Freshmen finals are in the books, the cherry trees are in bloom, and we are fast approaching an action-packed summer season of mainline steam, railroad photography-driven vacations, and some much-appreciated warm temperatures and blue skies. While the upcoming months in Appalachia will bring us some exciting times with N&W 611, doubleheaders on the mountain at Cass, and never-ending variety of colorful heritage power in the coalfields, I'm taking a few hours this Monday May 4 to soak up the springtime weather at a popular railfan destination in West Virginia; the NS/CSX crossroads of Kenova. There's no exotic train chasing adventures today, no unsafe driving, or hardcore photography, but instead, I'm enjoying a "Top 10" day watching an exceptionally busy day between two Class I railroads. Norfolk Southern and CSX have been battling back and forth with near perfect "over and under" scenes at Kenova's "KV Cabin", the sight of the former Union Station passenger depot between the Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, and Baltimore & Ohio.
Today, only the former C&O and N&W mainlines remain, but neither are disappointing fans today with more than 6 trains thundering through the Mountain State's most western town in less than 45 minutes. CSX has offered two back-to-back conventional cab road locals serving industries between Russell, Ky and Huntington, W.Va. and Norfolk Southern has paraded a fleet of eastbound trains toward Williamson, W.Va. from Portsmouth, Ohio. This isn't a typical day in Kenova,but with maintenance crews occupying mainlines during the peak of the afternoon heat, it seems that late evening parades are common on both roads. There's a a shade of two hours of "sweet" light remaining and with train horns echoing off into the distance, perhaps we'll get that perfect "over and under" yet.... Just maybe... 'Til then, here's a few samples of what Kenova has offered in the past half hour.
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