Southern Railway No. 630's trip across the Buchanan Branch

I've had many people inquire about locations and chasing information regarding the
21st Century Steam excursions powered by Southern 2-8-0 No. 630 in Grundy, Va., this
weekend, and figured a blog post containing information might be helpful to many of
you.

First off, the line this train is traveling on is called the Buchanan Branch which
is Norfolk Southern's outlet to the Pokey mainline from the coal mines situated in
and around Grundy. Several trains daily traverse this route going to and from
destinations to the east, south, and west.

Upon leaving the loading location in Grundy, the train will cross the Levisa Fork River before entering Weller Yard which will make for a beautiful shot. The
location is adjacent to a public highway US 460 and can be shot by pulling off
the road. From there, there are a couple more shots to be had in Weller before the
tracks branch north at Thomas Wye toward Devon.

Along this roughly 20-25 mile stretch lies a plethora of awesome locations adjacent
to highways US 650, 643, and 2059 in that order. The train will pass through
one tunnel at Raitt and crisscross the highway several times before disappearing
into the tunnel at Devon and coming out on the other side of the mountain where it
will then turn on the wye at Ought One.

One will also have multiple locations where the intriguing and unique signals on
this branch can be photographed. The signals are old Norfolk & Western color
position light poles but with Nickel Plate Road signal heads, which make for unique
photographs.

Several bridges offer great opportunities with the best being the ones at Goodman,
Ky., near Devon. Raitt Tunnel can be photographed from above on the South portal and
from the side with signals at the North portal; both are taken from US 650.  
Following the tracks is easy by taking "the road that follows the tracks" approach,
however checking road numbers and planning your route is recommend so you're not
flying blind. I will highly suggest, if possible, making a scout trip Friday evening
or Saturday morning to pick out which shots are a "must have" in your book. Since
chasing will be difficult due to the curvy two-lane roads, I will suggest spacing
out your shots and only going for two, maybe three in each direction. That allows
for safe driving and ample time to get the shots you really would like to have.
630 will be traveling severe mountain grades in each direction topping out at
1.8-percent, so she will definitely be putting on quite the show during the trips.
I hope this information helps you, and I wish those of you who are chasing an
awesome and enjoyable time. Most importantly, be safe, have fun, and I hope to see
many of you trackside sharing the joy of Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam
program!

The shot above displays one of the intriguing locations along this branch at Hurley, Virginia. Featured is a heavy coal train that has just received a fresh crew after loading at the facility pictured. The sun has set and blur hour lighting creates a dramatic scene, as the train throttles up for a journey to the Pokey Mainline at Devon. This location is directly off US 643 and will make an interesting shot with the excursion passing the large coal loading facility.