Eastern Railroad Discussion > Abandonment of NS line through Farmville, VA is underwa

The physical abandonment of the former N&W mainline through Farmville, VA has officially started. NS MOW crews are starting at Pamplin and working their way eastbound. Just this afternoon (yes, on a Sunday) there was this machine pulling the spikes between Prospect and Elam.

Jeff Hawkins - Richmond, VA

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Behind the spike pulling machine was this crane which was removing ties. The trend was to pull every other tie from under the rails. I did note that farther west of here at Shields, they have pulled two ties, left one in, pulled two ties, etc. I was told by a NS employee that the rails would not soon be far behind.

Jeff H.

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Painful to see! But, things on the RR always are changing, it's one of the reasons that I never pass on a photo chance. You can never be assured that it'll be there forever. Thank you for sharing these pictures. Do you have any pics of trains running on the line?

John R
http://members.trainorders.com/chessie-2117

Why they abanoding it also some history of the line please
Steve in Cincy
PS track doesn't look that bad

Can you give us an idea where exactly this is? How long is the line to be abandoned? WHY is NS rippin it up and not railbanking it? I thought they were so proud of their Thoroughbred Shortline program? That looks like damn fine track to me! Looks like heavy rail, what maybe 132 pound at least? Looks good for 40 mph to me, easy.
What a shame!

Rail1 Wrote:
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> Can you give us an idea where exactly this is?
> How long is the line to be abandoned?

Indefinitely, due to the high cost, according to NS, of maintaning the "High Bridge" (over the Appomattox River) not far east of Farmville. Yes, it's a HUGE bridge. Virginia has seen steam excursions over that line from Richmond, when SOU and N&W ran such public excursions.

> WHY is NS
> rippin it up and not railbanking it?

There is no such "rail banking" program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I am told the state has been so greedy in the past this simply wasn't an option they would persue, although there ARE in fact numerous organizations and individuals in state planning offices AND in the current state legislature who are investigting such a program. Amazing, isn't it? In fact, I have actually talked with several state officials who had never heard of "rail banking." They didn't even know what the term meant. And now it's too late for this line.

> I thought
> they were so proud of their Thoroughbred Shortline
> program? That looks like damn fine track to me!
> Looks like heavy rail, what maybe 132 pound at
> least? Looks good for 40 mph to me, easy.
> What a shame!


Exactly. And there are at least two active customers in Farmville who want to retain direct rail service, and will now be going to trucks (according to them, 4 truck-loads will be necessary to carry what ONE railroad car brought in, in the primary case, a steel [fabrication?] facility that NS wooed to locate in Farmville JUST FOR their own rail service). And this was the old MAINLINE; NS maintained the line in great condition - which they are known for in these parts. (I have actually seen them do more maintenance on the Burkeville-West Point branch, through Richmond, that CSX usually does on its own RF&P and A-Line routes that parallel I-95 through the state.)

I guess that only two customers on the western 20 miles of this routing + the cost of the High Bridge just didn't justify the cost of what Virginia would tax them to keep it in place, at least not without any rail banking program to keep the right-of-way in trust until it might be needed again.

And yes, there were numerous discussions about bringing in shortline operators - none of those talks brought any fruit that satisfied NS or the state, I presume. No, I can't say what companies "talked" about running the route - that shouldn't be discussed without their prior approval, but there was more than one shortline outfit who did investigate the possibility. It just didn't work out this time. At least we can say those companies, the Virginia Dept. of Rail and public Transportation, and NS - did try to make that option work with a feasible operating/financial plan.............................

ANy pics of the bridge in question?

Here is a cheesey, not-to-scale map which I created outlining the area for those unfamiliar with the territory.

http://home.earthlink.net/~sidewindercats/farmville.jpg



Interesting points to ponder:



Both the original mainline thru Farmville, and the Farmville Beltline, are the same length between Pamplin and Burkeville, 37 miles.

The original mainline through Farmville is ABS with only one 3,600 siding at Farmville. The Beltline via Abliene is CTC, and has 3 controlled sidings each over 9,200 feet long in just the 20 miles between Abilene (where the loaded coal trains off the VGN join the Beltline) and Burkeville

Between Burkeville and Roanoke, the N&W and the VGN+Beltline were pretty much directional running mainlines. Westbound empty hoppers and manifest traffic typically used the N&W, loaded eastbound coal trains used the VGN. West of Altavista, some manifest traffic running between Linwood (on the SOU) and Roanoke ran the VGN westward against the flow of eastbound coal, but that volume was accommodated. The abandonment of the line thru Farmville creates directional running between Abliene and Roanoke now with a short 20 mile bidirectional single track segment between Abliene and Burkeville.

The original mainline's greatest use in the post-VGN merger era was to keep the empty hopper trains out of the way of the loaded coal trains coming off the VGN and onto the Beltline at Abliene. This is why the mainline via Farmville featured no CTC and lacked any useful sidings. It basically served as a long, 37 mile siding around the single track bottleneck between Abilene and Burkeville.

The line thru Farmville always has been the logical candidate for mothballing whenever export coal traffic declines to a level where one corridor can handle the remaining volume.

If volume returns to the point where Abilene-Burkeville single track becomes a problem, NS could probably add some DT there cheaper than replacing the bridge on the mainline.

How many other marginal-volume mainlines running in your backyard are going to be doomed someday by the inability to economically justify repairs to certain parts of its infrastructure. We lost the Peavine, now the mainline thru Farmville. Whats next?

Very interesting history on the line. The NS must of petitioned the STB for abandonement and got it approved I take it? What are/was the track speeds on the line. I bet 40mph. Anyone have pics of recent traffic over the line? I hope someone follows up with more pics of the abandonment.

Rail1

Rail1 Wrote:
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> I hope someone follows up with more pics of the abandonment.
>
> Rail1

Fear not, I will be out there to document the project many more times until the end.

Jeff H.

varailfan Wrote:
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> The physical abandonment of the former N&W
> mainline through Farmville, VA has officially
> started. NS MOW crews are starting at Pamplin and
> working their way eastbound. Just this afternoon
> (yes, on a Sunday) there was this machine pulling
> the spikes between Prospect and Elam.
>
> Jeff Hawkins - Richmond, VA


The abandonment of rail lines is likely to be exaserbated
by the demand and value of scrap rail and tie plates to countries
like China. The economic reality is that these marginal at best lines
have more value as scrap.
In terms of the STB filing requirements and "rail banking" programs both
of which exist in New Hampshire and Vermont. Do not expect either to save
a line like Farmville, VA. An example: the former St. J & LC later called the
Lamoille Valley railroad in Vermont, a historic line currently being scrapped.
According to both public reports and at least one elected official substantive
evidence existed for this line to be preserved for future rail use. This same
elected official stated that the authors of the STB filing should have been investigated for: "outright fraud." Similar cicumstances exist in New Hampshire. The price of scrap steel however, still speaks for itself. Unless an agressive short line operator and/or a consortium of rail shippers can come forward with financial resources and economic arguements to save branch lines, then the future will be linked to the highest and best use of the lines in question and this is scrap.

Would actions such as this be considered route abandonment, or simple track removal??? There's probably a legal difference here. Railroads didn't need, and don't need today, ICC or STB approval to reduce 2MT to single track, or 3MT to 2MT, correct? NS probably looks upon this as single tracking, not abandonment, and hence no permission needed. Certainly there is some legal hair splitting involved when the second main track runs on a seperate alignment and customers on the affected alignment cannot be accessed from the remaining track. I wonder if NS made it financially worth their while (bought them off) for these affected customers to go with their plan.

My point was in the last 10 to 20 years NS has become very aggressive in its shortline and railbanking program. WHAT happened to it? I believe there is/was a line Georgia that used to be a mainline and was banked and is still intact. Same goes for Saluda Hill. Anytime track is abandoned and/or tore up STB approval in needed as far as I am aware. Is coal traffic down so far out east to warrant this abandonment?

Rail1

I can't believe no one has photos of this bridge.

P Wrote:
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> I can't believe no one has photos of this bridge.

I'll find some when I get home tonight. You CANNOT gain access to High Bridge without conducting some serious trespassing.

Jeff H.

What if you came down the river?

Dave

varailfan Wrote:
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> P Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I can't believe no one has photos of this
> bridge.
>
> I'll find some when I get home tonight. You
> CANNOT gain access to High Bridge without
> conducting some serious trespassing.
>
> Jeff H.