We are now pretty heavy into planning our June trip, and making reservations. Our Amtrak parts are booked. (BTW, we tried to book online, jumped thru all the hoops; then when it was time to click Complete Purchase, it froze up. Tried three times, struck out. BUT, when we got hold of a humanoid, he could have have nicer, more professional, or more efficient. Then we made a change by phone, and that young woman was just as good as that guy was. So just forget the damn website!)
Anyway, we are going to spend five nights in the New River Gorge area. In RR terms, we will be poking around between Charleston and White Sulphur Springs.
I’m up for any suggestions for RR photo locations. I tend to prefer man-made stuff, so I’m mainly interested in places with interesting stuff trackside. It doesn’t have to be directly RR related, but it needs to be old, maybe funky, Americana. And of course I’m most interested in any railroad-related stuff.
But locations which feature great natural settings will interest me too.
I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions.
And, Balt, how many freights will run each day? Hopefully some in daylight.
New River and the area you are talking about was not part of my territory. This is historically C&O territory and it was assigned to the Florence Division in CSX. In the past this was a route for coal moving to Tidewater and empties returning to the mines. How much general freight traffic was handled - I have no idea.
When I’ve been down that way, I love to visit Thurmond. Several buildings, including the station are still there, and there can be some surprises that show up like on my last trip when I got to see a CSX rail train unloading rail, something I’ve never seen in real life. On another trip, a coal train came up the branch to wait for an eastbound tanker train along with a westbound intermodal. While waiting, I was able to get a great picture of the station with the head end of both trains on either side of it. Thurmond is also one of the main filming locations of the 1987 movie Matewan.
On December 27, 2020, the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve became the nation’s 63rd national park, and it was about time. The new park includes the area from near the New River Gorge bridge (3rd highest in the U.S.) on U.S. Highway 19 to around Hinton, and includes what were two very popular West Virginia State Parks, Grandview and Babcock. And, of course, the CSX (ex-C&O) main line follows the river the entire way.
The first thing you need to know is that you won’t be “chasing” any trains. Track speed is relatively high, and other than just east of Charleston, most of the parallel roads are speed restricted. By the time you’re actually in the gorge, parallel roads are few and not great. Example: Thurmond to Prince. Only 11 miles by railroad, but 19 by highway because one must climb out of the gorge and drop back into it. Yes, there is a “direct” road: McKendree Road – a turkey track at best, and not be attempted if you’re skittish, inebriated, or if it is snowy or wet. But I’ve been stupid enough to do it more than once. The foliage is so thick that views of the railroad are intermittent at best.
Another thing you will need are good maps. The area is continuously mountainous, and I would imagine the cell phone coverage can be less than great away from cities and down in the go
Mark, that is simply awesome! Thanks so much. [Y] [Y] So much great information!
We are going to be based at a VRBO rental in Fayetteville. Yeah, I’d pretty much determined there wouldn’t be any chasing going on. My wife will be thrilled at that.
Remember driving US60 before I-64 was built. As I recollect between Charlottesville and Charleston there wasn’t a straight stretch of road much over 100 yards in length. Was driving a AMC Gremlin with the ‘fast’ manual steering - my shoulders got a workout.
I toured the area about 35 years ago, and my recollection is that I walked across the bridge. Looking at different websites, it seems that is no longer legal.
It is an impressive location. I remember back in 1982 getting pictures of the bridge from the state park overlook and also shooting the C&O a few hundred feet below me.
Back in the early 80s, I went whitewater rafting on the New River. We pulled out right after going under the Fayetteville bridge. It was hard being in a group of “regular” people and not getting excited when a CSX freight went by with a B&O SD9 in the consist.
A while back they did some work needed on the road side of the bridge at Thurmond. They added four little platforms along the bridge, allowing anybody walking across places to duck into in case of vehicles coming across the bridge, which isn’t very frequent. Last time I was down there in 2019, I went across the bridge, getting some nice pictures and video from out on the bridge. I also noticed that previous signs prohibitting pedestrians on the bridge were gone.
Nice description and narrative. I am planning to do ride the Cardinal from Charleston to White Sulfur Springs or further out to Culpeper, then back after a weekend. Mostly want to see parts of WV in daytime from a train !