The drab grey of the Monogahela Railway heritage unit blends in to the surrounding atomsphere on a rainy October day as the unit shoves on the rear of loaded coal train NS 776 heading down the former N&W Roanoke District. Aside from a pair of manifest freights, coal loads from the Mon Valley, and a handful of locals, the single-track mainline through the Shenandoah Valley is a far cry from the heyday of railroading, although the line still retains the N&W era color-position light signals at a majority of the control points between Roanoke, VA and Hagerstown, MD.
