Newburg Grade is located between Newburg, West Virginia and the small community of Blaser, West Virginia. Historically, the town of Newburg was an important point on the B&O mainline during the 19th and early 20th centuries as a result of its helper station for locomotives assisting trains up its namesake grade. Eastbound trains of that era would pull past the engine facilities and switches located in the middle of the town before coming to a stop just underneath the current location of the Route 92 overpass. Train lengths in those days were usually 15 cars or less so pulling far enough upgrade for the helper at Newburg to couple on was not a problem. However, technological advancements during the early 20th century rendered this location obsolete as a consequence of longer trains, resulting in the B&O closing the Newburg helper facility in 1913 and moving it farther west to Hardman.
To simplify the addition of a third track, the control of the Newburg interlocking was also transferred to Hardman during this era . Sixty years later following a major decline in traffic and movements, the third track was removed between West End and Newburg with the interlocking at the latter location dismantled following the closing of Hardman tower in 1998 leaving Newburg as little more than a signal location on the West End. Outside of Newburg, the grade increases almost immediately on the other side of the Raccoon Creek Bridge, hitting a gradient of 2.37% for the first leg of the climb. The line twists and turns eastward making a near 180 degree turn a mile from Newburg at Brains Curve before swinging around Cassidys Curve and passing through the small communities of Hiorra and Austin. Just west of Austin the railroad enters the former cut of a former tunnel, the result of the triple track project in the early teens of the 20th century. The original double track Austin tunnel was unroofed in 1911 and made into a large cut to make room for the additional track. Almost eighty years later a section of the line west of Hiorra was sliding downhill which resulted in CSX's Maintenance of Way crews removing the northern side of the Austin Tunnel Cut to use as fill for dumping where the slip had taken place. Farther east of Austin at 83 Fill (Kings Curve) is the location where a small logging railroad once connected with the mainline, although this railroad was shutdown well into the 1950s.
In May of 2000 a new coal loader began operations near here which required the construction of a mile long industrial track and switch that diverges from the main track at MP BA263.3. The Whitetail Mine, owned by Coastal Coal of West Virginia, is a replacement for the Deep Hollow Mine on the Kingwood Subdivision near Albright and is expected to produce approximately 3 million tons of coal annually. The mine is usually worked six day a week out of M&K Junction to the east, resulting in a very interesting operation which requires the mine switcher to back its train of empty hoppers upgrade off the #2 main track onto the Whitetail Industrial. Due to the grade against eastbound loads, when a B858 Whitetail Turn is finished loading the train will pull west down Newburg Grade on the #2 main track to Newburg or Hardman. Additional road power will usually be added on the east end of the train there for the return trip east.
Currently Whitetail is the only major source of traffic originating on West End rails between GN Tower and Keyser, West Virginia. From 83 Fill the railroad approaches WS Tower at West End, West Virginia, which at one time served as the eastern most limit of the Hardman Helpers. In 1984 however, a derailment destroyed the tower's interlocking resulting in CSX deciding "WS" was expendable and closing it the following year. Another factor in WS Tower's demise was a consequence of helpers out of Hardman no longer cutting off at the tower after shoving trains up Newburg Grade, but instead remaining on eastbound trains all the way to Terra Alta, a practice of "straight through" eastbound operations which continues today.
WS Tower's demise was also due to the fact that helpers out of Hardman were then being left on eastbound trains all the way to Terra Alta instead of being cut off just east of the Tower, a practice of "straight through" eastbound helper operations which continues today. A few hundred yards east of WS Tower are the two Kingwood Tunnels - the original single track bore on the north side which was closed in the 1950s and the new double track tunnel to the south. The much repeated B&O theme of technological advancement coupled with a growing single track bottleneck between WS Tower and Tunnelton, later K Tower at Blaser, forced the construction of the second tunnel which was completed in 1912. The sharp gradient of Newburg Grade comes to an end at the west portal of the "new" tunnel and emerges several hundred feet below the original mainline on the other side at Tunnelton. A small interchange yard with the West Virginia Northern Railroad existed in Tunnelton until its removal in the mid 1990s following the Northern's closure as a coal hauling railroad in 1991. Tunnelton's station and freight house still stand with the former being owned by a local historical organization working to preserve the area's rich railroad heritage. Between the east end of Tunnelton yard and Blaser the B&O undertook another major project during the "Rebuilding Years" by easing the sharp grades and curves of the original right of way (see map). This section of the line, including the Kingwood Tunnel, was one of the more costly projects during that era, but its overall positive effects were far reaching and eventually outweighed its cost in the end. In the late 1990s CSX began replacing the old B&O CPL signals on Newburg Grade with new bi-directional TCS controlled Seaboard style traffic signals as part of a program that would ultimately lead to the closing of "Q" Tower to the west.
[Click to enlarge]
CSX U822 has stopped just west of the Newburg road Xing on June 12th, 1999, to allow the Rowlesburg helpers to move off the Hardman helper spur to latch onto the rear near Independence. Notice how the old third main switch has been cutout following the closure of Q Tower in Hardman.
[Click to enlarge]
A SD70MAC and a ACW44 have stopped just east of the crossing and signals in Newburg to make a mandatory air test on westbound empty trains that have descended Newburg grade with more than 100 cars. The old Rt 26 road bridge has already been torn down in this view with girders for the new overpass already in place.
[Click to enlarge]
Photo by Chris Strogen. Q316 has the Rowlesburg Helper cut in as they push the train through Newburg, West Virginia in March of 1998.
[Click to enlarge]
Q316 led by CSX SD40 #8109 and a GP38-2 struggles upgrade at Hiorra on April 25th, 1999. This train has no helpers on it due to the fact they're still an hour away at Rowlesburg after being called upon to shove a westbound empty train up Seventeen Mile Grade. The CI dispatcher gave Q316's crew the option of waiting at Newburg for the pushers but because the train was only a ton over the two engine's maximum rating, the engineer decided to give Newburg a try - and made it without stalling once.
[Click to enlarge]
U822 with two SD70MACs on the front, #703 and #711, with three more SD70MAC's on the rear as the Rowlesburg Helper (only two were serving on the helper, the third was in transit to Rowlesburg) storms upgrade across the Hiorra Road Xing on the sixth of June, 1999.
An eastbound coal drag led by 2 SD-40-2's and an SD-50 are nearing WS Tower at West End in the summer of 1985. (Video Capture Frame)
[Click to enlarge]
The Rowlesburg Helpers are preparing to ease the throttle back as they shove a loaded drag east through West End on March 4th, 2000. WS Tower can be seen behind the new CTC signals.
[Click to enlarge]
Photo by Terry Moore. On July 25th, 1992 Q317 is accelerating out of Kingwood Tunnel with ample power for the downhill journey to Grafton. These were the days when Chessie units were a dime a dozen and the westbound mixed freight ran in the afternoon daylight.
[Click to enlarge]
SD70MAC #703 is the trailing unit in the Rowlesburg Helper as it and #704 shoves U822-16 into the Kingwood Tunnel's west portal on July 17th, 1999. The original old bore can be seen partially hidden by foliage on the far left.
[Click to enlarge]
After cresting Newburg Grade, helpers on eastbound trains are to be in idle when the units pass the station at Tunnelton as a result of the gentle grade to Blaser.The two helpers on the rear of this eastbound drag are are a perfect example as they are pulled through the town of Tunnelton on March 8th, 2000.
[Click to enlarge]
The two ACW44s on the rear of Q316-27 are heading east as the train begins to slow for the descent to Rowlesburg. The restored Tunnelton station is on the right with the white freight depot partially seen behind #264. The tracks on the left served as the West Virginia Northern interchange yard until 1990, when the short line ended its coal operations and CSX removed most of the tracks. The rusty track in the foreground was the Northern's lead for passenger operations until the short line ceased operations in 1999.
Note: If your browser does not support imagemaps or javascript, Click Here.
Copyright 1998-2002 © Northern WV's Railroads
|
|
|
