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CSX train 691 with autopart traffic soon to be lost to the NS. Need to buy a better scanner.....(12-11-88)
CSX Train Q415 heading from Cumberland to Rocky Mount, NC heads east through Brunswick, MD for a recrew passing several parked trains in the Valley Yard.
CSX R624-23 "Black Warrior Met Turn" is tied down and getting refueled at Bessemer before the crew of the CSX C240-23 (Bessemer,AL-Mobile,AL) goes on duty to take the Alabama's black gold to the port for export. C240-23 has CSXT Nº 1972 Family Lines System Heritage unit. Family Lines System wasn't an operating railroad but more so a marketing tactic such as L&N, Clinchfield, SCL, West Point Route, A&WP and Georgia Railroad.
CSX 828 & 259 are parked on the CSX Mon Line with a coal train in the 10th Ward of McKeesport, PA on November 2, 2019. I could easily reach into where they are parked from the pedestrian crossing with my new tele-smash lens.
CSX U109 with a SD70MAC Rebuild leading wasting no time past the coaling tower in Ronceverte, Wv on it's way back to the coal fields. 10/17/2020
Georgia Railroad GP7 No. 1026 and CSX SD45-2 No. 8954 pose alongside one another, representing the Georgia Railroad and the Seaboard Coast Line branches of the CSX tree.
CSX M204-01 has CSX 4753 Flared Mac leading headed eastbound through Lyons NY bound for Selkirk NY 8-2-24.
CSX I162-16 has CSX 4805 Flared Mac DPU headed eastbound into DeWitt yard in Syracuse NY before continuing to Port Newark NJ 8-17-25.
CSX I009-17 with CSX 507 YN2 leading and CSX 4701 Flared Mac trailing 2nd headed westbound through Lyons NY bound for Bedford Park IL 7-18-25.
Caney Junction, Moss, Meade Fork, Governor George Allen, and “LENOWISCO Unfair to Local Landowners”—Life in Southwest Virginia
The demand for coal during World War II was intense, and no one knew with any certainty when the war would end, or how it would turn out. The Clinchfield Coal Company determined the most economically recoverable coal deposits on the south side of Sandy Ridge, in Dickenson County, Va., were nearing depletion. The unaffiliated coal producer advised the Clinchfield Railroad of its desire to mine what was known as the Clintwood coal reserves. It would require a branch off the CRR main through demanding terrain. Location studies were initiated in 1943 and completed in 1944. The 14.6-mile line from a junction just south of Fremont to the proposed tipple site at Moss required a “ramp” from the mainline junction (to be named “Caney”) blasted from the side of the mountain to gain sufficient elevation to turn west into 2250-foot Bear Pen Gap Tunnel.
As all this unfolded, the Clinchfield Coal Company was acquired by the Pittston Company, which itself was controlled by the Allegheny Corporation—the overarching financial giant that controlled the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. The C&O filed a petition of intervention to the Clinchfield’s line, arguing it was better positioned to serve the new production area. Chessie’s Road wanted to build a line out of Jenkins, Ky. (on its Sandy Valley & Elkhorn Extension) to reach a proposed tipple site on the western side of what is today known colloquially as “Red Onion Mountain.” The name came from an old country store and bootleg “joint” at the top of the ridge---an appropriate choice since the Commonwealth of Virginia later built Red Onion Prison not far away. The “supermax” facility houses the “worst of the worst” in Virginia’s penal network and was opened in 1998. Of the 800 inmates housed there, there are indeed some notorious characters. Red Onion is the home of surviving "Beltway sniper" Lee Boyd Malvo. A portion the off-site infrastructure planning and construction fell into LENOWISCO’s lap during this period, so I spent a lot of time working with officials in the towns of Pound and Clintwood, and Dickenson and Wise Counties on the provision of access roads, water, and wastewater services. As it turned out, the only feasible way to provide sewer service was through a line down McFall Branch on the west side of the mountain to an expanded sewage plant in Pound. Much of the line was built on the former C&O right of way. The construction of the line was not without some local bellyaching and controversy, as some of the greedier landowners along the route expected their palms to be greased with generous “giverment” money for easements. During this project, I spent an inordinate amount of my professional work time dealing with these constant brushfires. One of our employees was threatened by a local landowner (who didn’t even live there!), so I had to step in (with legal help) to put a stop to such stuff. The sewer line to Red Onion Prison did not rate high in my list of “favorite” projects. When then-governor George Allen visited the construction site, he was driven there over the very road where we were trying to secure the easements. Some local morons (of which there were many) had erected signs along the way---like the old Burma Shave signs once familiar along the country’s many pre-Interstate highways. One sequence of signs read (in order): “LENOWISCO Unfair to Local Landowners,” “Millions for Others, Nothing for Us,” “Where’s OUR Money?,” and “God Bless America—and Welcome Governor Allen.” Not surprisingly, as soon as I rolled up to the site where site prep on the prison was underway, a staffer came over to the car. “Mr. Flanary—the Governor wants to talk with you.” To his credit, once I explained, Allen had a good laugh, patted me on the shoulder, and told me we were doing a great job. I sincerely appreciated the boost. The sewer line was completed on time and within budget, and I checked that one off my “to do” list.
So, getting back to the railroad part of the story---In a surprise ruling, the ICC granted rights to both the Clinchfield and C&O to build their respective branches. Construction finally began on the Clinchfield’s line in January 1946 with the first load of coal loaded at Moss (by a high-lift loader, as the tipple wasn’t yet finished) the following June. The line cost the railroad $2.6 million, but it would pay for itself many times over during its years of regular operation. In the 70s, for example, the Fremont Branch (as it was named) required the services of two “Moss Turns” every working day. Moss also had a coal prep plant, so as lesser quality seams were mined, loads ran in both directions on the branch. Raw coal from other Clinchfield-served mines were pulled to Moss to be processed with coal being fed directly to the plant, with the returning runs bringing the clean coal back to the main at Caney.
The C&O also experienced delays in building an ambitious rail line out of Jenkins to a tipple at “Meade.” The branch required a long tunnel under Pine Mountain (not to mention a switchback just to start the assault out of Jenkins), then a coiling descent to the Pound River and McFall Branch to reach the mine site. This ill-advised adventure cost the C&O $3 million and would turn out to be an enormous mistake. The tunnel under Pine Mountain had to go through a mixture of limestone, sandstone, shale, conglomerate, coal, loose earth, mud and gas (methane) pockets. The bore had to be lined with a thick wall of concrete reinforced with heavy structural beams. Even with more modern construction technology and materials, progress on some days could only be measured in inches. The tipple at Meade Fork didn’t last long, however, as it was more economical to build an underground shaft from there to the large tipple and prep plant at Moss. Except for some truck mines loading at Pound, Va., there wasn’t much left for the C&O to pull from its Meade Fork Extension. The compound 2-6-6-2s that worked the line (same class as former C&O 1309 running out of Cumberland, Maryland today) were replaced by GP7s and GP9s, but the trips from Jenkins through Pine Mountain became rare by the late 50s and early 60s. To no one’s surprise, the ICC soon allowed the C&O to abandon the line. The tunnel under Pine Mountain soon was impassable because of cave ins, so both portals were sealed.
When I photographed CSX Extra 7880 South approaching the junction at Caney on August 12, 1994, most of the coal activity on the branch was over. Given the date, I might have been in the area dealing with the prison sewer issue. A chip loading operation near the old Moss site kept the line open a little longer, with the woodchips headed to the large papermill in Kingsport, Tennessee. As that plant cut back production with ownership changes, the Fremont Branch fell into complete disuse. It’s still in place, however, as hope springs eternal that its services might be needed yet again one day. There are still many recoverable metallurgical coal reserves within reach of the line.
CSX Q491, a manifest from Hamlet, North Carolina, approaches its final destination of Waycross, Georgia.
CSX Q370-15 with a variety of power rolls through Banning, PA, passing under the Wheeling and Lake Erie bridge.
Have yet to find out anything about this interesting piece of railroad equipment. There is a sign on it that says it was built in the Bryant Park Roadway Equipment shops in Richmond. Seems to be a small crane . Seen here at Ederville, near Carthage, NC
CSX 1776 leads coke train B157 across the Monongahela River as viewed from the Homestead, PA side on March 30, 2024. I'm not a big fan of the CSX specially painted GEVO fleet, but since I was in the area, and it was there, I made an effort to catch it. Later that day the CSX Conrail heritage unit came through leading a freight. Too bad they couldn't do more with the front of the cabs on them instead of the standard CSX scheme.
Incidentally this is the site of the famous Pinkerton Strike. On July 6, 1892, striking steel mill workers and their families engaged 300 Pinkerton guards in a fierce 12-hour gun battle at the mill pump house. After the chaos had settled, seven employees and three Pinkertons were killed, leaving the community stunned and devastated. There is a commemorative plaque at the pump house, which is just to the right of where I took this photo. This spot is now a nice little park with parking where you can sit in your car and then just walk a few feet to get a train photo. Too bad CSX traffic volume is way down from past levels.
CSX Q038-15 at Monroe Yard (milepost SF. 306.2) in Monroe, NC with 1776 (Honoring Our Veterans) and 911 (Honoring Our First Responders) Engines
This CSX Auto Rack shows off a new slogan that seems vaguly familiar, though I can't quite place it for some reason. ;-)
In reality, this ex-UP rack is on the TTGX 976050 and I shot it heading westbound down the Golden State Route in Topeka, KS this afternoon.
After leaving their loads at Staley and having no empties from there to bring back, YPMO-R1 crosses Pennsylvania Avenue in Morrisville as they head back to the yard, now with CSX 6203 leading the three empties from Toll Brothers. February 16, 2020.
Conrail Z409 was tied down at "the Boardwalk" behind CSX's Baltimore Terminal Dispatcher's Office (AKA "The Nut House") in 1993.
A pair of SD50s and a GE C40-8W and a cut of New York garbage was simmering in the Maryland countryside awaiting the next move.
CSXT 5250 & CSXT 7801 (both repainted into the current CSX 'boxcar' paint scheme) lay over at Beauharnois.
CSX 2498 Started out as Conrail SD50 6771 Then in the 1999 Split it went to CSX and was Numbered 8675 and was painted into YN3 in January 2005. Then in 2007 it was renumbered 2498 and reclassed to SD50-2.
CSX ES44AC No. 995 leads UP empty coke train OIKRP (Chicago-Roseport) at St. Francis, WI on the Milwaukee Sub. 10/4/2016
CSX M364-17 has Housatonic 3901 and 3902 GP39s trailing headed eastbound through Lyons NY bound for Selkirk NY 7-18-25.