Eastern Railroad Discussion > I-64 Beckly WV - St. Louis

Our 2 week long trip home for the holidays is about over. Sat., Railfan One will be loaded up and heading west from Annapolis, Md. We are taking the long way back to Kansas, via Roanoke, Va. We'll spend the day there, then continue on our way Sunday. I-64 will take us past hundreds of golden arches and lead us right to the Gateway Arch. I can't remember the last time I was even on I-64, so for those of you familiar with this route, are there any must see train / railroad related places along the way? Any nice little towns with a caboose? Any towns home to a shortline? If you see Railfan One, give a friendly wave. Were easy to spot. Charcoal color Trailblazer EXT with a flag / eagle filling up the back window and a coupler hitch cover. 95,000 miles on it and you would never know that by looking at the inside or outside.

Chris Bogley
Bowie, MD

You can take a shortcut north from Roanoke on US 220. Starting at Eagle Rock, VA you will come alongside the CSX ex-C&O mainline and will reach I-64 at Clifton Forge, VA. Home of the big coal yards, the C&O Historical Society center (just across from the Amtrak station) and their new museum. CF is also the interchange with the Buckingham Branch that operates the old Northern Sub from Stanton, VA.

Exit off I-64 at White Sulfur Springs, WV to visit the Greenbrier Resort (owned by CSX and served by Amtrak).

Exit off 1-64 at WV 20, in the New River Gorge. Go north on the county road to see Meadow Creek, WV (and the junction of the old NF&G to Rainelle), go south on WV 20 a short distance to Hinton, WV to see the old railroad town. Not much of interest there, but you may see a train or two.

Get off I-64 at Beckley and head north on US 19. When you get to Glen Jean, you can take the road down to Thurmond, WV in the New River Gorge. Along the way down to the river, you will cross over the R.J Corman WV short line. Not that many trains down in Thurmond, but lots of history and scenery. Visit the National Park Service web site for hours of the visitor's center in the old Thurmond Depot and walk through the "ghost town" of Thurmond, of which the C&O main is the main street.

Go back up to Glen Jean and head a little farther north on US 19 to visit the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville.

If you fell adventurous, go a little farther north and get off US 19 to take US 60 west back down the mountain; off this road you can see Hawks Nest State Park (an overlook of the New River and the main lines of the C&O that split there); Gauley Bridge (where you meet and parallel the former NYC/Conrail now NS line) and take it all the way into Charleston, where you can get back on I-64 and avoid the WV Turnpike.

I-64 goes over the same pass through the Blue Ridge as the ex-C&O main line, so there's some pretty decent scenery there and you might see some CSX trains. Can't offer any railfanning tips, though, as I've only driven through there without stopping.

Farther west, there's lots of heavy industry along the tracks near I-64 in the Ashland, Ky., area. It's been 17 years since I've been there so I can't be specific, but if you've got the time and suitable weather, it could definitely be worth a look around. You'll also cross NS's Pocahontas main line near the West Virginia-Kentucky border, which is the Big Sandy River. You might also consider detouring up to Huntington, W.Va., during your trip if you have time.

I don't know how far you want to stray away from I-64, but there's alot of old
C&O sites in WV and KY. Near Beckley is Thurmond (restored depot, coaling tower),
also the New River Gorge bridge on US-19, and west on US-60 is Hawks Nest overlook.
At Huntington WV, CSX has a large locomotive shop, and part of the back lot is
accessible from a parking street. As you go into KY, CSX has a large yard at
Russell, and recently sold car shop at Raceland KY. There's also a restored depot,
and a tower (don't know if anything's been done with it yet) at Russell.

edit: In Roanoke, there's the Virginia Tranportation Museum (home of N&W 611 and
1218), and just down the tracks on the opposite side is the O Winston Link museum,
both worth seeing. Also, in VA, you have Clifton Forge, home of the C&O Historical
Society, both their archives and their equipment, which is near the CSX yard there.
(the US 220 suggested in another post comes in just west of town at Clifton
Forge). There's a C&O steam engine at Covington, west of Clifton Forge, and
at White Sulphur Springs is the famous Greenbrier resort.

Huntington is worth getting off I-64. Use the exit east of town, I can't tell for sure but it looks as if exit 15 and then take US 60 west toward Huntington. When you come to 8th Avenue (CSX main is about to go under the road there)turn left and you'll see the CSX Huntington shops on the right, you have to just work your way around to the parking road mentioned earlier by turning off 8th onto 20th Street. Then continue west into downtown and go back to the tracks around 8th Street (not 8th Avenue) and you'll be at the C&O headquarters where there is usually a couple of Private Cars. Return to US 60 and go west to Kentucky and you'll pass CSX Ashland yards and lots of other things.


Dale

Prince, WV

The Cardinal stops here SUN WED FRI.

There are rumours of discontinuance which would be a shame. The station is an

absolute gem, mostly unmolested and looked after by a great older fellow who

tolerates respectful and sensible railfans hanging about. Not as "time warp"

scenic as Thurmond a few miles away but a lot easier to access.

Note: the area is devoid of life support facilities and if it is snowing,

don't go due to the questionable road maintenance.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert K3HX

If you want to check out some NS action in Southern Indiana get off
at exit 123 into New Albany.There's a nice park and floodwall here where you can view NS action as it tackles the 2.8% grade of Duncan Hill.You then can get back on I-64 and take exit 118 at Georgetown
where the NS will exit the tunnel at Duncan.From there just follow
State Road 64 west it you want all the way to Illinois.Several locations along the way were the tracks are next to the road.At the
state line Hwy.64 becomes Illinois 15 were you'll continue to Mt.Vernon and pick I-64 back up.You might want to check out Centralia
about 20 or so miles west of there.It's baout 10 miles north of I-64
on U.S. 51. NS,BNSF and CNIC action there.From there you can backtrack to I-64 or head west out of Centralia on State Rd.161 and follow more NS to St.Louis.

While you're still in Kentucky, take the Waddy/Peytona exit (KY 395) south to Waddy...cross the NS (ex-Southern) at the grade crossing...then take the first left. Forget the name of the road, but it parallels the track (main and siding) through some nice curves, and the light's great this time of year, especially for westbounds.

A little further west, after you pass Shelbyville, take I-265 south to Taylorsville Road and then backtrack east a short distance (not much more than a mile or two). Pope Lick Creek Trestle will be on your left.

Both of these were great places to shoot back in the late 70s and early 80s, when the black diesels sported white and gold horizontal stripes, their sides read only "Southern," and ditch lights were a Canadian novelty. And high-resolution images meant Kodachrome and not megapixels. <g>

--Mike

I never knew this, but afternoon tea is free at the Greenbrier (!) Don;'t know if I'm quite the china teacup type, but it does sound interesting.
All the suggestions about the New River Gorge are good ones. If you have Net access while you're traveling, you can always check the National Weather Service for the area in question before you go down any dicey roads.
We've always wanted to see the Huntington railroad museum, but I don't think they have many winter hours.
Most importantly, have a safe trip and a lot of fun.

--Becky

Some of the neat places in WV. on the I 64 route.

Thurmond, WV.
Roncevert, WV.
New River Gorge

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The New river Gorge is worth the time spent. If you go to the New river Gorge bridge near the visitor center is a road that winds down the gorge to the bottom that will give you the best views of the bridge. The road actually goes right through the arch of the bridge. Here the rail line is double track with one main on each side of the river.

Here is a thread from my last trip down in October. There is a picture of the gorge taken from the bridge.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,1519051,1519051#msg-1519051

One person above already mentioned a few spots in Sountern IL, but I wouls like to second his suggestions, Centralia is worth a stop, and in Mt. Vernon, IL is National Railway Equipment locomotive rebuilder. There is always lots of old junky engines along the perimiter fence, easy to see, and sometimes you can get lucky and see a loco that just got work done or a paint job, and is setting on the pick up track waiting for a train. UP, NS, and Evansville Western (A shortline running from Evansville, IN to Nashville, IL) intersect at the same point in Mt Vernon. The locomovite shop and diamonds are all located on the southeast part of town. From downtown on IL rte. 15, take 7th St south and that street curves around and follows the south side of the shop, from there Im sure you will see the streets that loop around to the east side. Have fun.
Steven

Thank you to everyone thus far. I have a lot of information to sort out. Almost makes me wish I had more time.

Chris Bogley
Bowie, MD

check out Princeton Indiana they have a former Wabash caboose at the depot and CSX Chicago-Nashville main and NS St.Louis-Louisville line paralell through town. If you follow state route 64 in Indiana it goes right in front of the depot. The Indiana Southern crosses the NS line in Oakland City Indianaalong state route 64, just to the south is Somerville mines baloon loop which normally has a train loading in the morning. The Indiana Southern yard is about ten+ miles north of Oakland City in Petersburg also.If you stay on I-64 you could cut south by Evansville Indiana and head to Mt.Vernon Indianafor the Evansville Western which also runs a train in the morning to interchange with CSX in Howell yard along the river in Evansville.Hope that helps, if you have anymore questions on this stuff e-mail me at FIREMAN424@aol.com
Randy Allard