A trip up the former Virginian P-D District

  In recent times, the former Virginian Princeton Deepwater District has become a favorite stretch of railroad for the photographer to visit. The former Virginian, in his opinion, stands as one of the most intriguing and fascinating railroads around. It hosts some of the steepest grades along with some of the most stunning scenery one can find in Southern West Virginia. In this little story, I will provide some history depicting the West End District of the former Virginian before my documentation.

History of the Virginian's West End 

The Virginian mainline spanning between Norfolk, VA and Deepwater, WV was constructed in the early 1900s by the Tidewater Railway that shortly thereafter became the actual Virginian Railway. The last spike was driven in 1909 just west of Glen Lyn, VA and the well-constructed route was then open for business. The grades in West Virginia are grueling, especially the 2.07% grade from Elmore to Clark's Gap, and gave the railway a major challenge in finding steam locomotives powerful enough to move a sufficient amount of coal over the hills. After experimenting with steam for a couple years and never being totally satisfied with the performance, the Virginian decided to electrify the line between Mullens and Roanoke in 1925 dubbing this section "The Electrified Zone". The railway purchased a fleet of LC-2 electric locomotives from Alco-Westinghouse in 1925-26 to operate within the electrified territory in sets of three. The engines dubbed "Squareheads" was capable of 2375 horsepower or a tractive effort standing at 92, 000 pounds each.

 The Electrification was just the solution the Railway was looking for in their West End District.. The Squareheads could move more coal over the mountains in WV and VA much more efficiently opposed to any steam locomotive they had in operation. In 1948, coal traffic had risen to new levels and the Squareheads were beginning to show age so the Railroad turned to General Electric for the solution.. Arriving in that year, the "Streamliners", EL-2B locomotives started polishing the tracks situated in the Electrified Zone. Producing 260,000 pounds of tractive effort and standing at 6,800 horsepower, the Streamliners was beyond anything the Railway had previously owned and proved to be the most powerul electric locomotive ever used in the world. Their arrival increased the maximum tonnage of coal trains immensely and were extremely effective. In December 1953, the Railway placed their first diesel locomotive order and purchased 25 locomotives from Fairbanks-Morse. They served the Virginian well until the N&W merger in 1959.


 On December 1st, 1959, the Norfolk and Western purchased the Virginian Railway acquiring the main and all branches between Norfolk and Deepwater. For two or three years, little to nothing changed on the former Virginian situated in the West End, but in late 1962, N&W ceased to use the electrified railroad between Roanoke and Mullens. The electric locomotives was shortly scrapped and N&W started using their diesel locomotives across the whole route.

 In modern times, much has changed on the Virginian's Western portion of the railroad. Signs of the electrification are far and few between and only a handful of old searchlight signals stand as they are falling fast to the new safetran signals. Many depots and part of the Princeton yard complex have also been eradicated. Instead of the Railways' intriguing electric locomotives, a plethora of wide-cab GE's and EMD's now rule the rails as any other railroad.

 Despite the changes, the Virginian will live on in the heart of many and the Princeton Deepwater District will remain a favorite line of mine due to the history and magnificent scenery that is associated with it. Witnessing a coal drag tackling the grueling Clark's Gap grade stands as one of my favorite things to see and hear.. The ground vibrating and the sound of engines in notch 8 permeating the air is nothing short of spectacular, in my opinion.

December 1st, 2012 documentation

 Exactly 53 years after the Virginian and Norfolk & Western merger, I set out to document the now Norfolk Southern owned Princeton Deepwater District on balmy December 1st, 2012.

 With fine morning light illuminating this impressive trestle at Ingleside, WV, NS 810 works downhill with a 150 car coal train, likely weighing in the neighborhood of 21-22,000 tons, as it descends the 1.5% grade from Ambrose, just east of Princeton, to Kellysville; also the junction with the Christiansburg District. Just to the west of this location lies VGN Tunnel #18 and the V344.5 signals situated at the westend of the short bore. This coal train departed Mullens, WV shortly after 3 AM and traversed the steepest section of the line witnessing many huge trestles while en route to Princeton; 810 also paused at the small yard situated in Clark's Gap to perform a common duty called "filling out tonnage". That basically means the train was short of its required tonnage upon departing Mullens and had to stop and acquire extra loads before continuing the trek to Norfolk.

  Operating in full dynamics, NS ES44AC #8062 provides extra breaking to safely get train 810 downhill to Kellysville as it whines across the Ingleside trestle. These new AC units Norfolk Southern acquired from General Electric are 4,400 horsepower along with being excellent pullers and are essentially built for coal service like pictured. After cutting off from 810 roughly 7 miles to the east, 8062 will then return light to Elmore operating as J92.

  Five engines idle in Elmore yard as they await their next assignments; Norfolk Southern's Monongahela Heritage Locomotive brightens up the scene as it sits dead last in line. The tracks in the foreground is the Guyandot River Branch that spans South toward Gilbert and eventually reaches the ex N&W Pocahontas mainline at Wharncliffe, WV. Multiple spurs exist along this route and NS operates on average 2-4 trains over this branchline daily. Also, to the right of #8025 lies the main Elmore yard office where crews will first report before a PTI driver will take them to their train.

  Just after arriving in this small hamlet by the name of Tralee, which is situated just east of Elmore, NS 755 sits short of a small crossing after the crew had just tied the train down with a pair of NS' newest horses on the point. NS will often park westbound trains here if another crew doesn't go on duty for a while and that is evident in this scene.

  Shortly after departing Elmore, NS U87 powers across magnificent Covel Trestle, V366.4, with two C40-9W's wide-open lugging their train toward Clark's Gap traversing a 2.07% grade along the way. The quaint town below watches and listens as the train roars uphill permeating the still valley with the unremitting sound of engines in notch 8 struggling to maintain 7 or 8 MPH. This is just one of many impressive trestles constructed along this route, the ex Virginian never fails to impress!

 By the time the helpers operating as J93 reach Covel Trestle, #U87 continues loosing speed as the train grinds away on the steepest grade situated on the whole Virginian. Between the head-end power and helper engines, this train has 21,000 horsepower but is still barely making the hill. That tells an individual how grueling and steep this grade is! Providing extra color to this scene, the Erie and Reading Heritage Engines are pictured crossing the impressive structure with ES44AC #8111 sandwiched in the middle; the Erie is definitely showing signs of being in coal service because part of the paint appears totally black!

 With its whole train over the hill, #U87 rolls downhill between Clark's Gap and Weyanoke as it begins slowing for a meet with westbound 775 just ahead. At this exact time, the head-end crew is chatting with the helper crew as they begin the process of removing the units from the rear while on the move; J93 will then follow J92 back to Elmore to await another coal drag to shove up the hill. This location is in middle of no where as one can easily see by the baron wilderness!

  In golden afternoon lighting, NS 775 creeps through the tight twists and turns situated in the historic community of Matoaka, WV as it passes one of the only surviving Virginian depots that still stand. Just below the depot, lies the old abandoned N&W Bluestone Branch that spanned from Bluestone, along the Pokey mainline, to Weyanoke a few mile west of this community. N&W last operated a train on the branch in the mid 1980s but has remained unused ever since, with the exception of Bluestone itself where NS will occasionally store freight cars. Matoaka used to be a booming town back in the day, but in recent years has dried up where practically nothing of interest remains except for the railroad. The train will shortly begin a stiff 1.5% climb to Weyanoke before topping the hill just east of the location above where I captured U87.

 After completing a meet with opposing westbound empty train 775, #U87 rolls downhill into Matoaka, WV as it enters a very tight S curve in golden afternoon backlighting. The crew on board has just 15 miles left before reaching Princeton and the end of their run just west of the beautifully restored Virginian Depot situated in the downtown area of the community.

  As seen charging out of the blinding late evening sun, #U87 roars across Blacklick Trestle in the community of Kegley, WV as it battles the relatively slight 0.5% grade spanning from Rock to Princeton. This trestle is actually the highest ever constructed on the former Virginian and is comparable to the former Clinchfield Copper Creek trestle in terms of height to those familiar with it. With being just minutes away from Princeton , #U87 has successfully traversed the western end of the P-D district witnessing some of the most stunning scenery in Southern West Virginia.

 The shot above from Blacklick trestle concludes my December 1st documentation depicting modern day action on the former Virginian. It was a fantastic day that I will never forget. Modern day operations are not near as fascinating as operations in the 50s, but it still never fails to impress me.

 Be sure to check back for future articles on this line as I will certainly return in the near future to capture more stunning scenery along this intriguing route! The link below depicts the video I shot on December 1st.. The sound from Covel is amazing, but still cannot adequately express the feeling of actually being there and hearing it in person.

December 1st video