Power awaits duty as the massive coal storage silo hovers overhead. The silo holds 8,000 tons of coal and will need filling by the overhead beltline before a whole unit train can be loaded. Photo ... (more)

A coal drag heading east exits Glen Alum tunnel, enroute to Iaeger Yard and more service up a remote branchline.

Having just left a little slice of Pike County, KY, fast freight 18M hits WV soil again and the first rays of early morning sun in the Tug Fork Valley.

The nearly full moon glows behind a set of cantilever CPLs along the Tug Fork river. Better shoot all you can as these are quickly disappearing from Vulcan to Panther.

Tied down in a snowstorm, a unit train dwarfs a huge Cat truck used in the stripmines above.

An ex-CR unit pops out of the east portal of Glen Alum tunnel while following the many curves of the Tug Fork river and valley on the Pokey.

National Coal uses three wheel loaders to load a unit train in under six hours. The three engines are idling downgrade beyond the coal silo which has been abandoned.

Being called a beast by crew and trains on each siding, 132 car long Q539 rumbles south and gains speed for Duff Mountain. It will still need the helper crew, normally used for coal only.

Steel on steel, with no slippage hopefully.

Mty coal gondolas pulled by lead engine 645 head north, back to the coalfields of KY. The gons have alot of reinforcing ribs, something not visible from ground level.

Watco power sits on the NCRR, just off the NS main at Oneida on this bright winter day. The 42 mile line runs from Oneida to the National Coal prep plant at Devonia, TN.

NS coal drag makes its way thru Elmore Yard and cabooses used for mineruns, as it heads down the Gilbert Branch. Track to the upper right heads toward Princeton and the Hill at Clark Gap.

An eastbound grain train passes under the old signals at Wharncliffe, while mtys destined for Bens Creek hold the center siding down. These old signals will probably be the next to be replaced aft... (more)

NS 759 hauling coal mtys emerges from Roderfield tunnel after the Bluefield dispather has cleared the tracks.

A mixed freight crosses Hickory Creek enroute to Corbin Yard after being held up for hours by three southbounds.