Anyone what were the NYC's operations in WV like in the 50's and also what power was used in WV? I know they had interchange with the Virginian and if anyone has info on that from the NYC perspective I would like to know.
Hi Virginian Railway. Sorry I did not respond sooner, but you drove me to my old books to try to find an answer for you. Unfortunately I can't tell you what power was used in WV in the 50s. What I have been able to find out is that the Ohio Central Division operated from Kanauga, Ohio, across the Ohio River bridge into West Virginia, and both freight and passenger service are listed in 1943, to West Charleston. From West Charleston there were two routes, one to Hitop and the other to Swiss. There were many stops along the way and if you need to know, I can list them for you. It looks like only freight went beyon W. Charleston on the two branches. There is another short branch from Smithers to Marting. Then there was the Nicholas, Fayette and Greenbriar RR from Swill to Meadow Creek. I can find only one junction with the Virginian, at DB Tower, 23.8 miles from W. Charleston on the Swiss branch. Is this of any help? :question:
The line to Hitop the NYC bought from the Kanawha& West Virginia.This line ran along the northern side of the Elk River to the Hitop mines.NYC had a big yard in Charleston. The line from Columbus to Charleston to Swiss is called the NS West Virginia Secondary now.The B&O had a line on the other side of the Elk River. Curtis
Wow...if my dad was still with us he could write a book responding to all this in great detail - he worked as a dispatcher on that section of the NYC from after WWII to 1976. I can still remember him regaling my mom with stories as he ate dinner after coming home from the third trick shift, me in bed trying to visualize all of it.
NYC had track that more or less followed the Kanawha River from Charleston to Gauley Bridge. There used to be a medium sized yard west of Gauley Bridge where I don't remember how many 100-ton hoppers were parked. This was the 1981-84 time frame, and I think a lot of Conrail cars had the previous number stenciled somewhere on the carbody (e.g., Conrail 687323 might have originally been EL 444200 or something like that). Don't forget the beautiful green depot in Gauley Bridge, WV. NYC seemed to parallel the C&O heading whatever direction it was (generally north?) out of Gauley Bridge into the regions beyond (LOL!).
In April of 1988 I came upon what I think were the former NYC facilities at Gauley Bridge. Stuff like this is fascinating to me and scenes like this are rare these days.
The Water Level Route is one of those roads that doesn't come to mind when the subject of articulateds comes up.
NYC's depot was a bit further west and you could see it from US 60. These are former C&O/Chessie facilities by then. I have several photos of these facilities on the Railroad Picture Archives site (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=92245). The photos of Gauley Bridge's facilities are down near the bottom--I was there about a year before you! At one time those tracks were full of hoppers either coming or going. Sometime between 1981-84 C&O's GP-9 #6222 was stationed there. No photographs, of course, but in those days I was trying to get through Gauley Bridge and build up some speed before tackling Gauley Mountain!
The 2-6-6-2 locos were assigned to the NYC's Pennsylvania Division to handle mainly coal trains. They could handle heavier trains, but with lighter axle loading, than the Consolidations they replaced. Class NE-2g #1940 was built by Alco-Schenectady in 1920 and was scrapped by 1952.
Thanks for the correction. Back in the days before GPS, I was mostly lost driving around there. On the same day I also found this bridge. Do you know who's bridge this was and what it connected? Is the river the Gauley or the Kanawah? Thanks again for your help with all of this.
That's one reason why it's called "The Mountain State!" But there's a good amount of nearly still water, too--not too far west from Gauley Bridge is another town (either Glen Jean or Kanawha Falls, I don't remember) where the water is so still it looks like an artist's masterpiece (the Impressionists, perhaps?) Standing on the north side (US Route 60), watching a C&O/Chessie/CSX train run by across the river is almost like watching a model train.
