CSX Balcony Falls, VA
The descending path of the eastward flowing James River makes an ideal route for Appalachian coal by rail bound for tidewater ocean shipment. The Chesapeake and Ohio James River subdivision, built using the towpath of the never completed James River and Kanawha Canal beside the James, became the low-grade route for tonnage trains rather than the original C&O mainline which crossed three mountain summits between the same end points. While two class H-8 Allegheny 2-6-6-6 locomotives were required to lift coal trains east over the Alleghany Summit to the west, only a single Mikado 2-8-2 or Kanawha 2-8-4 locomotive was needed east from Clifton Forge to Richmond following the James River. A locomotive coal and water facility was located at Balcony Falls, named for nearby rapids in the descending James, near the town of Glasgow, Virginia. In 1942, a new cylindrical 300-ton reinforced concrete coaling station was constructed by Ogle Engineering between the eastbound and westbound main tracks to service trains stopped on either mainline. A large steel tank to store treated locomotive boiler water was located nearby between the eastbound track the James. Although EMD diesel electrics replaced C&O’s steam in the late 1950s, most of the steam era infrastructure at Balcony Falls remains today unused. Today, CSX combines two loaded eastbound coal trains near the mine or in Hinton, West Virginia and operates them in a 2 X 2 consist using Locotrol Distributed Power. After releasing brakes in Clifton Forge, gravity and dynamic brake do nearly all the work to Richmond. Empties return west with the same four locomotives placed on the head end with three of the four on-line.
The setting late summer sun highlights anything drifting in the hazy atmosphere. CSX loaded coal train C211-18 from Shelby, Kentucky glides through Balcony Falls with 220 loads for the Dominion Terminal at Newport News, Virginia bathed in golden reflection.
CSX Balcony Falls, VA
The descending path of the eastward flowing James River makes an ideal route for Appalachian coal by rail bound for tidewater ocean shipment. The Chesapeake and Ohio James River subdivision, built using the towpath of the never completed James River and Kanawha Canal beside the James, became the low-grade route for tonnage trains rather than the original C&O mainline which crossed three mountain summits between the same end points. While two class H-8 Allegheny 2-6-6-6 locomotives were required to lift coal trains east over the Alleghany Summit to the west, only a single Mikado 2-8-2 or Kanawha 2-8-4 locomotive was needed east from Clifton Forge to Richmond following the James River. A locomotive coal and water facility was located at Balcony Falls, named for nearby rapids in the descending James, near the town of Glasgow, Virginia. In 1942, a new cylindrical 300-ton reinforced concrete coaling station was constructed by Ogle Engineering between the eastbound and westbound main tracks to service trains stopped on either mainline. A large steel tank to store treated locomotive boiler water was located nearby between the eastbound track the James. Although EMD diesel electrics replaced C&O’s steam in the late 1950s, most of the steam era infrastructure at Balcony Falls remains today unused. Today, CSX combines two loaded eastbound coal trains near the mine or in Hinton, West Virginia and operates them in a 2 X 2 consist using Locotrol Distributed Power. After releasing brakes in Clifton Forge, gravity and dynamic brake do nearly all the work to Richmond. Empties return west with the same four locomotives placed on the head end with three of the four on-line.
The setting late summer sun highlights anything drifting in the hazy atmosphere. CSX loaded coal train C211-18 from Shelby, Kentucky glides through Balcony Falls with 220 loads for the Dominion Terminal at Newport News, Virginia bathed in golden reflection.