Hidden relics of the past are nestled along the winding Twelvepole Creek and Tug Fork in Wayne County, West Virginia.
Tag: Railroad
It has been 38 years since a train last rumbled through southeast Ohio’s Campbell and Eagle tunnels. Located near Ohio Route 32, one tunnel is accessible on foot while the other is sealed with concrete blocks.
A fresh snowfall presented an ideal opportunity to explore the region’s back roads, capturing both familiar and new landscapes adorned in fresh snow.
In Wayne County, West Virginia, particularly in its rural areas, lie the abandoned tunnels of the former Kenova District, Scioto Division of the Norfolk & Western Railway.
In early 2023, I ventured into the heart of West Virginia’s north-central region to capture the remnants of its once-thriving railroad industry.
At sunrise, a stunning fog enshrouded the Kentucky River Palisades and the deserted Young’s High Bridge in central Kentucky.
The Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad’s Rowland Branch stands as a testament to an era when railroads were the heartbeats of American towns. Stretching across 33 miles, this line linked Stanford on the L&N’s Lebanon Branch to Richmond, passing through Lancaster.
The once dormant viaduct over Cedar Fork now echoes a renewed sense of progress, as the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad (CCET) steadily advances on reviving a long-inactive stretch of railway. The restoration effort focuses on sections of the former Cincinnati & Eastern/Norfolk & Western/Norfolk Southern line between Cincinnati and Portsmouth.
Tunnel No. 1 is located along the defunct Norfolk & Western Railway Pocahontas Branch near Pocahontas, Virginia.
I visited two former Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad branch lines in eastern Kentucky that have been transformed into rail trails on a pleasant spring afternoon.
The warm spring weather of April 2022 was perfect for a hike along the former South Side Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
The Maybrook Line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad provided a crucial east-west freight transportation route between Maybrook, New York, and Derby, Connecticut. After a fire damaged the Hudson River crossing, much of the line was abandoned. Portions of the Maybrook Line now serve as a rail-to-trail.
An abandoned railroad bridge over the Levisa Fork in Pike County, Kentucky seemed a little out of place.
Snaking through the southern reaches of Floyd County, Kentucky is the remains of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Long Fork Subdivision that connected to some of the most prosperous coal mines in the state.
On a sunny afternoon, I explored the remnants of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Lexington Subdivision near Ashland, Kentucky by air. The 109-mile route between Lexington and Ashland had been completed in 1881 by the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Road and its predecessors, including the Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad, the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad, and the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway. The line eventually fell under the control of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and its successor, the Chessie System. Years of declining traffic caused all but 11 miles of the route to be abandoned by…
Many years ago, I hiked out to these derelict cabooses, passenger cars, and miscellaneous cars along the former Louisville & Southern Railway Lexington to Lawrenceburg Division in central Kentucky.
Several years ago, I hiked to the east abutment of the abandoned Young’s High Bridge in central Kentucky to photograph the sunset and blue hour. Little did I know that I was about to witness a suicide—or did I?
Coming fresh from a visit to Vermont, I ventured on the back roads around upstate New York. The country was far too beautiful to pass up with rolling, overcast skies for as far as the eye can see. Autumn colors were plentiful. Rounding the corner, I look over and out of the corner of my eye, I sighted derelict locomotives. I did a quick turnabout in the car and hurried back. This was too photogenic to pass up.