Eastern Railroad Discussion > Coal Mine Vacations

Years back, there was a annual coal mine vacation
closing, as I recall, in July.

Does this still occur, and if so, when. Specifically,
I'm talking about operations on the South Fork Secondary.

Right now on the old Monongahela Loveridge, Bailey, and Blacksville #2 are closed for the week. This gives the MoW forces all week to work and the line is completely shut down. Hell week is what they call it. Around here they are replacing ballast, switches and ties among other things.

Chris Tokarcik
Morgantown, WV

NSHorsehead is correct, I did two Hell Weeks, and its something to see, last year they had 9 gangs down there, what a sight. I was glad that I wasnt an NS boss during that, because it was a cluster at west brownsville yard. On the first hell week we did the Manor Branch, a beautiful line through rolling hills, we did 7 jobs in one day totalling 7000 feet, and the next day we outdid a rival gang that bet us that we couldnt lay more rail than they did on a certain curve, in one day they did 7000+ feet, the next day we did 9000+. It is a good memory and I was glad to be part of it, be prepared for a rush of coal trains in the next week or so.

im_trainman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NSHorsehead is correct, I did two Hell Weeks, and
> its something to see, last year they had 9 gangs
> down there, what a sight. I was glad that I wasnt
> an NS boss during that, because it was a cluster
> at west brownsville yard. On the first hell week
> we did the Manor Branch, a beautiful line through
> rolling hills, we did 7 jobs in one day totalling
> 7000 feet, and the next day we outdid a rival gang
> that bet us that we couldnt lay more rail than
> they did on a certain curve, in one day they did
> 7000+ feet, the next day we did 9000+. It is a
> good memory and I was glad to be part of it, be
> prepared for a rush of coal trains in the next
> week or so.

Sounds like Hell Week is a good opportunity to make some serious money.