Grinding upgrade and negotiating the Loops, NS 135 struggles to reach the summit at Ridgecrest, NC on its eastbound journey to Asheville, then Knoxville via the River Line.
With a train of mostly new bethgons in tow, a pair of C40-9W's lead westbound empty coal train 756 around the classic and familiar face of a N&W CPL located at Sprigg on the Pocahontas District.