A busy afternoon on the Kanawha Subdivison this past Friday.

With the closure of the Blue Ridge Subdivison of CSX due to the severe damage done by the remnants of Hurricane Helene a few weeks back and the ongoing repairs to get the line back into operation. CSX has been rerouting through traffic from the affected area over the former Chesapeake & Ohio via Richmond, Virginia. This past Friday afternoon was a prime example of how busy it has gotten here in the past two weeks. Started off the afternoon in Marmet just after eating lunch with two empty coal trains running basically back to back heading for Russell, Kentucky and the West Virginia coalfields respectively. First up, we have CSXT 51, a General Electric CW44AC, leading an empty coal train bound for Elk Run over in Boone County, West Virginia. Follow that up about an hour later with another empty coal train coming west. CSXT 5500, the "Spirit of Cincinnati" ES40DC, leads empty coal train E346 west towards either Logan, West Virginia or Russell, Kentucky.

The trains just kept on rolling through after E346 went by. I don't think even twenty minutes went by before our next two would show up. One of the trains rerouted off the Clinchfield has been M653, the daily manifest freight from Russell, KY to Rocky Mount, NC, and its power on Friday did not disappoint. Rolling through Marmet towards a crew change at Hinton, West Virginia with freshly rebuilt CSXT 4738 and 4723 up front. M653 rolls east through Marmet before stopping at Chelyan, WV to let traffic ahead clear. Didn't have to wait long on the next eastbound after this one as well. Running not even fifteen minutes behind M653 with another SD70AC rebuild up front. Mixed/long distance local freight L211 rolls east through Marmet with CSXT 4735 leading the way. This train would have to stop at Chesapeake due to M653 stopping at Chelyan.

Get up to Chelyan to get some more shots of M653 and L211 coming through. Come to find out everything was running number two main between Chelyan and Montgomery due to several trains being tied down between Handley and Chelyan. Next train to come through would be a combination empty coal/grain train. Rumbling for an eventual crew change at Russell, Kentucky. CSXT 988 leads empty train E331 west through Cabin Creek on two due to a rail train being parked between Chelyan and Paint Creek on the other main.

Once the empty train got out of the way and westward. M653 with the fresh SD70AC rebuilds would finally get a signal to come east. Starting out from a stop, CSXT 4738 and 4723 finally get M653 moving after being stopped for nearly an hour. It wouldn't stop even after M653 got a signal to come east. Not only did we have L211 come east but lite power for that W014 rail train would come east before that. Heading east to get their rail train somewhere between Cabin Creek and Paint Creek. CSXT 3387, a General Electric ET44AH, leads CW44AC 408 east as they slowly glide through Cabin Creek on their way to bring the W014 back west to Russell. Once the lite power set had went east to get the train on one track. L211 would finally come east with CSXT SD70AC 4735 leading the way east through Coalburg, West Virginia.

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