The first measurable snowfall of the 2021-2022 winter season blankets West Virginia on the 6th day of January as a monster 220-car coal drag eases into river bend, illuminating the seldom photogra... (more)

A conveniently placed full moon rises over the Mt. Laurel surface mine just as a pair of GE widecabs ease around its empty hoppers before beginning the flood loading process in this lonesome south... (more)

Inspecting the track for visual obstructions prior to beginning the flood-loading process as a reverse move, a pair of GE widecabs ease around the tail end of the Coal River Subdivision and the Mt... (more)

The tail end of the scarcely used Mt. Laurel mining spur appears to be more popular amongst the locals than it does rail traffic. Here, tucked away from civilization, this section of track represe... (more)

Light power inspects the tail end of the Mt. Laurel spur near the end of the Coal River Subdivision at Sharples. Once the track has been visually inspected by the crew, the locomotives pictured he... (more)

Hanging onto the last few days of summer as CSX GE AC440CW No. 160 marshals empty hoppers toward the Mt. Laurel loadout near Sharples, W.Va., on Sept. 18, 2021.

Summer kudzu is in full force as Mt. Laurel empties ease onto the mine's yard tracks at the end of the Coal River Subdivision at Sharples, W.Va., on Sept. 18, 2021.

Veteran GE AC4400CW No. 160 eases into the rural mining town of Sharples at the tail end of the original C&O Railway's Coal River Subdivision - about 55 miles from the mainline at St. Albans. Afte... (more)

A pair of AC00CWs run around their train of empty hoppers at Sharples, West Virginia before shoving to the Mountain Laurel loadout.

A unit train slowly loads coal at the Mountain Laurel loadout on the desolate Coal River Subdivision in Southern West Virginia.

A pair of YN2 AC4400s load coal at the massive Mountain Laurel complex near Sharples, West Virginia.

The definition of a hollow... In a typical West Virginia scene, two mountain ridges tower over an obscure coal railroad and a creek.. Here, near the end of CSX's Coal River Subdivision, app... (more)

A C&O Mine Run was crossing the Spruce Fork of the Little Coal River near Sharples, WV on May 19, 1979 with GP40 No. 4068 and GP39 No. 3902. Obviously, the bridge had seen some recent attention f... (more)

After loading at a mine in the DTC Sharples Block at the end of the Coal River Subdivision, CSXT 295 has returned west to the DTC Cloth Block, the junction of the Laurel Fork Subdivision. A small ... (more)