Eastern Railroad Discussion > The Allegheny tunnels, VA

Did some railfanning in allegheny, VA yesterday on the old C&O west of Covington. the spot was right off RT. 311. The tunnels are awesome and there is a old tower nearby that made a great back drop. I was there about 3 hrs. and got only 2 east bound coal trains. I filmed both of them with my camcorder. the elevation sign by the tunnels elecation 2075 was great too. I was expecting a lot more but to no avail. I am to used to the busy RF&P sub. It was some great mountain railroading VA style. Does anyone know anything about tis tower in Allegheny, VA?

CV

Where else did you go besides Alleghany? Covington? White Sulphur Springs? Clifton Forge? The tower is "A" Cabin.

First you have GOT to learn how to spell Alleghany the Virginia way.

That tower was Alleghany (with an "a") tower, located on the Alleghany (also with an "a") grade near the old town of Alleghany (also with an "a") in Alleghany (also with an "a") County Virginia which has the Allegheny (with an "e" due to the first map companies being in the northeast) Mountains as its western border. The location is on CSX's Alleghany (once again with an "a") Subdivision and was the grade the mighty C&O class H-8 2-6-6-6 locomotives were designed for - even though the C&O brass in Clevelend messed up and started spelling the name of the H-8 class locos as "Alleghenies" showing their northeastern and midwestern heritage.

To the west of the tower is the dual bore Alleghany Tunnel and to the east are the Lewis Tunnels. The tower used to control the switches at that location before C&O installed CTC in that area in the late 1940s. Control was then shifted to Clifton Forge, then to Richmond in the 1970s, and then to Jacksonville in the 1980s.

That line is "hit or miss" railroading with only 1 scheduled daily freight in each direction (both usually at night) and 1 scheduled passenger train 6 times per week (compared to the 30+ daily scheduled trains on the RF&P sub you mentioned) plus 0-30 extra coal, MTs, or grain movements depending upon season and coal demand (currently down).

- BCM

A terrific source of info on Alleghany is "C&O Power." The spelling of "Allegheny" and "Alleghany" varies throughout the book, by the way.

At the end of the book is an acount by Eugene Huddleston, one of the authors, of a visit to Alleghany he made 52 years ago this month. Here's an excerpt:

"Alleghany, Virginia, the "top of the mountain" for C&O's main line, is fifty miles east of Hinton, W. Va., and thirty miles west of Clifton Forge, Va., the eighty miles between these two terminals comprising the Alleghany Sub-Division of the Clifton Forge Division. Standard freight power on this division was the well known class H-8 articulated. From Avis Yard at Hinton coal trains moved over the mountain to Clifton Forge where the coal was classified and sent on down James River to Tidewater. The 11,500 ton coal trains leaving Hinton required two 2-6-6-6's to raise the train 690 vertical feet in the fifty miles to Alleghany. The east slope is much steeper than the west, the tracks rising 1008 feet in the thirty miles from Clifton Forge to Allegheany. Helpers were not needed in the direction, however, because the heavy tonnage movement was eastbound. On[e] can stand at the sign denoting the summit some three hundred feet east of Alleghany Tunnel and watch the small spring fed stream of water in the drainage ditch alongside the tracks flowing in two directions - westward toward the Gulf of Mexico and eastward to the Atlantic.

"Situated along a narrow cleft between two mountains, Alleghany is an interesting place to watch trains; about a half mile west of the squat frame station in a deep cut is Alleghany Tunnel through which I had just come; about a mile east of the station, out of sight, is Lewis Tunnel, also about a mile long and consisting of two separate bores. The entire mile and a half between these two tunnels consists of four tracks - two mainline tracks and passing sidings in each direction. Two story brick 'A' Cabin sits about two hundrecd yards west of the station, and the 115 foot turntable where the 2-6-6-6 helpers are turned is near the telegraph office."

The old signs at Alleghany said "Atlitude 2072 Ft.," so Clifton Forge is at 1064 feet. Those signs were removed in the late 1980s. The highest mainline point on the C&O is actually near Staunton, at North Mountain, where the elevation is 2082 feet, according to "C&O Power."

As I said earlier, I have walked the entire line between Covington and White Sulphur Springs. I haven't been there in many years, though. It was, in fact, Spring 1991, just after the death, on March 21 of that year, of Leo Fender, inventor of the Fender guitar, that I was there last. Maybe I should go back.

Blair

There are some books available from the C&O Historical Society, provided they are still in print of course. "The Alleghany Subdivision" by Thomas W. Dixon and "Alleghany with "A"" by John C. Paton. If your ever in the Clifton Forge area be sure to stop the headquarters of the COHS located across the street from the CSX Yard office. One can also call them toll free at 800-453-2647. I hope this information is also helpful to those wishing to visit this area of the former C&O Rwy.

MW Coleman

Small world...I was just there yesterday too! Except I was blowing past the tunnels at about 70mph on I-81/I-64.