Having just cut off a coal drag while in motion behind the photographer, the helper motor immediately gets the green light to return north over Duff Mountain.

Better get a good look at Glen Alum tunnel before the Heartland Corridor project begins. Mine run U23 backs up and will soon head up the Briar Mt. Br on the other side with two motors on the head ... (more)

With not enough power for Q539 to make it over the hill, the crew has hooked up a long hood forward helper unit normally reserved for coal drags. Q699 and others await the fix.

With an original blue-gray 7588 unit three back, a faded Dash 8 backs the second cut of mtys up toward the coal loadout on Straight Creek.

On a cold and rainy January day, mine run SU24 crawls out of Glen Alum tunnel with just one motor. Having just come off the Gilbert Branch, the loads will be set off at Beech Creek before heading ... (more)

A plethora of spikes cover the ground trackside at Hagans Switchback, the only mainline switchback in the continental U.S.

A hopper of hardwood chips, which will take a crooked route from Royal Blue, TN to Canton, NC. Originally built by Champion International, the mill has changed hands several times to the current o... (more)

NS 147 shuffles west on Main Two with the Buchanan Branch running to the right beyond Main Two. The redbuds and dogwoods are just starting to show their color on the Pokey.

A brandnew SD70M-2 backs up to the wye, preparing to pick up a caboose and then make a mine run up the Dixiana Branch out of Norton Yard on this icy cold Appalachian morning.

Pusher set anchored by NS 7582 prepares to shove one over the extremely steep grade of the Dry Fork to Richlands. To the left of the photographer the short Jacobs Fork runs to the state line at Bi... (more)

In an elevated fourteen degree curve on the Pokey, one of the most severe, a coal run dashes toward Bluefield. The track to the right goes to the Buchanan Branch and wye, just across the river. Hi... (more)

Backing thru the coal loadout, a DPU unit on the rear makes room for the string of hoppers to soon be loaded at Kopper Glo. The train will cross CSX trackage for a few miles, then go thru Jellico ... (more)

Daily Q542 rushes across Hickory Creek and will enter the #1 tunnel in seconds on a beautiful Fall day.

Sporting the odd symbol 77A, a coal drag runs west by the oddly named Ought-One. Not many have visited Ought-One, which stands for one tenth of a mile of the Buchanan Branch which wyes off behind ... (more)

N259 struggles with a load of mtys going up the mountain as the ridges smoke and burn behind. In Appalachia burning the mountains is a great pastime for many.