on the tradition when SD70ACe No. 1069 was chosen to wear classic Virginian paint for the heritage unit program.
Merger and Modern Times
The Virginian Railway was swallowed up by Norfolk & Western on December 1,
1959. The electrification was dismantled in 1962 and most catenary poles were quickly removed. In the 1980s, NS ripped up the second track starting at Herndon to Algonquin and Weyanoke to Matoaka. Drastic changes came to the railroad’s infrastructure and management, but
the towering trestles, deep tunnels, amazing scenery, and a fantastic group of railroaders running it never changed. The fortunes and failures of the coal
mining industry are connected to the region in an unbreakable bond. The population of Mullens was more than 3,500 in 1960. Following layoffs and a gradual decline in the mining industry, fewer than 1,500 call Mullens home today. Mining in West Virginia dropped more than 15 percent overall in the last year, one of the largest margins in recent history for America’s second-largest coal producing region. The effects are plain to see as you drive past the abandoned storefronts and homes that line the silent tracks.
LEFT: On a blustery winter day, two ES44ACs lug a cut of 60 loads off the Guyandotte River Branch and onto the P-D mainline at Elmore on December 21, 2012. The two engines pictured are the pushers, and the headend power will soon couple up after they get the train onto the main. BELOW: Engineer Denny Graham waves to the photographer as he brings one of the very last hopper trains through Matoaka,
W.Va., on September 28, 2015.
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