Coal Train In Middle Of Street! Big Eagle Railroad In West Virginia, Short Line Railroad Hangs On!
Jaw Tooth Jaw Tooth
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 Published On Jul 29, 2021

A real West Virginia railroad coal branch line with tracks in the middle of a street. This is a West Virginia short line railroad called Big Eagle Railroad operated by the Kanawha River Railroad since 2019. CSX has an interchange with the 6+ mile line near Chesapeake, WV along the Kanawha River. Tracks have sectional stick rail and the maximum train length is 28 cars. The line literally sits right next to the highway in a few spots, goes under the CSX main line and is curvy and steep. The line ends at a coal loadout with a 4 track yard. This was the Winifrede Railroad until the line closed in 1989. After a decade it was reopened and called the Big Eagle Railroad. Coal business has waxed and waned over the years and today it is used as needed. When the line was originally built in 1854 the coal was shipped from the loadout to the Kanawha River where it was shipped by boat. Today the railroad leases 2 locomotives, both of which are GP38-3s. They were built by EMD. #2109 was built in August of 1972 and #2115 was built in October of 1976. Communications are on 160.605 and there is no EOT. This video shows the loaded train going along Sunny Side Drive in Winifrede. To me it looks like a section of street running track the way the road is on both sides of the track. The next scene we see the empty train returning to the loadout as it is passing the historic engine house. There is a track that runs through the engine house and maintenance equipment was on the track while I was there and the doors at both ends were open most of the day. The outro shows the empty train returning to the loadout as it goes under the CSX main line near the town of Chesapeake. Don't miss the slide show at the end also! This video is a preview of a couple longer videos that I plan on making about this railroad. This is one of the most interesting railroads that I have ever seen. Luckily this line is still in operation with the current war on coal. Coal power plants keep getting shut down due to strict EPA regulations and with cheap natural gas available. Also, wind and solar power is hurting the coal industry. Until about 2009 it seemed like coal was safe for decades. Today I'm having a difficult time finding coal trains to film. I spent 2 and a half days trying to film a coal train going through Natural Tunnel, Virginia and there were only 2 that went through and both were at night. I use to visit there about 20 years ago and I saw coal trains every couple hours or so. I sure hope the Big Eagle Railroad will be here for years to come. I was really lucky that the day I was here they had about 112 car loads to ship out. It took 2 days to get the coal to the CSX. This line does not run everyday. I plan on having 2 longer videos of this railroad since I filmed them in most of the interesting locations on the line. Don't miss my future videos of this line! Filmed July 26, 2021.
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