Beech Mountain Railroad pulling coal loads at Alexander, WV || June 1976

Beech Mountain RR sitting coal loads out for the B&O to pick up at Alexander, WV in the early fall of 1969.

Engine 113's throttle is wide open (it doesn't have notches) producing the charaterstic puffs of Alco smoke as the S2 begins it's assault on the steep 3% uphill climb to Star Bridge with 30 empty ... (more)

After running around it's train of loads due to track constraints at Alexander, Engine 113 is shoving the cars north to the Appalachian & Ohio Railroad interchange.

As the summer sun breaks through the overcast sky, Beech Mountain RR Engine 113 leads a string of 30 loaded coal hoppers north through the backwoods community of Palace Valley, bound for the inter... (more)

The village of Palace Valley is pretty self explanatory. A small village which is home to three or four houses wedged in between two mountains is also home to the Beech Mountain railroad mainline.... (more)

Beech Mountain Railroad Whitcomb 75 ton #100 (former US Navy locomotive) switching coal loads at Alexander, WV in October 1969.

A Beech Mountain RR Alco S2 makes a trip to the Star mine as it rumbles through Palace Valley and into the woods of rural West Virginia. Oddly enough, this a very rarely photographed railroad on R... (more)

Beech Mountain's seldom photographed alco S2 is seen returning to the loadout at Star to retreive more loads. We were lucky enough to catch this unique shortline operating on this day.

At the time of this photo, the Beech Mountain only had four years left before operations were shut down. From 1998 until 2004 the line was out of service, but now coal trains are again loading on... (more)