A once thriving town on the banks of the New River in southern West Virginia, Thurmond, in its heyday, was known as 'The Heart of the New River Gorge'. While most of the original infrastructure in the small unincorporated West Virginia town have all but burned or were closed, it still has its charm, draw and rail activity. Sadly, much of that charm may leave once CSX completes the installation of new 'vader' signals. In a desperate attempt to document the iconic C&O signals before they met the scrappers' torch, I stopped in Thurmond on a beautiful summer morning. Shown here is the second train of the day, daily Cincinnati to Richmond manifest Q302 heading east beneath the classic C&O cantilevers in route east to Richmond.
