Southwest Virginia
View allAll Photos Tagged BlueField
July 14, 2016: The morning fog is still burning off as light units, running on symbol 83G, come west at Bluefield, Virginia.
With a fresh Elmore crew on board, 813 drops off the Virginia pull in towards Long 8, snaking over the top of the hill and through the yard on their way West out of Bluefield
Some days like today, you just get a little bit of luck. Westbound NS 277 climbs the hill through Bluefield Yard with the Lehigh Valley heritage unit leading. Beside it, train 51X sits tied down at Moore’s with the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit leading. One of those just in the right place right time moments with two one of a kind painted engines.
18M enters Bluefield on its trip east while we wait for an 815 to head down the Clinch Valley to the left.
Westbound NS 813 passes the Bluestone Interior building in Bluefield, Virginia, on their way west towards Gilbert
After swapping crews and taking on fuel, NS 746 snakes out of the yard at Bluefield while eastbound loads swap out on the main.
813 climbs the hill on the Virginia Pull In, rolling into Bluefield yard with the Jersey Central and Interstate heritage duo, passing a 28N from several days prior, having wheelsets changed out due to being flooded while tied down in Williamson.
As a follow up (actually a precursor) to the photo I posted yesterday, eastbound NS J40 drops down the VA pull in, passing by the second CPL signal on their way towards Princeton with a light engine
5 days after the heavy snowfall, a good amount still lingers along parts of the Clinch Valley. Eastbound NS 76A passes through the curve and cut at Artrip, on their way towards Bluefield with a loaded Clover coal train.
J40 drops down the VA Pull In towards RD with a solo GE bound for Princeton, passing by one of the 2 CPL signals governing westbound trains on the pull in.
The Illinois Terminal heritage unit leads a long 821 into Bluefield Yard on a cloudy Sunday afternoon.
Three CSX units take the final Ringling Brothers Circus train down the Guyandotte River Branch (former VGN) toward Wharncliff where they will head east on the Pokey main to Bluefield.
A trio of GE’s shove the rear of loaded grain train NS 40N east into Bluefield off of the Pokey.
3-12-2023
Modern AC propulsion helper sets await the next call to assist trains on the Elkhorn Grade before sunrise. Both the through track locomotive service shop and the coal tipple were built during the end of the steam age to serve locomotives of the Norfolk and Western.
J40 (limestone empties for Princeton) prepare to depart East, as 820 (coal empties from Norfolk) get a fuel top off before their Westward departure from Bluefield yard.
From the mainline to the engine service tracks, NS and CP engines sit idling and slumbering beneath the imposing coaling tower as they await their next assignment with NS N&W Heritage Unit #8103 shuffling through the yard with various other engines coupled behind on the gloomy spring morning of March 21, 2015, in Bluefield, WV.
SD70ACU 7309 slowly makes its way into Bluefield yard with coal train NS 820 as the last bit of light of the day begins to fade.
12-11-2023
NS 393 Rolls to a stop in Bluefield West Virginia with empty autoracks in tow with NS 1070 on the point.
A loaded coal train makes its way out of Bluefield yard to traverse the Christiansburg district as it heads toward Norfolk, VA for export.
10-14-2023
This is an early morning view of Norfolk Southern's Bluefield Locomotive shop in Bluefield VA/WVA on July 19, 1992. There's plenty of power around and behind me is plenty of coal to move. The NS merger between the Norfolk & Western Railway and the Southern Railway is now ten years old but there is still plenty of pre-merger equipment around just waiting to be relettered for the "new company" (note the N&W boxcar and the Southern boxcar). Just to the right in this slide, the concrete supports for the old coaling tower can be seen still supporting the tower 32 years after the last steam locomotive was refueled here. As of 2022, the coaling tower was still standing.
Fujichrome 100, Nikon N8008
The tunnel I’m standing on is well above ground level near this blockhouse at Camp Bluefields. It’s probably better described as a concrete-encased walkway than a tunnel.
Power moves through the yard at Bluefield in the late afternoon sun. July 18, 1992.
Fujichrome 100, Nikon N8008
Dash 9 9788 is in charge of a westbound hopper train with a fresh crew on board to traverse the Pokey. It’s seen here crossing over Depot street in Bluefield, WV as late evening sun shines down on it.
8-18-2023
Norfolk Southern helper sets refuel in Bluefield Yard for a day if pushing trains uphill on the famed Pocahontas District.
On a warm summer afternoon, Norfolk Southern Bluefield Yard is already up in motion. NS 8103 leads a helper set currently getting fueled for the day of pushing trains up the hills along the former N&W Pocahontas Division. On the right a loaded coal train passes through next to NS 19W, which would be the focus of a train chase later that evening. Bluefield is home to one of the handful of manned helper bases left on the NS system, with the most notable being along the Pittsburgh Line in Pennsylvania. Its nice to see some N&W blue in the mix of black and white of todays NS.
N&W 611 struts upgrade into Bluefield yard at the end of a one way trip from Roanoke, VA. Tomorrow, the train will head west across the Pocahontas Division to Portsmouth, OH.
The day has come to an end in Bluefield as the last rays of sun shine down the rails in the yard. The coaling still stands guard all of these years later, and watches over NS 815 as it gets refueled before heading down the Clinch Valley.
27-4-2024 - Ollie Air, Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global Express XRS.
Info:
The aircraft was built in 2008 and carried the test reg. C-FOVE. It was delivered as N981TS to Aero Toy Store on 20-3-2008.
Later delivered as VH-UPH to Bluefield Ltd. on 9-10-2017.
Ollie Air took delivery as T7-OLLIE on 11-10-2023.
C/n - 9281
NS 189, with a clean BNSF pumpkin on the point, works its way through the curves on the east end of Bluefield yard.
Graduation time is near for high school seniors. May those young, bright people work to create a better, safer world.
Ballast Train 93X rolls down the Engine Track in Bluefield Yard by the Wye past the 361.9 Intermediate on the Radford Division Pull-in.
Having passed through Bluefield, WV after an hour or so delay waiting for eastbound manifests and loaded coal trains to arrive and depart, Norfolk Southern 55W is heading west over the famed former Norfolk & Western "Coopers Trestle" near Bramwell, WV on January 8, 2021. Probably one of the most photographed bridges on the N&W, this bridge has played host to Class J #611 and Class A #1218, as an example, numerous times in their careers and has even been photographed by O. Winston Link on several occasions. The tracks below the trestle are of the former N&W Bluestone branch, now used only for car storage if needed, which fittingly parallels the Bluestone National Scenic River. In the falling snow, this trestle has a flavor to its own that is hard to beat photographically.