Trackside Log for Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wow, I got up pretty early this morning. How unlike me. Anyway, I started the second day of my Virginias trip by heading over to the Amtrak station in Charleston to see if CSX would be so kind as to run a train or two.

• 0746 Charleston, WV - CSX eastbound - CSXT 478-CSXT 656 (photo)
• 0803 Charleston, WV - CSX eastbound - CSXT 4842-CSXT 532
• 0821 Charleston, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 5213

That plan worked out rather well. Since I had to drive through Winifrede Junction anyway, I checked out the Big Eagle Railroad again. The two geeps were again missing from the junction so again I drove west along their tracks to find them. I didn't need to go far before I found them dumping balast in Winifrede.

• 0932 Winifrede, WV - Big Eagle westbound - JTPX 2012-JTPX 2011 (photo 1, photo 2)

After a few photographs I continued my trek toward Thurmond, my primary destination for the day. I was following CSX for much of the way and heard a westbound on the scanner in Pratt.

• 1010 Pratt, WV - CSX westbound Herzog - CSXT 369-CSXT 218

A little farther east I found a westbound coal train parked in Handley.

• 1015 Handley, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 5357-CSXT 5463 (photo)

At Deep Water I turned south and enjoyed the drive along some more twisty mountain roads on my way to Pax to begin my search for R. J. Corman. In Pax I found the coal loadout but no locomotives. So I started tracing the track back east toward Thurmond and discovered the three tunnel motors parked at a new office facility in Meadow Fork.

• 1200 Harvey, WV - R. J. Corman power - RJCX 8718-RJCX 8336-RJCX 8569 (photo 1, photo 2)

After a few cloudy photos I drove the short trek to Thurmond where I visited the National Park Service in the fabulous Chesapeake & Ohio station. Then I began the wait for trains. Nothing showed up for nearly five hours but in that time the sun came out. When the westbounds began to flow the lighting was very nice.

• 1502 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 7739-CSXT 4838
• 1700 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 7684-CSXT 5383
• 1715 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound rail train - CSXT 2220-CSXT 6917
• 1731 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 4755-CSXT 871
• 1750 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 337-CSXT 487
• 1922 Thurmond, WV - Amtrak 51 west - AMTK 152

Scheduled time for The Cardinal was 1847 so it was late. There were still plenty of clouds in the sky but miraculously every train was sunlit and every train was a westbound. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, Amtrak could have been on time.

After the westbound extravaganza I packed up and drove to the Fairfield Inn in Beckley for the night.