| The Innumerable Caravan / Edward W. (Ed) King, Jr. - Ken Miller |
| High Noon on the Virginian Railway / Virginian’s Fourth Sub-division - Glenn Fisher |
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We wish we could give credit to the photographer here, but alas, it was not marked on the print. This magnificent view of two US-class 2-8-8-2s climbing toward Page is just an amazing view. It looks all the world to be a Richard Cook photograph, and indeed, there is a view that looks as if it could be the same
day from the lighting in the book Rails in the Midlands of a pusher on the Virginian. It is believed to be an eastbound train at Mile Post 429, just to the east of Beards Junction. (N&WHS Archives Collection / Photo NW08598) |
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This story focuses on the coal fields of southern West Virginia. During the steam era, the region was served by major railroads like the N&W, C&O, and Virginian, along with connections from the New York Central, Baltimore and Ohio, and several shortlines. All these routes made the area’s rail map quite complex. The map included here shows US highways, county lines, rivers, streams, and lakes. Because the coal industry has
changed so much, many rail lines are no longer shown or have been abandoned in recent years. Still, this map should help readers who are not familiar with the places mentioned in the article find their way among the cities and towns. Please note that the map is not meant to be fully detailed, completely accurate or depict every railroad, but instead gives a general idea of the major rail lines from that time. (Mountain High Maps® USA Relief Copyright ©2020 Digital Wisdom®, Inc.) |
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The center of Virginian’s Fourth sub-division operations is the dispatcher’s office. Right at 3:00 pm shift change, the dispatcher sits in front of the General Railway Supply-built CTC Board with the day’s train sheet spread in front of him. The line to Gilbert is at the right, and Elmore is above his left hand. The desk is well-used, notice the marks from the chair arms. (George K. Shands / Virginian Railway Photo / K.L. Miller Collection) |
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High Noon on the Virginian Railway / Train location map (Glenn Fisher) |
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Lyle Wise captured what has to be a fairly rare photo here, not because it did not happen often, but because a lot of folks simply did not go onto this side of the river to capture a Virginian train. Shown here, near DB Tower, which is at the west end of Deepwater Bridge, this 1950 view finds the USD No. 703 hauling a westbound coal train across the 1,821-foot long bridge. (N&WHS Archives Collection NW10703) |
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Since the passenger trains do not appear on the Fourth Sub-division at High Noon, we have to give them their due. Noted photographer and author Bob LeMassena captured a rare scene here for several reasons. First, the date of this view of the No. 215 at Charleston, W. Va. is September 13, 1943. Second, railroad photos during World War II are rather scarce; a lack of film coupled with the concern of spies caused a significant drop in available images, much less of something as obscure as a Virginian passenger locomotive off line in Charleston, W. Va. Third, look closely at the inset of the portion of the tender; centered above the lead truck is a rarely seen “Buy War Bonds” emblem painted on the tank. (N&WHS Archives Collection / Bob LeMassena Photo) |
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A spiffy looking Class PA, No. 210, is leading a classic VGN passenger train along US Route 60 east of Charleston, W.Va. The 210 carried an unusual front number plate that seems likely a replacement after some sort of accident. While at Princeton getting repairs, a homemade round plate was made to replace the missing or destroyed original American Locomotive Company plate. Princeton made a variety of replacement number plates over the years. (N&WHS Archives Collection / Glenn Goodall Photo) |
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The US-class 2-8-8-2 locomotives (or 700s) were the main engines used on the Virginian’s Fourth Sub division. In this scene, No. 737 is pulling a load past a passenger train. If you’re a fan of the N&W, No. 737
might look familiar. She began service in April 1919 as N&W Y3 No. 2015, first working on the Radford Division. On October 22, 1943, she was sold to the AT&SF, and N&W delivered her to the Big Four at Ivorydale, Ohio,
traveling under her own steam to the Santa Fe at Fort Madison, Iowa, where she was renumbered as Santa Fe No. 1792. After World War II, as Santa Fe quickly switched to diesel power. No. 1792 became surplus and was sold to the Virginian in December 1947. The Virginian sent all seven former N&W Y3s to Princeton for modifications, reclassified them as Class USE, and put them to work on the Fourth Sub-division. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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Class USB No. 718 is shoving empties up to a tipple, exact location is unknown. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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Noted Virginian historian and photographer H. Reid visited the enginehouse at Elmore in August 1949 and found the USE No. 740, former N&W No. 2026, AT&SF No. 1793. She and sister No. 739 (former 2022, AT&SF No. 1791) would be the first of the ex-N&W Y3s to be scrapped in August 1954. In the background at left is Class MC, No. 465. Immediately in the foreground is a water can. These cans, with a large chunk of ice
and water, were placed on top of the water leg of the tender next to the engine cab providing cold water (hopefully) for the engine crews. (N&WHS Archives Collection/H. Reid Photo) |
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Doubleheaded US classes are climbing the grade with what is believed to be a mine run, with a boxcar of supplies for a company store as the first car. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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Some of the earlier and rather awkward-looking engines at Elmore included No. 605, one of six AD-Class 2-8-
8-2s built by the American Locomotive Company in Richmond, Virginia, between 1912 and early 1913. It’s clear that engineers took pride in their locomotives,
since the jacket is polished with graphite. The ADs, with their slide-valve front cylinders, became less popular when the US-class 2-8-8-2s arrived in 1919, even though the US had a slightly lower tractive effort—121,600 pounds compared to the AD’s 138,000 pounds, both in simple. When the Great Depression hit and traffic dropped, the ADs were put into storage, and by November 1934, all had been scrapped at Princeton. This photo also gives a good look at the Elmore coaling tower. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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One of the true lens artists, Richard Cook
visited the Virginian, and thankfully recorded some great scenes. Here, at 12:40 pm, On June 13, 1950, he captured westbound passenger train No. 3 exiting Mullens Tunnel on its way to Charleston. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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The fireman has USA No. 710 plenty hot here, as the safety valve has popped. The Virginian was indeed a pioneer in large lettering on rolling stock, including the name on the tender. The ability to read the road name on both the engine and the gondola provides strong evidence of the accomplishment in this across-the-river view of the 2-8-8-2 working in Elmore yard. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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The MB-Class 2-8-2 was the primary power for the Virginian for several years. The advent of the larger articulated power only pushed the MBs into secondary service on parts of the railroad. They remained a staple on the east end and were used on the west end for local or work train service. The No. 432 (on a work train between Mada and Justice at High Noon) was stored at Norfolk in October 1959.
Before the end of the year, after the merger on December 1, 1959, she and other steam power stored on the east end made a hurried trip west to get the locomotives out of Virginia before January 1, 1960 (according to sources to reduce tax liability), and moved all remaining steam locomotives (with empty hoppers for braking purposes) in a special train to Bluefield on December 31, 1959. She still looks good here, even several years out of service. The 432 was the last MB on the property, and wears the final paint scheme with the wider-spaced lettering on her tender. (N&WHS Archives Collection) |
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Two excerpts from a much larger drawing show the much gentler river grade of the Guyandot River line from Elmore to Gilbert, especially compared to the mainline as shown below. (N&WHS Archives Collection HS-G01790) |
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The Virginian was famous for its tall steel trestles. When it was built in the early 1900s, the builders tried to keep the route as straight as possible. In places like Slab Fork, they first used large wooden trestles to cross valleys, which were later replaced with steel ones. West of Elmore, the track was less straight as it was originally built by the Deepwater Railway. Slab Fork is a great example of coal country railroading. You can see coal company houses lining the small valley, a long branch line leading back to the mine (at left), and, at one time, even a second branch to another mine on the opposite or east side of the bridge. The Virginian station sits at the end of the bridge. If you look at the top right, you’ll notice a church right next to the slag pile. Note that there are no vehicles visible here; people walked or rode horseback! (George K. Shands / Virginian Railway / K.L. Miller Collection) |
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This image is credited to S.K. Bolton. The doubleheader is working hard with its empty train here at a location that was not recorded. (N&WHS Archives Collection / Photo VG00131) |
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Mullens and Elmore are the heart of the Fourth Subdivision of the Virginian. In a narrow Guyandot River valley, overall, this map covers roughly from milepost 372 to 377. At the left to the north, is Mullens, the depot can be seen on the drawing next to
Yard “B” with two house tracks coming to it. A large wye is formed with the mainline running west, and the Winding Gulf Branch headed off to the north. On the east leg of the wye is Gulf Junction. Inside the wye is the electric shop (and also later diesel). The large building in the top left photo is the Motor Barn while under construction about 1925. The Motor Barn was a huge, tall brick structure, and the tracks where the camp cars are seen where the motors were normally parked waiting to be dispatched. This view is taken from nearby W.Va. Route 10. Further to the east, in the top right photo was the steam shop. Space was at a premium. With the wye, later to be part of the Guyandot River line, there was no real need for a turntable. This view is an early photo from the north of the shop, but one can see the line going off to the south in the distance. The shop was expanded in 1921 (see drawings on pages 24-25). The total number of 36-foot cars that all 10 yards could handle was 3,221. The drawing states 36’ cars, however, the Virginian did not have 36’ cars. Most of the coal cars were 34’ except the H-7 that were USRA clones at 31’. Obviously that number based on so-called 36’ cars changed with the larger cars and 120-ton “battleship” gondolas. (All: N&WHS Archives Collection. Drawing HS-E02078) |
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You can order any drawing shown in this or previous issues from the archives at https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/. Your order will be a full-size copy. Please note that while some drawings have been cleaned up for publication, the copies you receive may still have the original imperfections. (From the Editor) |
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Elmore and Page are central to the Virginian’s Fourth Subdivision. Page served as the engine terminal on the west end, supplying power for several mine runs and branch services in that area. Elmore was the main running repair shop for the sub-division and supplied steam power for eastbound, southbound, and westbound trains. When electrification began in September 1925, most eastbound trains used electric power from Mullens, which is just a few miles west of the Winding Gulf line
junction. These drawings show an extension to the
engine house at Elmore in 1921. Due to size constraints, they are shown as four elements, but the bottom left and top right are actually one drawing. The layout on the right highlights the terrain, with a river and creek on two sides and a mountain to the north, which made building a roundhouse impractical.
Several smaller buildings, shown as small rectangles
south of the shops, were bunkhouses for
crews and workers, since it was a long walk to the site before the highway bridge was built. The drawing also shows the wye track to the south and where it ended before the Guyandot River line was constructed. (NWHS Archives: HS-E02728, HS-E02727, HS-G02235) |
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Deepwater: At the westernmost end of the Virginian, the name Deepwater is highly evocative, but in reality, it is only a small settlement with a connection to the Chesapeake & Ohio. Deepwater was never much of a terminal. It had just a small interchange yard and no locomotive facilities, though an early drawing does show a turntable. In its earliest days, the Deepwater Railway used it mainly as an outlet for traffic to the C&O. As the line progressed south and eastward while the Tidewater line was built westward, Deepwater became less important. When you visit, it almost feels like an
afterthought—the main single track runs down the hill to a small yard. Today, Deepwater (now called “Deep Water”) has about the same population as Page (see pages 28-33), but it’s a bit more active. Things were different in the early 1900s. Back then, the railroad had big plans for the area, especially west of
Deepwater itself. They wanted to build a new connection near where the track now drops into town, heading west to a large river transfer point closer to Mt. Carbon. The plans in our archive are detailed, but they were never carried out. Old reports say Mt. Carbon was once a steamboat stop on the Kanawha River. The White Oak Railway built a line there, which led the Deepwater Railway to file a lawsuit against the White Oak over the right of way. That was a time full of ambitious ideas. There were even rumors that the Virginian would reach the Great Lakes. (N&WHS Archives: HS-G01793) |
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Page: Above: The Ogle proposal shows a 300-ton coaling station at Page, which was built in 1945. Left: USA No. 710 is seen at the coaling station around 1952. Bottom: An undated sketch shows the car capacity at Page. Together with the drawing at the bottom right, it gives a clear idea of the layout at Page. In the sketch below, north is on the right, but in the drawing on the right, north is in the opposite direction. Right: At the top is an addition to the engine house at Page, dated 1923. Center right: This excerpt from a drawing
shows the eating facility, which was important
for the many employees in the small community. The building was actually built in reverse of what the drawing shows. The bottom drawing shows where many buildings at Page were located, including employee
housing. The turntable, which was later replaced by a wye track, is also shown. (All: N&WHS Archives Collection, HS-D00057, HS-E02285, HS-D06931, HS-G01855) |
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Top left: Gaining some elevation is not difficult at Deepwater, the community sits in a small area of flat land. Ex-officio company photographer George K. Shands made this view of the impressive Deepwater Bridge. Barely visible at the far left on the bridge, is the “VIRGINIAN” lettering that is still visible to this day over W. Va. Route 61. Based on the weather and lighting, it seems likely to have been made the same day as the bottom photo of Page. (Both: George K. Shands / Virginian Railway / K.L. Miller Collection) |
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Bottom Right: Here is a good look at the Page engine terminal, which is fairly compact, nestled among the hills, The photographer carried a 4x5 Graflex camera up the Loup Creek Colliery track to capture this scene in the early 1950s. It is a warm day at Page, so the windows and doors are open to let fresh air into the dusty, smoky engine house. You can see three locomotives and two Virginian camp cars parked nearby. The track in front of the engine house, barely visible, is known as the railroad east leg of the wye. The tail track crosses a bridge over Loup Creek and disappears into the brush. The 1946 Ogle coaling station stands out, along with the steel water tank. Several vehicles, including what looks like a company truck, are parked on this side of the engine house. On the ready track, a US-Class waits for its next call to service. |
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Nothing can represent today’s west end of the former Virginian as well as Sam’s great shot of the Virginian heritage unit leading a loaded train over the bridge at Slab Fork. Today, this portion of the former Virginian is no longer Norfolk Southern, but still offers the spectacular views of the former railroad! (Sam Phillips Photo) |
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