Eastern Railroad Discussion > Top 5 Toughest Coal grades on the CSX

With Cranberry grade being the steepest grade against coal loads on the CSX.... What would be the next top 4? I am guessing that The CSX has more than one grade at 2%or more. How about the joint trackage NS/CSX near St.Paul Viginia????

Jason

I would imagine that the Clinchfield falls in that group somewhere

The Alleghany grade up to the West Virgina/Virginia border, Scary hill grade in Hurricane, WV and the embankment up to the Limeville/Sciotoville bridge west of Russell, KY.

Don't forget the ex-C&O/Hocking Valley line between Columbus and Powell, Ohio. While it is only a ruling grade of .5, it is over 15 miles long. It was a helper grade in the steam days and heavy trains can still struggle on this hill.

I guess that line SEward out of Cowan TN (NC&StL?) gets coal, doesn't it? That might be the only 2%+ aside from Cranberry and that other hill near there.

How about grades on the KY and KA subs? Richmond Hill is almost 1% for 10 miles. Crooked Hill is 1.8% for 5 or 6 miles. Chaska is 1.2% for a long long way. All of these are uphill for loaded trains.

I would say the toughest grades are those that require helpers. Usually high degree of curvature or multiple reverse curves are harder to overcome than just a high percentage grade. CSX has Richmond Hill on the KY SB, Crooked Hill on the KY SB and Duff Mountain on the KD southbound. The CV has the Hagan's Switchback Helpers that must stay on all the way south to Watkins, VA southbound, the CV's C&M Branch unit trains must use helpers due to the high degree of curvature on the branch and NB trains into Corbin must be rated just right or they will stall out on Emanuel Hill and a yard crew will be require to run out and pull them into the yard. On the EK, Elkatawa Hill requires all NB trains get pushed and Martin Pool trains runing out the Rockhouse Creek Branch using the Deane Connection to access the E&BV must be shoved up to Beaver Gap. All southbounds out of Shelby get pushed up the old Clinchfield to Dante. Before CSX sold the Dawkins Sub to RJ Corman, Skyline trains had to be pushed out of the mine through the tunnel. In WV, mty trains are sometimes shoved out the Pond Fork when loading at Lick or in the past, Harris and of course, the Mountain Sub has already been mentioned, Cranberry, Blaser, 17 mile Grade are all wicked. In TN, the Cowan helpers are used on coal trains up Cumberland Mountain. In SC, there are two serious grades south of Spartanburg for loaded coal trains but I'm foggy on the details.

My vote for the toughest? The Mountain Sub in WV and Crooked Hill in KY.

Robby

zars Wrote:
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> The Alleghany grade up to the West
> Virgina/Virginia border,

This one shouldn't be on the list with only a 0.6 % grade to the summit of the Alleghany front at Alleghany VA. It is a good grade, but not the toughest.

Markb

So which of these grades are 2% or more????

Definately Cowan-Sherwood and Tantallon-Sherwood. Ever since the line opened in 1854, the railroad has had pushers work Cowan-Sherwood eastbound and Tantallon-Sherwood westbound. Right up to the 1940s, the pushers were always the heaviest power on the road. After the Mallets were scrapped, doubled 2-8-2s worked the hill until the diesels came.

I don't think anybody's mentioned any 2%+ grades except east of Cowan-- and even that one's not for certain. The grade varies (as you'd expect on an old RR like that) and it likely averages 2%+ for a trainlength at some point, but... anybody got an actual track chart?

Don't forget an obvious one: Sand Patch's west slope handles coal that comes from the MGA coalfields, the U839 UP coal trains, Shaw Mine trains and others. It boasts a ruling grade of 1.2% with a short stretch of 1.5% near Keystone.

A few more obscure lines:
-The ex WM line from Bayard to Mt Storm serving the Duke Energy Power Plant at Stony River MD. This is an absolutely wicked pull with continuous reverse and horseshoe curves. I don't know the exact gradient, but I'd be stunned if it isn't well over 2%. This line sees only a few trains a week, but catching a Mt Storm drag with 2 AC's fore and aft is a treat not soon forgotten.

-The ex C&O Saugutuck Hill 20 miles west of Holland Michigan sees almost daily Powder River coal trains fighting from the river valley at New Richmond to East Sagutuck. Although short (less than 3 miles) I believe I remember there is a short stretch of 1.8% close to the top. When I lived there 6 years ago, the SD70MAC powered BN run through trains regularly doubled this hill.

PittsburghMike Wrote:
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> -The ex C&O Saugutuck Hill 20 miles west of
> Holland Michigan sees almost daily Powder River
> coal trains fighting from the river valley at New
> Richmond to East Sagutuck. Although short (less
> than 3 miles) I believe I remember there is a
> short stretch of 1.8% close to the top. When I
> lived there 6 years ago, the SD70MAC powered BN
> run through trains regularly doubled this hill.

I was gonna mention this one, but it seemed small compared to some of the others
that were posted ;) The bottom of the hill isn't too far away from Holland, maybe
10 miles. I think the grade is 2 miles, with a big S curve in the middle of it.
The grade fluctuates between 1.0 and 1.52 (which is right at the base). Anything
over 9000 tons either requires helpers (which they used back in the old days), or to
double it. The coal trains usually run about 15000 tons, so they automatically have
to double it.