Page 19 - March April 2012

C&O Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs
people turned out to see the train pass, and how twisty and slow the journey was, as there were many 25 and 30 mph speed limit signs. As this was the first passenger train down this line for many years, it obviously caused a stir.
We had decided to stay on the train at Abingdon, where the train stopped for those who wished to disembark and spend a couple of hours being entertained in the town. As we have been there twice before, we continued the full journey to Bris- tol. We saw the M class 4-8-0 that ran on the old Abingdon branch under its cover and saw the well-preserved station and freight house as the train passed through town. The Abingdon to West Jefferson branch was much photographed by O Win- ston Link in the 1950s. We knew we would not be allowed off the train at Bristol, but unfortunately the train stopped short of the station in the yard by the old roundhouse, where the power ran round for the return journey. We arrived back at Roanoke just as night fell, having covered 336 miles.
Next morning we had an extra hour in bed as the US clocks went back. Also it was warmer, later in the day reaching 70 degrees. We followed the same route out to Walton, this time taking the right-hand leg of the wye. The train passed through the tunnels at Eggleston and Pembroke with the spectacular rock palisades overhead as we now joined the New River valley. Despite its name the New River is actually the second-oldest river in the world. This is a beautiful section of the line, with the trees out in fall colours, and was often used by Norfolk & Western staff photographers to take pictures. The old Virginian railway follows the other bank of the river except for a section where its track bed is now the lower leg of a dual carriageway. Bridges over the river bring the Virginian line to join and leave this section, as the Virginian is still used by NS.
At Glen Lyn we pass the coal-fired power station that is under threat of closure for environmental reasons, then turned a sharp left-hand bend to head up the East River, passing the wonderfully named Possum Hollow before continuing up grade to Bluefield.
After alighting the train at Bluefield we were amazed that the entire town appeared to have come out to greet us. The police had closed the roads and there was music in the square, food and craft stalls everywhere, a blues band in the art gallery, other art galleries open and free bus transport. Obviously 700 people turning up in a small West Virginia town was not to be missed! Bluefield was the centre of the Pocahontas coalfield, but fell on hard times when the coal ran out in the area and the Norfolk & Western facilities and yards became under-used. Now the void seems to be being filled to some extent by artists taking advantage of cheap housing in a scenic area.
The return journey was enhanced by the beautiful low sunlight on the trees as we followed the New River, with the occasional NS freight passing the other way. We again arrived back in Roanoke at dusk and thanked our coach hosts, a lovely family with two young girls who had topped us up with food and drinks on both days.
Before leaving Roanoke we watched some trains passing through from the other side of the tracks from the hotel and
some switching. We then, on our way out of town, called in to see an old friend who is an engineer for NS, for a chat about railways and motor racing. We then set off to follow the James River to Clifton Forge WV, the home of the C&O Historical Society.
Clifton Forge used to be an important place on the C&O, with a roundhouse and workshops, but no more. However, the His- torical Society have done a wonderful job and the station building looks superb, as does the freight house, which holds an O gauge model railway. Outside is an approximately 11" gauge railway with a diesel and 2-6-6-6 Allegheny in the shed. The big draw was the C&O 4-8-4 Greenbrier class steam engine standing outside. The story here is that the Greenbrier Hotel at White Sulphur Springs previously owned by CSX has been sold and the new owner is paying Ross Rowland, the owner of 614, to put it back into service in the hope of pulling passenger trains from Washington to his hotel. The engine has been painted green! It has “Greenbrier” painted on the tender and lots of gold striping. The following week it was to be towed up to the station at White Sulphur Springs to be displayed. It would seem that CSX are not too happy about having working steam on their rails again, so who knows what will happen.
Our next stop was Staunton VA. The station here is still used by Amtrak, though most of it is rented out. I managed to lose Ann for a while, as part of it was a quilt shop. The old branch that left the main line used to be the Chesapeake and Western, but is now operated by Buckingham Branch, a short-line operator. One of their trains came in while I was there, two locos and two gondolas. One loco was ex-Kansas City Southern, presum- ably leased. Buckingham Branch crew told me that they now also lease the old CSX line from Lynchburg via Charlottesville through Staunton to Clifton Forge. Apart from their own trains, Amtrak uses this route, as well as some empty CSX coal trains. The CSX main line is now the James River line from Lynchburg to Clifton Forge.
At Charlottesville we saw the Washington to Chicago Amtrak Cardinal pass through with some of the private-owner cars that had been on our excursion trains. From this college town our route back to Washington was via the Civil War battle towns of Culpepper, with its restored station still used by Amtrak and commuter trains, and Manassas. We followed the old Southern main line north and caught some switching as a pair of NS units came off a wye having dropped 60 hoppers off for a quarry. A main line freight passed pulled by UP wide cabs; NS seems to be leasing quite a few UP locos plus other leased power at present. Our last night was at the excellent Fairfield Inn we had stopped at on the first night at Manassas. As this was half a mile from the first battle of the Civil War at Bull Run, we had a look at the site and visitors’ centre. This is a large battlefield site over many acres, with much to see, but we left with the sobering knowledge that more US solders were killed in the Civil War than all of America’s other wars put together. 220 North behaved itself on our return to Dulles Airport, where we caught the overnighter back to Blighty feeling privileged to have travelled on the tracks of the great N&W J’s A’s and Y’s.
Our train passing double stack View from dome car
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