By Thomas W. Dixon, Jr.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society 2017
ISBN 9780939487301
Review by Dan Bourque
Thomas Dixon’s Chesapeake & Ohio, the Decades of Change is a surprisingly refreshing and unique book. If you’re a fan of the C&O in the coal fields, you doubtless have a few of the C&O Historical Society’s previous (and excellent) books by Mr. Dixon which … Read more
The Norfolk & Western’s Dry Fork Branch was a major artery through the coalfields of southern West Virginia. The branch connected to the Pocahontas Division mainline along the Tug Fork at Iaeger, WV to the north and to the Clinch Valley Sub to the south at Cedar Bluffs, VA. The heart of the Dry Fork Branch was the yard at Auville, WV, near Iaeger, where mine runs were assembled and mine run power kept.
The Layout
This track plan represents a … Read more
Jenkinjones, West Virginia was a company town that lay at the end of the N&W’s Tug Fork Branch, almost to the border with Virginia. Toward the end of the steam era, Jenkinjones was home to three tipples that all loaded company coal from the Pocahontas #3 seam. The tipples were reached via switchbacks after a grueling climb up 2.5% grades making this a tough piece of railroad to operate.
The Layout
This track plan represents Jenkinjones in the 1940s-50s when all three … Read more
The Clear Fork Branch on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky branched from the L&N’s mainline but was owned by the Southern Railway and jointly served by both roads. The Southern reached it via trackage rights from a connection to it’s Jellico line a couple miles north of the branch. The branch was several miles long, but most of the loaders were stacked in the last half of the branch between Clairfield, TN and Fonde, KY.
The Layout
This track plan captures the Clear Fork Branch from Clairfield to … Read more
The L&N first reached the hamlet of Middlesboro, KY (then Middlesborough) around 1890 on it’s quest to tap the coalfields and build a bridge route to the Norfolk & Western in western Virginia. From Middlesboro, the L&N used (and later acquired) the Southern’s (KCG&L) tunnel near the Kentucky/Tennessee state line at Cumberland Gap to reach Tennessee and then Virginia. For a few decades, this route formed the mainline of the L&N’s Cumberland Valley (CV) Division. The Middlesborough … Read more
Its line into West Virginia notwithstanding, the heart of coal country for the New York Central was Clearfield, PA. From Clearfield, lines radiated in several directions, including a winding route south along Clearfield Creek. A handful of branches left Clearfield Creek for the hollers, including the Boardman Creek Branch which followed Potts Run serving a handful of loaders. In its heyday in the 1940s, the line stretched five miles from Potts Run Jct to Carnwath, PA. The line was abandoned by the NYC … Read more
Leivasy, West Virginia lay at the end of the Kanawha & Eastern Sub, part of the paper railroad Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbriar, a cooperative effort between the Chesapeake & Ohio and New York Central (see NF&G track plan for more details). The extension to Leivasy was a latecomer to the railroad, only completed in the late 1960s. In a small space, the railroad branched from a wye to serve three good sized tipples and a small lumber mill.
The Layout
This track … Read more
The L&N’s Eastern Kentucky (EK) Division ran through the eastern Kentucky coal fields. It consisted of a long line between the L&N mainline and the heart of the EK at Hazard, Kentucky. From Hazard, lines went up a number of streams and hollers including the Carr Fork of the Kentucky River. The Carr Fork Branch served more than a dozen tipples in the several miles between Jeff, KY and Anco, KY. Defiance, KY was about halfway up the Carr Fork Branch. A … Read more
The Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbriar railroad, more commonly known as the NF&G, was a paper railroad set up by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1929 to resolve the battle between the C&O and NYC on which road would serve the rich coal deposits being developed along the Gauley and Meadow Rivers. The heart of the NF&G … Read more
The Kanawha & West Virginia was built beginning in 1903 to connect Charleston, WV with the rich timber and coal resources of the Blue Creek Valley. The K&WV was 34 miles long, and after a brief spell hauling oil after a boom in the early 1900s, the K&WV settled down to hauling coal for its parent, the New York Central. Though the mainline from West Charleston to Blue Creek was cut in 1967, the Penn Central and Conrail still operated this branch until … Read more
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