How do you stop half a unit train worth of coal rolling downhill, roughly 6,000 tons? Close call?

Foreign power comes to the Jellico Branch by way of BNSF. As compared to what NS serves up, this motor was fresh and clean. The coal loading silo in the background is currently out of operation, w... (more)

The power for the second cut of a unit train awaits service on the siding at Turley on a humid, hazy day in the mountains.

Showing an oddity for coal loadouts, a new track is being constructed above the main for sampling. A machine will run the track taking coal samples out of six cars at a time once operational.

Showing the grit and grime of the coalfields, NS 77G loads the first half of a unit train while National Coal workers run a dozer on the stockpile to keep the loaders fed. Space is at a minimum in... (more)

Mine run U35 rolls toward Auville Yard down the Dry Fork Branch on a hot and humid day. Space is limited along this rugged and remote stretch of the Pokey with an office and storage track, along w... (more)

Former SP unit and tunnel motor 8569, now doing work for R.J. Corman on the Loup Creek branch, is tied down at Mt. Hope. Note the steepness of the company spur.

R.J. Cormans tunnel motor does switching work in the last rays of sunlight for Georgia Pacifics Mt. Hope plant.

A pusher set runs west toward Williamson, having left Auville Yard earlier in the day. With all the branches in the vicinity one sees light pusher sets plying the rails throughout the day.

With loaded coal cars off the Delorme trailing behind in the steep elevated curve, minerun U14 prepares to get underway again. Spring has just started to touch the narrow Tug Fork valley on this l... (more)

A string of Top Gons exits the Glen Alum tunnel on the way to a mine run up one of the many branches along this remote section. The face of the tunnel will soon be changing with the coming of the ... (more)

Idling for hours before heading back to Bluefield for fuel, this pusher set threads the rock canyon on the Clinch Valley.

Deep within the confines of the Hickory Creek gorge, Q539 pulls a hodgepodge of flats, cars, and tankers thru the #2 tunnel. One has to wonder how this line was chiseled thru rock over a hundred y... (more)

A rarity on the KD Sub, grain train K803 pulled by only one motor exits Hickory Creek Tunnel Two and crosses over Hickory Creek enroute to the Duff Mountain grade.

In a torrential downpour, coal drag N214 blasts out of Morley tunnel and over a new bridge that's been installed over Hickory Creek. Work is still awaiting with the toilets and other gear laying a... (more)