Amid the rugged terrain and verdant valleys of West Virginia, the echoes of an industrial age resonate through the winding corridors of abandoned railroads, now repurposed as recreational havens. These remnants of a bygone era stand as monuments to the indomitable spirit that once propelled the engines of progress, their steel rails beckoning visitors to embark on journeys of discovery.
Amid the rugged terrain and verdant valleys of West Virginia, the echoes of an industrial age resonate through the winding corridors of abandoned railroads, now repurposed as recreational havens. These remnants of a bygone era stand as monuments to the indomitable spirit that once propelled the engines of progress, their steel rails beckoning visitors to embark on journeys of discovery.
It was with a sense of curiosity that I ventured forth several years ago, drawn to the hallowed grounds of Hawks Nest State Park, where the serpentine Midland Trail traced the path of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad’s (C&O) Hawks Nest Subdivision. This 3.4-mile line, originally a narrow-gauge railroad hugging the banks of Mill Creek in Fayette County, once served as a vital link between the C&O at Hawks Nest Station and the town of Ansted. It has now transformed into a recreational corridor that promises an exhilarating adventure.
Ansted has a rich history. It was chartered in 1891 and named after David T. Ansted, a British geologist whose surveys of the region unveiled seams of high-grade bituminous coal. Ansted’s party, representing the English-owned Gauley and Kanawha Coal Company, acquired over 1,000 acres of land, laying the foundations for an enterprise that would etch its mark upon the landscape.
By 1875, the company had expended much of its capital in constructing a narrow-gauge railroad along Mill Creek, a bold undertaking that the C&O had initially deemed too steep to pursue. A modest mine operated 1,000 feet above the New River and 300 feet below the summit of Gauley Mountain, its fortunes inextricably linked to the rails that snaked through the valley.
The Hawks Nest Railroad’s operation was a feat of engineering ingenuity. Saddleback locomotives navigated grades of up to 4.2%, hauling small, 2.5-ton capacity coal cars. When 16 cars were loaded, two brakemen would ride atop the coal cars, their skilled hands manipulating the handbrakes to control the perilous descent. At Hawks Nest, the coal cars would be unloaded into larger C&O cars; a process repeated nine times daily, the rhythmic clatter echoing through the gorge.
The line itself was a marvel, featuring a 472-foot runaway track around milepost 1.5 and a 47-foot high, 321-foot curved trestle that spanned the waters of Mill Creek, a testament to the ingenuity of its engineers.
In the chronicles of the Hawks Nest Coal Company’s history, 1881 stands as a pivotal moment. The company’s infamous locomotive No. 2, the “Mountain Queen,” ferried attendees of the American Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ annual convention on an excursion along the branch line. The riders, ensconced in the small coal cars that had been hastily cleaned for the occasion, earned the train the moniker “Pig Pen Special” – a whimsical nod to the rugged nature of their journey.
The years that followed were a narrative of triumph and adversity, as the construction of 100 beehive coke ovens in Ansted ushered in a period of prosperity that hummed with activity until 1884. Yet, between 1884 and 1888, the company sustained severe losses, and its ultimate liquidation became inevitable. The state of West Virginia, unable to secure a fair lease on the property, ultimately granted the Gauley Mountain Coal Company the right to purchase it for $125,000, with the indomitable Captain William N. Page, an American, assuming the mantle of ownership in this nascent enterprise.
Amidst the winding valleys and towering ridges, another mine, operated by the Mill Creek Colliery Company, emerged halfway between Hawks Nest and the Mill Creek trestle, its operations commencing in 1921 – a smaller, yet integral, piece in the region’s industrial saga.
On November 19, 1889, the C&O’s Board of Directors, with the lone dissenting voice of C.P. Huntington, decided to acquire the Hawks Nest line and convert it to standard gauge. This pivotal moment coincided with a change of guard at the C&O, as Huntington relinquished his controlling financial interests to the Vanderbilts and J.P. Morgan. The railroad enlisted Page to oversee the conversion, a task completed in August 1890, with the original 1873 wooden truss over Mill Creek yielding to a newer, sturdier span in 1891.
The Hawks Nest branch soldiered on, serving the mines above Ansted until 1965, though its formal abandonment would not be declared until May 17, 1972, marking the end of an era.
Not far from this storied line lies another remnant of West Virginia’s rail history – the Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbrier Railway (NF&G), a paper railroad whose name pays homage to the three counties it once served. The NF&G was born in 1929, a creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to resolve competing claims by the C&O and the New York Central (NYC) to serve the burgeoning mines of the Sewall seam in the remote regions north of the New River and along the Meadow River.
The NF&G’s origins can be traced to the C&O’s Gauley Branch, constructed from 1893 to 1894, from Gauley Junction to Greendale in the west. To the east, the Sewell Valley Railroad was erected between 1908 and 1910, its rails stretching from the C&O mainline at Meadow Creek near Hinton northward to Rainelle, where it served the Meadow River Lumber Company. From Rainelle, the Loop & Lookout Railroad was built between 1908 and 1916, its tracks extending to Nallen. Finally, the Kanawha & West Virginia Railroad constructed an 11-mile line from Belva along the C&O Gauley Branch to Swiss, serving the interests of Flynn Lumber.
Between the towns of Swiss and Nallen lay 28 miles of untapped potential – virgin timber and mining opportunities awaiting the iron horse’s arrival. In 1917, the Sewell Valley and Loop & Lookout were leased to the Sewell Valley & Ohio Railway, only to be conveyed by deed to the newly formed NF&G. Between 1929 and 1931, the NF&G undertook the monumental task of constructing a single-track line between Swiss and Nallen, a feat of engineering that included two tunnels and two trestles, among them the Koontz Bridge and the 3,164-foot Koontz Tunnel.
Unlike its contemporaries, the NF&G did not own any locomotives or revenue cars; instead, it relied on a modest fleet of non-revenue equipment, including a wrecker bearing its insignia. A coal assembly yard was established in Rainelle, then home to the largest triple-band sawmill in the world. From this bustling hub, the C&O ferried coal southward towards the mainline at Meadow Creek, while the NF&G’s rails carried their precious cargo westward along the Meadow and Gauley rivers to Swiss, where it connected with the NYC.
Yet, as the tides of industry ebbed and flowed, the NF&G’s fortunes waned, prompting CSX and Conrail, the owners and operators of the line, to apply for its dissolution in 1996. Conrail acquired the NF&G from Swiss to Peters Junction, while CSX took possession of the stretch from Peters Junction to Meadow Creek, operating it under the Sewell Valley Subdivision moniker.
The final train to traverse CSX’s Sewell Valley Subdivision was in July 1996, spanning the 15.27 miles between milepost 59 at Peters Junction and Russ Station near Nallen at milepost 43.7. CSX filed for abandonment the following year, and in 2006, a coal mine along Glade Creek at milepost 43.7 ceased operations. Two years later, CSX sought to abandon a section of its Sewell Subdivision from milepost 27 near Rainelle to milepost 43.7 at Russ Station, a distance of 16.7 miles, including the stations at Babcock and Nallen – a request that was ultimately granted.
Today, the echoes of the NF&G’s legacy resound through the wilderness as efforts are underway to transform its disused rails into recreational trails. The abandoned corridor through the Gauley River National Recreation Area has become an ad-hoc rail trail, with the bridge over the Gauley River receiving new decking for future use by adventurers. Further east, between Nallen and Rainelle, work progresses on converting the neglected line into the Meadow River Rail Trail, though a potential coal mining operation could jeopardize these plans. Nonetheless, the West Virginia Department of Highways persists in its quest to breathe new life into these iron arteries, ensuring that the echoes of the region’s industrious past reverberate through generations as they experience the natural splendor along these repurposed pathways.
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Add Yours →Interesting history, but it would still be better if these rail lines were intact with trails built beside them instead.