Trains NS 833 and NS 834 Meet at Wyoming WV
Trains meeting on the former Virginian Guyandot River Branch are not very frequent occurrences these days. Nonetheless, they still do happen from time to time despite coals continuous slow and painful death in the area.
Access is limited in many parts of this scarcely trafficked and often seldom photographed piece of railroad. It's only connection to the mainline world at Wharncliff, WV - 54 miles away from the once booming coal terminus at Elmore.
One of the more easily accessible locations on the Guyandot Branch is at CP-MADA, in the small community of Wyoming WV. Access is conveniently provided by a former mining branch spur that has been reutilized as a walking bridge crossing over the Guyandotte River to the active NS main.
I started focusing heavily on this piece of railroad back in the summer of 2023 trying to document some of the more seldom seen NS operations within the state of West Virginia. It generally seemed that finding an empty train moving in daylight was often much more difficult than it was to see loads moving out of Elmore or from the few mines along the line.
Whether it be from Affinity mine off of the Winding Gulf Branch, Gary 50 on the Pinnacle Branch, even Coal Mountain over on the outrageously neat Cub Creek branch. A new player to the area is Consol Energy’s Itmann #5 mine on the mainline at Itmann. The mines are here but the volume of traffic is not. Not to forget loads coming in for Elmore from the multiple mines still loading on the now Watco leased and operated portion of the railroad down to Deepwater, onto the ex NYC trackage onwards eventually to Columbus, OH.
2 of the bigger mines in play on this portion of the NS side of operations are having a meet of empties and loads at CP-MADA. Empties for Affinity Mine on the Winding Gulf Branch running as NS 833 passes by on the main, while coal loads from Kepler hold the siding as an NS 834.
Trains NS 833 and NS 834 Meet at Wyoming WV
Trains meeting on the former Virginian Guyandot River Branch are not very frequent occurrences these days. Nonetheless, they still do happen from time to time despite coals continuous slow and painful death in the area.
Access is limited in many parts of this scarcely trafficked and often seldom photographed piece of railroad. It's only connection to the mainline world at Wharncliff, WV - 54 miles away from the once booming coal terminus at Elmore.
One of the more easily accessible locations on the Guyandot Branch is at CP-MADA, in the small community of Wyoming WV. Access is conveniently provided by a former mining branch spur that has been reutilized as a walking bridge crossing over the Guyandotte River to the active NS main.
I started focusing heavily on this piece of railroad back in the summer of 2023 trying to document some of the more seldom seen NS operations within the state of West Virginia. It generally seemed that finding an empty train moving in daylight was often much more difficult than it was to see loads moving out of Elmore or from the few mines along the line.
Whether it be from Affinity mine off of the Winding Gulf Branch, Gary 50 on the Pinnacle Branch, even Coal Mountain over on the outrageously neat Cub Creek branch. A new player to the area is Consol Energy’s Itmann #5 mine on the mainline at Itmann. The mines are here but the volume of traffic is not. Not to forget loads coming in for Elmore from the multiple mines still loading on the now Watco leased and operated portion of the railroad down to Deepwater, onto the ex NYC trackage onwards eventually to Columbus, OH.
2 of the bigger mines in play on this portion of the NS side of operations are having a meet of empties and loads at CP-MADA. Empties for Affinity Mine on the Winding Gulf Branch running as NS 833 passes by on the main, while coal loads from Kepler hold the siding as an NS 834.