NS freight No. 380 rolls through Poca, W.Va. on the NS West Virginia Secondary in March 2011. NS announced on Jan. 12 it would idle "portions of its 253-mile West Virginia Secondary". In the background? The coal-fired John E. Amos Power =receives coal-by-rail from a coal mine in Cabin Creek, W.Va. that announced it would "permanently terminate" employees by March 11.
Act now. Those two words are the most important thing to take away from this blog post.
The repercussions from a struggling economy in Appalachia have a direct effect on how railroads do business. We can’t fault the railroads; it’s merely the times we live in today. We’ve learned the real consequences of “market conditions” and while we’ve seen the coal market fluctuate, this time, I’m not counting on a rebound.
Coal declines were at the forefront of U.S. rail industry news in 2015 and the No. 1 story at Trains. It’s an issue that isn’t going away. As I said in my year-end blog post, the events of 2015 will continue to unfold in 2016.
And it’s proven to be the case all too soon. The axe fell hard in West Virginia again this week. Blackhawk Mining, a Kentucky-based coal company announced it would idle two of its mines, affecting 150 jobs total. Unfortunately, that company operates the only customer on a small 12-mile C&O branch line just southeast of Charleston. The plant will be idled by mid March and consequently, all rail traffic on the branch will cease to exist by spring.
Norfolk Southern announced plans to consolidate two of its Appalachian divisions into the new Roanoke-based “Pocahontas Division”. That too comes with a price. The railroad will sever part of its West Virginia Secondary, a line I spent my earliest days photographing. The ex- Conrail line isn’t even a coal-dominant route, but amid a time where operating ratios are most important, low tonnage routes are vulnerable. We are still learning how much of the “Secondary” may be trimmed, but the days of watching NS freights 380 and 381 skirt along the Kanawha Valley north of Nitro are likely over. The 253-mile route hosts only 4-5 trains per week between Charleston, W.Va. and Columbus, Ohio.
There are a plethora of other branch lines on CSX and Norfolk Southern in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and Virginia that are one-customer lines. Some of those branch lines are unusual and quite scenic. Look at the Beech Mountain, the Winifrede Railroad, the old Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbrier, or the R.J. Corman Loup Creek Branch. What about Coal Run Junction or McClure, Va. on the north end of the Clinchfield just south of Elkhorn City? There’s the NS Tug Fork branch and all of the supporting branches that feed into the Pocahontas District between Williamson and Bluefield, too.
These cool branch lines are going to be rail banked. There’s no alternative business or commodity that’s going to invest its assets into West Virginia. Coal was king. And it’s now gone.
The Cabin Creek Subdivision sees an average of no more than two trains per week currently. The mandatory 60-day layoff notices tells me that the Cabin Creek branch may be lucky to see 16 trains before the mine closes.
What about the Sewell Valley Subdivision in Rainelle, W.Va.? The old NF&G is lucky to see two trains a month. If a mine announced its plans to idle operations and cutback operations, you’ve have less than two months to get your photos. Good luck predicting 4 trains in a span of 60 days.
Like I said, act now. Times are changing.
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