April 3 - 5, 1998

...a Joint Trip Report

edited by Bernie Kempinski

There are two kind of model railroaders in this world, those that have been to, and are now modeling the New River and those that are waiting to make the trip.

Over the weekend of 3-5 April 1998, several new converts were born again to this elite group. Nine NVNTRAKers -- Brian Brendel, John Drye, Charles and Dave Greenacre, Tony Hawker, Bernard Kempinski, Matt Schaefer, and Carl and Steve Zutter -- took advantage of the last few days of leaf-less trees to explore the New River gorge in wild and wonderful West Virginia. Wow, what a fun time!

The trip's genesis was Matt's suggestion for a repeat of the Raisin Bran Cannonball run, only longer. The planned itinerary included a Friday departure for a 410-mile trip on the AMTRAK Cardinal from Alexandria, VA, to Ashland, KY. Saturday was to be spent railfanning in the New River gorge with a mountain bike ride thrown in for fun. Sunday, return on the eastbound Cardinal.

Things went pretty much as advertised except for rain, which cancelled biking plans, and a lack of N&W traffic. (Need to call Kenova dispatcher about that). Lodging was at Matt's Huntington playhouse. The house belonged to C. M. Schaefer, an executive for the C&O and Matt's father. La maison is now a Bring Your Own Bed and Breakfast (BYOBB). Just what you'd expect from Matt, beds, couches, rail photos on the walls and lots of C&O newsletters to read but no layout.

The real action is on the railroads that criss-cross the area. We now understand why Matt can't get much house work done in Huntington. The frequent trains we observed were not a coincidence attributable to a lucky alignment of stars. No, it's just the C&O, N&W and B&O converging at the busiest inland harbor in the US, with two steel mills and numerous barge loaders and chemical plants to boot. Basically, the center of universe as far as Chessie-N&W rail fans are concerned. Matt's done 50 years of research since his first climb from Cincinnati to smoky Hinton in 1940 and he carefully selected sites that maximized the railfan experience.

We had an hour-late departure from Alexandria, but nice weather and a twin set of CSX pumpkin engines parked outside made the wait bearable. The renovated Alexandria station is very pleasant. We got a quick look at NS/CP action working the Van Dorn switching district. We really need to do some modules of that area. By the time we hit Manassas and picked up the final third of our group, we had nine restless riders and 26 sacks of cheese and crackers.To whet our appetite, Tony passed around aerial photos of the New River he took from his plane.

Although the conductors assigned us seats in the rear car we managed to commandeer the sightseer lounge car by force of constant chatter, laughter and model railroad geekiness. By the virtue of the fact that he was there first, we surrounded a lawyer named Howard. He had been trying to read a brief but was unable to concentrate with the ruckus around him. Howard had no idea what N-Scale was all about. One of us (who shall remain nameless -- but his initials are allegedly "JWD") wondered if we had time to run up to Staunton hobbies while the train was stopped at the station. To make a looong story somewhat shorter, Clarence of Staunton Hobbies delivered 10 randomly selected N Scale Atlas freight cars to the platform. See, there were nine of us, and the above individual thought Howard ought to have one....as a souvenir. Of course everyone else wanted one too. Cell phones can get you into a LOT of trouble. Of course we spent the next hour horse trading the cars until everyone was satisfied with the model they got. Even Harold got into it. Some cars exchanged hands six times. We made the pit traders at the NYSE look like amateurs. Who ever saw such a fuss over a few Atlas freight cars?

Carl, when he wasn't goosing Tony, spotted wild turkeys at Clifton Forge (no, they were not in the lounge car). (Poor Tony spent the rest of thetriplooking over his shoulder checking for Carl.) At Alleghany we had sunshine. Bernie, Brian and Matt shot photos out of the remarkably clean rear window. Modern automation let us down as Matt's autofocus did just that on the window glass and Brian's camera refused to trigger. Fortunately, Bernie's20 year old OM-2 performed reliably and actually captured some nice images.

We still had light at Hinton. Geez, it looks just like John Plant's modules. Or was that the other way around?

Darkness took hold just after Hinton, and we tried our luck in the dining car. The herb chicken was actually pretty good but the beef eaters were disappointed. Cheesecake for dessert too. Can it get better than this? While dining we noticed railfans with video cameras record us as we passed the lighted Quinnimont wye. However, seeing the rest of the gorge in the darkness was impossible so we took the opportunity to rest.

Exiting the gorge, we found the lights of Charleston blurred by the misty rain. Matt, Brian and JD spent a good deal of time looking through an open door window. That same window would eventually claim Brian's hat (or is that Brian's hair, since his hat is his hair?) Meanwhile Charles warned Bernie about Dave's upcoming monologue through Hurricane, WV their hometown, so Bernie had time to find another seat. But Tony was not so lucky. He now knows more about the Hurricane grocery stores, schools, ball fields, streets and bridges than he'll ever need to know. Thanks, Dave, now please be quiet.

As we were de-training in Ashland, KY, our new friend Harold said farewell and gave us a jar of LL Bean Rhubarb Jam that he claimed had been delivered to the train in Huntington. We'll save the jam for the Christmas party. We took possession of a 14 passenger rental van. It was federal black (of course JD insisted it was Brunswick Green) with black windows, V-10 cylinder power, scanner antenna out the side and cameras at every window. No wonder we looked like a FBI stake-out car. We gave it the nickname, MIB-(Men in Black)-mobile,Our first stop was to see Alkem steel at night. Matt took us up a dark, lonely path in the woods to an awesome overlook of the Amanda blast furnace at Alkem Steel. (Note the real name of this mill is AK Steel but we liked Alkem better). Bernie's tripod was put in service but the cold rain and tired eyes didn't make a formula for good photography.

While on the hill we spotted the first of three trains in the first hour. We dropped off JD and the Greenacres at the palatial Red Roof Inn in Barbersville and then got settled in Matt's playhouse. By 1:15 AM we had all crashed.

Saturday at dawn the scanners were on. The airways were full of activity at Huntington shops, on the mains, and at Polish pocket (where-ever that is?) We breakfasted at Mickey Dees (we didn't come to eat was a common rationalization for stopping at these fine dining establishments). As a result of our speedy meal we made an on-time departure for the east. The weather was ominous as we followed the old C&O grade, US60 and James River Turnpike to Charleston, WV. We made stops at the Barbersville wye, and Hurricane, where we got a close look at the caboose on display. Back in the MIB-mobile we spoted a Conrail coal drag on north side of C'Town on the old K&M NY Central tracks. Then we spotted a CSX eastbound coal drag on Southside near Chelyan. Later we passed a recycling plant. Boy, that's a big junk yard. We stopped at Deepwater to take photos in driving rain. Thank god for GoreTex. The rain eased as we approached Gauley Bridge. We made several stops in this area to look at the dam, Kanawha falls, station, Snake's schoolbus on the rock in the lake and the cliffs.

It was lunch time so we stopped at a supermarket. What? NO DELI! Too much to see, we'll come back that way. At Hawk's Nest overlook we oooohed and aaahed at the great view. We posed for a group photo. The rain continued on and off. "Wait, something's coming,".... a west bound covered hopper train rounds the south side track making a 180 degree turn under our noses. Lots of photos. While there,we took advantage of the park facilities. Yowie, dem thar were cold, cold toilet seats. We bought neat hats, maps and post cards at gift shop where it was nice and warm. We presented a back seat driver's license to Dave (not just "back seat" but fifth row backseat driver).

Next stop was at the Class VI over-look. Clouds shrouded the New River Bridge, creating a very neat atmosphere, but too foggy for good photography. Steve told us about his escapades as a wild and crazy spelunker. At one point he rappelled off the New River Bridge! Man, that's nuts. We turned around to see Matt perched on the railing trying to do what? We talked Matt out of jumping off overlook, "Come on Matt, Dave isn't that bad."

We spotted hi-railers down in canyon looking like a train. Later we learned they were working on a tree that tripped a slide fence. Speaking of trains,here came another one, a WB Coal drag on south side again. The scanner said there are engines waiting pick-up in Quinnimont. So we went there. We descended the spectacular Piney Creek canyon to arrive at Quinnimont. We started taking photos of the waiting engines when, oh look, another WB coal drag. More GE power. It thundered past using the superelevated west main.

We asked the office operators about other action. They were very helpful (there must be something about diehard rail fans standing inthe rain), "EB coal drag coming at Cotton Hill. Work train at Clarmontto remove tree off slide fence. You probably can't beat the EB toThurmond." OK, there's no rush so we stopped at Prince for photos. Matt sez, "You guys are too full of cheese and crackers". "So who's hungry! Lets get to Thurmond before it gets too dark."

The rain eased off as we descended the magnificent Loup Creek canyon. We arrived in Thurmond to find that there was a train waiting, the westbound with VAPX hoppers we saw at QN. Dave spoke with the engineer, hoping he could get a better ride back to Huntington. Instead, he gave Dave a couple of the old "onion skin" train warrant forms from 1969. "Look, here comes the eastbound. Oh mi gosh, a meet right in front of our noses." Lots of silver halide gave its life for the cause at this encounter.

With the eastbound clear, the westbound started up and would you look at that smoke,are you sure that was a diesel? With the trains departed, and too late to rent mountain bikes, our gallant squad spread out with radios to check out the Thurmond ghost town. Dave and Tony went underground exploring the foundation of the coal dock 25 feet below the surface. They found a belt drive system that would give OSHA fits.

We all did our share to prop up the West Virginia economy by buying numerous trinkets at the Thurmond Supply Company. Katie, the proprietor, was very friendly. We managed to gather everyone at the Thurmond waterworks,for a group photo. Here the sign read, "No Loafing". Good thing we had a tripod. Bernie and Charles walked across the bridge and attempted to scale the cliff to the Rend sub. It was too slippery, so they joined JD gathering rock samples at an outcrop. The others took the MIB-mobile back up the canyon and then returned shortly. Brian spoted JD smash testing the shale for friability, so he radioed JD to chastise him for damaging the NationalPark. This elicited a strange astronomical sighting.

We made a final stop to photograph an abandoned tipple site and trestle. Carl and Steve collected coal samples here. Back at the top of the plateau, we had a loud dinner at Lone Star Restaurant in Beckley. Here we were treated to the spectacle of the famous Mexican jumping peanuts. We departed with Dave in back. Brian's driving literally shook the peanuts out of Dave.

The WV turnpike provided a smooth cushion for zeeing Zutters in rear of MIB-mobile, but "Princess and the Pea" Dave can't get accustomed to the "rough" ride. As we approach the river, we spot a fast moving MTY WB coaldrag. We chased it at 70 MPH (the legal limit) into Charleston. It slowed at the station so we gained on it and met it again at west C'Town.

We arrived at Huntington with some tuckered railfans, but the more energetic crazies decide to visit WV Steel's electric melt shop and rolling mills in H'ton. On the way we saw lots of parked engines at the H'ton shops. At the steel plant, we ooohhed and ahhhhed as we witnessed a scene from Terminator where red hot rolling bars shot sparks and zipped past open doorways. The security guard saw us but decided not to mess with the official looking MIB-mobile.

We took more back alleys and found 4 day-old infant covered hoppers at the ACF plant. We had to use binos to read the reporting marks without trespassing. The trucks weren't even rusted yet. On another alley we spotted center cabs switching cars in the lower yard. No-one could positively ID the locos. As a final treat we passed H-6 2-6-6-2 #1308 at Ritter Park with marker lights and number boards lit up. Cool.

It was past midnight, so we called it a night. All the late-night action made Tony's motor sputter and he finally augered in. The hardcore debriefed at Matt's playhouse until 1:15AM and then drifted off to sleep reading Huddleston stories.

After a hot shower, Bernie held reveille at 6:30 AM, much to the chagrin of the other dawg tarred (say that with a WV accent) NVNTRAKers. Remember not to flush after Matt turns off the water. It was a gorgeous sunrise with the promise of a great day. We had an on-time departure again! Wow. We noted zero traffic on the normally busy N&W E-W trunk line. Probably slides along their "Corkscrew Route". Later we learned they had a run away train accident.

From the interstate we spotted an EB manifest freight. We stopped for gas and beans at Mickey Dees across from BS junction (don't get the gas and beans confused). While enjoying Ronald's finest we spotted an EB coal drag and a WB manifest (which suffered a broken air hose in front of BS cabin.) We made a quick stop at AK coke works for Bernie to take photos, but the morning light was not cooperating.

We arrived at the pretty, renovated Ashland station where a inquisitive police officer wanted to know more about the AMTRAK service. With the shift to daylight savings time, the train was running an hour late.

Four more freight trains (actually three trains and a light pair of engines) came while we waiting for the Cardinal. The same AMTRAK crew as the day before greeted us and let us commandeer the lounge car since the train was almost full already.

We spotted NS engines heading to the Kenova coal loop, the only NS action we saw in Huntington all weekend. We saw lots of CSX stuff in the Huntington shops.

An interesting sight was the Z gauge industrial track at the nickel plant in east Huntington. The legendary Scary hill was not. We passed Big Rock signal while Carl met a new buddy, Shawn, a precocious 8-year-old. JD was doing coal barge loader photos with the intent to make a coal barge loader module.

At Deepwater, we saw VIRGINIAN was still there painted on the bridge. This actually quieted Dave for 30 seconds since he had asserted the opposite.

Finally we rolled into the gorge. Awesome scenery. Truly awesome. Did we mention the awesome scenery? We were not the only ones enjoying the view. At least 100 white-water rafters and kayakers took the opposite route through the canyon. We arrived in Thurmond again. Been there, done that, NOT! Katie was watering her flowers and we waved. We saw numerous waterfalls, cliffs, boulders the size of houses, old tipple foundations, decaying coke ovens.

Finally the first tunnel, where we told Shawn about ankle biting tunnel monsters. He was suitably impressed. His mother warned us about nightmares.

Emergency, Must,... Open,... Window. At least to get unobstructed views. We noted that the west ladder at the New Yard at QN was torn up. Abandoned bridge piers at Glade inspired Brian with a module idea. Sandstone Falls was very cool. Time for gourmet burgers but what, no ketchup! All right,we got out pencil and paper. With more salami, cheese and crackers to fuel our creativity we drafted new module designs. JD wanted to do Boomer, WV, a four foot module featuring a barge loader. Brian liked the Glade bridge piers on a 3x4 foot corner module featuring both sides of the canyon. Matt planned two new 45-degree corners. Meanwhile we stole glimpses out the window. "Look at Jerry's Run. That's a big fill."

AMTRAK loudly played a video, how appropriate: Mr. Magoo. We saw a new turntable being installed at Clifton Forge, or is it the foundation for a fueltank? A downed tree hit the car sides. No serious damage. Module designs continued to fly. "Anybody know of a tight wye with no hills?" We kept drawing. Everyone brainstormed for how to design a prototypical oNeTRAK wye as Gordonsville slips by the window. "Hey where is this?" "Gordonsville."" Look, it's a tight wye with no hills and sunken middle filled with junk. Perfect!" Tony volunteered to return ASAP for an aerial survey from his photoreconnaisance aircraft.