (between Kermit and Naugatuck) and at the intermediates at Middle Panco both directions.  Past there, none until you get to Nolan, Falls Branch, Gate, & Williamson.  However I'd say those are on borrowed time, the replacement towers are laying down across from the old depot when I was down there a couple weeks ago.  And anyone is more than welcome to chime in on the signals up Wolf Creek & Nolan, I'm not aware of what they are.

Thanks to all for the information. Looking forward to the road trip!! I'll be driving to the Detroit area for my 50th High School reunion, then Dave and I will go to Kenova for a day and a half, then to Moms house in western KY. Dave will fly back to Detroit & I will make the drive back to Lost Wages.

Bob