The eastern end of the CSX Cowen Subdivision begins at Berkeley Run Junction in Grafton, West Virginia, where the Mountain Subdivision from Cumberland, MD, comes to an end. From here the Cowen Subdivision, or the G&B as it's often referred to, heads geographically south climbing on a westbound grade of around 1% for five miles. This section of the subdivision between Berkeley Run Junction and Hackers Junction was built by the US Corps of Engineers as part of a project to bypass the Tygart Dam and Lake before its construction in the late 1930s. The northern most forty miles of the Cowen Subdivision also includes a nearly intact network of B&O CPL style signals controlled by the Jackonsville dispatcher. The first passing siding on the single track line is located at Knight, West Virginia, although it sees little use due to its relatively short length of 4100' ft. On the west end of Knight siding, the G&B plunges into the short Knight Tunnel and continues south across the Pleasant Creek Valley via the curved deck girder Pleasant Creek Trestle. About a mile west of the Pleasant Creek span, the railroad achieves the summit of the short grade at Lane Tunnel and emerges near Pleasant Creek, WV. Pleasant Creek or Berrburg, as the railroad refers to it, is the location of the Cowen Sub's second longest passing siding at 7485 ft with the four mile long Berryburg Industrial Track diverging from the main near the western end of Berryburg siding at Berryburg Junction.
The Berryburg Branch originally served several large coal mines to the west until the mid 1990s when the branch was cut back to Anker's Sentinel Mine near the town of Berryburg, WV, at MP BUN2. West of Berryburg Junction the mainline crosses the Tygart Valley River and rejoins the original right of way prior to the "Tygart Lake Bypass" at Hackers Junction. Less than a mile to the south is the small town of Meriden, WV, that was once the location of several coal mines served by the railroad until the mid 1980s when dwindling reserves and the coal recession shut the operations down. The small river town of Philippi, WV, is located around the next bend in the Tygart Valley and a short industrial spur serves a non coal customer here. From the battlefield of the 1st land engagement of the Civil War, the railroad continues south through the isolated Tygart River Valley to Tygart Junction. The former CSX Belington Subdivision diverges from the Cowen Subdivision at the junction to head southeast into the hinterlands of central West Virginia providing rail access to the industries around Belington and Elkins. Following the closure of most of the mines below Elkins, the line was sold by CSX to the state of West Virginia in 1997 to form the West Virginia Central Railroad. Currently the WVC interchanges cars with CSX at least once a week near Tygart Jct on the Central's newly installed runaround track. The G&B crosses the Tygart Valley River once again a few yards below the junction and follows the east bank of the Buckhannon River south to Century Junction. Century Junction is the location where the three mile long Century Industrial Track connects with the mainline after serving the infrequently active Century 102 mine at its western end. Ragoon, WV is the next small river town the railroad passes through before crossing over the Buckhannon River and heading cross country along Pecks Run to Buckhannon, WV.
A few miles inland near the town of Teter, WV, is the second reguarly active mine on the Cowen Subdivision - the small Rawhide Mine. To the west of Rawhide is a 7500 ft passing siding at Smith Summit that also allows mine power out of Grafton to runaround its train to work Rawhide. The railroad continues west towards Buckhannon from Smith Summit passing the recently opened Truss Joyce plant that is worked on an as needed basis by CSX. Less than a mile further south, the G&B enters the Buckhannon Yard Limits at the Route 33 overpass before turning into an "interurban" line through the town. In the middle of Buckhannon is a large wye where the Cowen Subdivison's main track continues south towards Cowen on the western leg while the two mile long Christopher Industrial Track diverges from the main and heads west along the old WV&P Weston main right of way until its end of track near the Uponor ETI Company. Buckhannon serves as a MofW base for the upper Cowen region along with a location for local mine runs and the Buckhannon Switcher to layover when required. After making a 180 degree curve through downtown Buckhannon, the Cowen sub resumes its trek south along the west bank of the Buckhannon River passing through the small towns of Upshur and Hampton, WV, with the former location having a rarely used 4100 ft siding. About half a mile below the town of Hampton is Hampton Junction where the Pickens Subdivision joins the G&B mainline after negotiating the south bank of the Buckhannon River from Alexander, WV. The Cowen Subdivision continues south from the junction by entering the 497.2 ft long Tunnel No. 1 through the Buckhannon River Valley's ridge. CTC control also ends here with "dark" Direct Traffic Control (DTC) blocks controlling the railroad the rest of the way to Cowen.
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A Cowen Turn has entered the Mountain Subdivision from the G&B at Berkeley Run Junction and is passing under the old Liberty Street CPL signal bridge, while an empty train with SD70MACs 714 and 700 wait on the Beech Street passing siding before getting the light to head west to the mines.
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A T812 with SD70MAC #701 in the lead charges up the 1% grade west of Berkeley Run Jct near MP BUC2. This section of the Cowen sub was built in the late 1930's by the US Corps of Engineers as part of the relocation project for the Tygart River dam. Since the grade is not against the tonnage, (just empties) helpers are not required. The boxcars behind the units are bound for Burnsville, WV, and the Heaters Turn to the Weyhauser Plant.
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A Compass Turn, B814-16, from the Sentinel Mine on the Berryburg Branch is heading east to Grafton as it crosses the tall Pleasant Creek Viaduct on August 16th, 1999.
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Photo by Randy Strogen. A Cowen Turn led by B&O #3838 and four units pull two cabooses and a string of gonodolas across the Pleasant Creek Viaduct.
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The Buckhannon Switcher, B718-04, with CSX GP38-2 #2673 on the point is about to rock and roll across the Berryburg Junction interlocking on March 4th, 2000. The track on the left is the Berryburg Industrial track, with the Cowen main line on the right. The West End of the Berryburg siding can be seen in the background to the right of the B&O signal mast.
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Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr.. Three SD60's are Grafton bound after dropping off a string of empty hoppers at the Sentinel coal loader. The loader is the large white building to the right which is serviced via a small spur and the mine's switcher.
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Two ACW44s are preparing to assemble the load hoppers at Sentinel on this overcast April day. Sentinel usually loads two to three trains a week, a drastic decrease from the B&O years when the Berryburg's branch was worked by two daily turns out of Grafton.
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Two EMD Lightning Bolts slice through an intense thunderstorm's squall line just north of Philippi at old Hackers Junction. It's still two hours until darkness and this severe storm has just knocked out a portion of the subdivision's signal system between Berryburg Jct and Century Jct. The road to the right is the old B&O's right of way from Grafton before the construction of Tygart Lake.
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Two SD50s lead eighty loaded Bessemer and Lake Erie hoppers east along the Tygart Valley River at Phillippi during late April.
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Taken from a Grafton - Buckhannon passenger excursion in the mid 1980s, the famous Philippi Covered Bridge can be seen over the river on the left with the Alderson Broadous College on the hilltop at center.
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A westbound E133 with hoppers bound for the Brooks Run mine is rolling across Tygart Junction near dusk during Febuary of 2000. Tygart Siding and Storage can be seen to the left of #348 behind the tall CPL mast while the former Belington Subdivision, now the West Virginia Central interchange track diverges under the locomotive. Note the Heaters bound boxcars behind the lead units.
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Photo by Chris Strogen. A westbound T803 is rounding the curve at Carrolton as it passes the second covered bridge on the G&B.
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Two GP38-2s on the B814 Century Turn are preparing to assemble a train at the Century 102 mine during August of 2000. This mine now only loads several trains each month for CSX, while the over a hundred cars a day came off the Century Branch as late as the 1980s for the Chessie System.
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Photo by Scott Lothes. Another T812 is heading for Evergreen Mine with empty AEPX hoppers on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Rangoon. The train is passing a local church in the middle of a broad horseshoe curve along the Buckhannon River.
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An Eastbound Cowen Turn has just cleared the block, allowing westbound CSX #700 to pull its train back onto the main track at the West End of Smith Summit siding.
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On February 20th, 1999, an empty westbound T824 Relief train is crossing over the Buckhannon River about a mile north of Buckhannon, WV. The Truss Joyce plant is located just behind the hill in the background.
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Photo by Jerry Doyle. A westbound Cowen Turn is about to enter the town of Buckhannon as the train passes under the new 4 Lane Rt 33 in the background. The track divering under the SD80MAC serves the Coastal Lumber plant, one of several industries in the Buckhannon area.
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Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr. The B718 Buckhannon Turn is laying over on the wye in town as a loaded train bound for Grafton passes behind the local on the main track of the wye.
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Photo by Randy Strogen. On a wintery March day in 1999, CSX SD60 #8709 bursts out of Tunnel No.1 with loads from Avoca Mine on the Elk River RR. The track going to the left is the Pickens Subdivision which follows the original West Virginia and Pittsburg RR's right of way towards Alexander. The tunnel was constructed in 1918 to allow the consolidation of the WV&P and the C&C right of ways following the acquisition of both by the B&O.
In this condensed radio clip, a Rawhide Turn has taken the siding at Smith Summit for a westbound E133. After the Rawhide Turn is heard reporting in the clear, the Dispatcher contacts the Cowen Turn (E133) a short while later to give them the DTC blocks to Burnsville.
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