Appalachian coal mining region, are becoming more scarce, with unit train flood loaders the preferred method of loading black diamonds.
As in N&W days, coal loads (and empties) move in both directions on the Clinch Valley today. While the L&N/Seaboard System trackage rights trains of the ’70s and early ’80s are dis- tant memories, NS has trackage rights over CSX’s former Clinchfield from St.
Paul, Va., to Frisco, Tenn. These track- age rights form an important link be- tween former N&W and Southern Rail- way lines, and loaded trains often use the shortcut Dry Fork Branch to come down from the Bluefield-Williamson “Pokey” mainline to the Clinch Valley, for a trip down the Clinchfield and eventual movement to destinations in the Deep South. For the railfan photographer inter-
BELOW LEFT: Following the NS merger in 1982, a connection between the old N&W Clinch Valley main and the Interstate main was made at Bopar, named after this small sin- gle-car loadout just outside Norton seen here in 1992. BELOW RIGHT: The morning mist is heavy as a westbound mine shifter works through the siding at Spring with a short cut of empties on June 5, 2010. BOTTOM: Spring has sprung on this beautiful morning as Train 772 rolls into Boody on April 20, 2013.
38 OCTOBER 2013 •
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