The Norfolk & Western Railway Buck Creek Branch was a 1.6-mile coal-hauling branch line from Buck Creek Junction in Kermit, West Virginia to Himlerville (Beauty), Kentucky.
History
The Norfolk & Western Railway Buck Creek Branch was a 1.6-mile coal-hauling branch line from Buck Creek Junction in Kermit, West Virginia to Himlerville (Beauty), Kentucky.
Martin Himler, born in 1888, immigrated to the United States from Hungary with no money. 6 He initially worked various odd jobs across the country, eventually finding success selling supplies to coal miners, particularly targeting the Hungarian mining community. In 1916, he founded the Magyar Bányászlap, or Hungarian Miners’ Journal, a newspaper serving Hungarian coal miners, which was published until the 1960s.
By 1919, Himler had established the Himler Coal Company in Martin County, Kentucky, employing many Hungarian immigrants. 6 The company extracted coal from the Warfield (No. 2 Gas) seam in the Kenova coal field. 7 Alongside this, he developed a company town named Himlerville. 6
In 1921, the Himler Coal Company and its subsidiary, the Kermit-Warfield Bridge Company, constructed 1.26 miles of railway track from Himlerville to Kermit, West Virginia, which included a bridge over the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River. 7
In November 1924, the Buck Creek Railroad was formed to buy and operate the Kentucky section of this branch line for $87,500, while the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) acquired the West Virginia portion for $97,473. 2 By April 1925, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) authorized N&W to lease the Buck Creek Railroad. 4
However, in the mid-1920s, as the coal seam’s productivity declined, so did the profits of Himler Coal Company. 6 The company ceased operations following a catastrophic flood in 1928, leading to its bankruptcy. Himlerville was renamed Beauty in 1930. 7
Post-Himler era, the Buck Creek area continued to be mined by other companies, including Earlston Coal Company and Warfield Coal Company. In 1936, N&W sought and received approval to acquire the Buck Creek Railroad, operating it as their Buck Creek Branch. 5
As of 1979, the Buck Creek Branch served various industries including Rock Castle Sand Company, Kentucky Border Coal Company, Compton & Sons, and A. B. Blankenship. 1 In 1991, Norfolk Southern Railway, the successor to the N&W, abandoned the Buck Creek Branch because of inactivity on the line. 3
In 2007, Eastern Consolidated Energy Company proposed a new underground mine north of Warfield, intending to utilize a reactivated Buck Creek Branch. The mine never came to fruition and the line remains abandoned for almost its entire length.
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Sources
- “Scioto Division Timetable No. 7.” Norfolk and Western Railway Company, 1979, p. 45.
- “Annual Report, Norfolk and Western Railway Company.” Railway Age, 4 Apr. 1925, p. 913.
- “Interstate Commerce Commission Reports.” Interstate Commerce Commission, 1992, pp. 395-396.
- “Norfolk & Western Railway Company.” Moody’s Manual of Investments, 1927, p. 475.
- “Norfolk & Western Railway Company Acquisition.” Interstate Commerce Commission, 1937, pp. 57-58.
- Moomey, Liz. “From Hungary to Eastern Kentucky: War hero honored with Congressional Gold Medal.” Lexington Herald-Leader, 18 Oct. 2021.
- DellaMea, Chris. “Other Kentucky Coalfields.” Coal Camp USA.
