Trackside Guide to the Mountain Subdivision

This is Part I of the Mountain Subdivision Trackside Guide, which will cover the subdivision east from Grafton, West Virginia, to Blazer, West Virginia, and also cover on how to reach Rowlesburg for Part II of the Subdivision guide. The red line is the Mountain Subdivision, the yellow lines are primary roads, such as State and US Routes and green lines are the secondary roads, mainly county roads. All shown roads are accessible without 4 wheel drive, although in winter months it is recommended. I've also placed icons where signals are currently located, which can be used in conjunction with the signal lists on the timetable page. If you haven't read the Grafton railfan guide and need to know how to get to East Grafton, click here.

Grafton to Thornton

The first stop you want to make in railfanning the Mountain subdivision is in Grafton's East Yard, which is covered in the Grafton, WV, Railfan Guide. To chase over the Mountain subdivision, get on US Route 50 in Grafton and head east. Make sure you have enough gas, a full tank is recommended because of the closure of alot of Mom and Pop stores due to Federal Regulations, gas stations can be scarce in the mountains - Unless you want to pay $5 a gallon. After about a mile you'll see the railroad on your right, and if the leaves are off the trees, you might catch a glimpse of the rarely photographed GN Tower, which use to mark the end of the West End. Continue on for another mile or so when you'll enter Thornton. When you reach Thornton, MP BA274.4, you'll have to decide between two options if you're chasing a train. Either follow it to Tunnelton and probably miss it in Rowlesburg or skip going east to Tunnelton and instead go straight to Rowlesburg. If you choose the latter option, Click here. If you decide to go onto Tunnelton, take a left off Route 50 after you cross the bridge over the tracks at Thornton and get on County Road 7 which paralles the tracks almost the entire way to Independence. After turning off US 50, you'll pass the location of Thornton's annual Pumpkin Festival which is held every October. On the other side of Thornton below the road exists an old coke and iron works that date back to the late 19th century. A few still exist but most have been razed by the current landowners.

Thornton to IrontTown

From Thornton to Irontown, County Road 7 follows the track fairly close. S Curves and the elevated county road allow you several good photo opps. About a mile east of Thornton is Westerman at MP BA273.9, which sits on a fairly long piece of tanget track. Just west of the Westerman Road Crossing is an interlocking where the two main tracks are reduced to one main for the next few miles to Hardman. About a mile farther east of Westerman, the road passes a farmhouse so be on the lookout for chickens crossing the road "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get hit by a speeding railfan". There's a road crossing located at Irontown, MP BA271.7, that you'll have to think about - mainly which side of the track you want to be on :)

Irontown to Hardman

Staying on the same road from IronTown to Hardman, you'll cross Three Forks Creek and follow the tracks all the way to Hardman from the opposite shore. CSX has had problems of creek erosion through here but with the closure of the track closest to the stream, this seems to have been negated. At Hardman, MP BA269.8, the road loops back around a hill and climbs to the top while the track continues to follow Raccoon Creek. Hardman use to be a tower controlled helper station until CSX closed Q Tower in June 1998 and moved the helper spur around the the hill to BA269.

Hardman to Independence

Following the county road up the hill, with the leaves off the trees in winter, you can look over the hill and see the old location of the steam era helper facilities, which are little more than cinder fields now. Between Hardman and Independence, the tracks curve around the hill while the road goes over top, usually allowing one to reach Independence before the train. Behind this hill is the 'new' Hardman, where the subdivision returns to two main tracks and the new Hardman helper pocket is located. The road then rejoins the railroad at Independence, MP BA268.2. A crossing is located here and the third track closest to the road is the unused one. (oh yeah, if you take photos from the road crossing, BEWARE of the local dogs!) Trains that do not have helpers yet will pull up to the Newburg road crossing and stop if they're supposed to pick them up at Hardman.

Independence to Newburg

From Independence to Newburg, the line consists of a series of S Curves. The road is elevated above the track and again, enables a good view. At the base of Newburg grade is it's namesake, Newburg, West Virginia. Newburg, MP BA267.2, use to be the location of a helper station in the late 1800's but when triple tracks came along, the roundhouse and small yard were demolished and operations moved to Hardman. Trains, both coal and mixed freight open up to full throttle through here if they already have helpers on, but if not, a train will stop just west of the crossing. When you reach Newburg, you can cross the tracks for a vantage point from across Raccoon Creek. If by some misfortune the train beats you to the road crossing, take a left when you reach the Newburg post office (its obvious) and follow the road up and along the hill, overlooking the tracks.

Newburg to Hiorra

After Newburg, get on State Route 92 and you'll follow the railroad as it's grade steepens rapidly and reaches 2.2%. Continue on SR 92 for about a mile where you'll see a paved road turn off to the right, County Road 39 - Raccoon Creek Road. Be careful here, its hidden by a turn and if it's taken too fast, you might slide on the ever present loose gravel as we have had the misfortune to do once or twice. Still following Raccoon Creek, the track hugs the hillside and makes a horsecurve near the spot where SR 92 and the Raccoon Creek road connect. Farther upgrade past this curve, a hillslide took out the trees hiding the track and CSX MofW crews have dumped tons of rock over the side for support. The road that you're on paralles and old coke railroad bed that heads east up the Racoon Valley. Half a mile later at the very small 'town' of Hiorra, MP BA264.9, a small gravel road heads up the hill towards the track. There's a crossing here but if you attempt the hill, make sure you have enough clearance because this gravel road is steep and sharp, making high clearance a must.

Hiorra to West End

If you bypass the road up the hill, you'll remain in the valley while the tracks continue to climb. As stated before, old coke railroads ran all through here and dozens of decaying coke ovens still exist. About a mile or so later, you'll find another gravel road heading up the hill to the right. If you take this, it will come out at Austin, MP BA264.0, where the tracks cross over the gravel road on a concrete bridge. To the west of Austin is the Austin Tunnel Cut, a tunnel which was unroofed in the early 1900's. Back on Raccoon Creek Road, continue on for another mile and a half when you start the climb to West End. Reaching West End, MP BA262.0, the road is at track level and there's a gate crossing. To your left is WS Tower, now out of service, and around the curve out of sight are the Kingwood Tunnels. From the road crossing, you can watch the trains grind upgrade towards West End.

West End to Tunnelton

From West End, the railroad travels under the mountain while the road climbs over and around. Leaving the road crossing, if the leaves are off the trees the abandoned single track tunnel and the "new" tunnel may be seen to the left when you reach a small church. Stay on Raccon Creek Road for a quarter mile until you come to WV Rt. 26, take a left for another half a mile and you'll come out at Tunnelton, MP BA260.3. The road use to be an old shoofly track (circa 1860) around the original tunnel when construction was underway, witho nly 3 to 4 cars could be moved at a time over the hill! The tracks emerge from the east portal to the right and a hundred feet below you. The West Virginia Northern RR runs up the hill along the left of the CSX mainline on the original track to the 1850s tunnel. Nearby on the other side of the mainline is the Tunnelton passenger station, which is currently owned by a group of local citizens. Now that you're at Tunnelton, you have two choices on roads to follow out of Tunnelton to reach Rowlesburg, assuming you wish to continue on. The train will almost assuredly beat you to Rowlesburg regardless of which route you take, but you will probably catch up to it before it reaches Terra Alta. The first route is County Road 70 which crosses under the tracks right before the BP gas Station. If you chose this route, go underneath the tracks and take a right and then a left at the post office. The road goes up a hill so you'll know you're on the right one. When you reach the top of the hill near several houses, if you look to your left you can probably see the train going through Blazer. Numerous county roads branch off but you stay on CR 70 for about one mile when the road numbers will switch to County Road 70-4 and then go on for about another 2 miles when you'll meet another county road, CR 50-8. Take a left here onto Frog Hollow Road and follow it for around a mile when you'll reach Rt. 50 at Friend's Gap. Cofusing, right? To simplify this, stay on the newly paved asphault road the entire way from Tunnelton to Friend's Gap - it's a straight through route with only the road designations actually changing. Click here to continue to Rowlesburg.

Tunnelton to Blazer

To continue onto Blazer, go past the BP station and then take a right hand turn across the WVNRR tracks at a gate crossing. Once past the WVN tracks, remain on the road for about 1/4 of a mile (appox. mileage) and take the Blazer Road which branches off to the right - its a bit confusing here, the WVN tracks on your left will swing around a sharp curve and the Blazer road is right before that. The CSX mainline will be above Blazer road and to the right so it should give you some indicator if you're on the right road. Several cuts are visible along the road b/c it follows the route of the original track removed in the early 1900's, after the currently used right of way was constructed. When you reach Blazer, MP BA258.9, the summit of Newburg and Cheat Grades, the double track mainline interlocks into one track. Trains climbing the grade from Rowlesburg usually have the 'dispatchers favor' here so eastbounds will hold on Track 2 until the westbound passes. There's a defect detector on down the grade so you can hear the approach of any westbound trains. After finally reaching Blazer, you again have two choices if you want to continue onto Rowlesburg. Don't be fooled by the map, Rowlesburg may be only 5 miles away "as the crow flies" but you have to take a roundabout route. A word of warning first: on the map above, you'll see a secondary road running from a few miles south of Blazer directly to Rowlesburg. This road is a dirt road that follows a deep ravine the entire way and I do not recommend you taking this - You'll still miss the train and probably fall over the cliff... The only reason I put it on the map was so you DON'T take it. Your first option to Rowlesburg is to head back to Tunnelton and take the above mentioned road under the tracks. The second option is to continue south less than half a mile and cross the road bridge over the track below the Blazer interlocking. You'll reach an intersection at the top of a hill on the other side and take a left here. Continue south less than a mile when you'll see a road branching off to the right... If you continue straight you'll be on the 'Ravine' Road to Rowlesburg so take the road to the right and then continue until you'll reach the paved County Road between Friends Gap and Tunnelton. If you have a good roadmap the second option shouldn't be a problem but if you don't, I recommend going back to Tunnelton and just following the paved road to US Route 50 at Friends Gap - you'll lose only five minutes at most. Click here to continue to Rowlesburg.

On To Rowlesburg

If you've decided to go straight to Rowlesburg, stay on Rt. 50 from Grafton through Thornton until you reach an intersection with Rt 72 at Macomber, about 17 miles east of Thornton. Rt. 50 is filled with curves and hills so if you get carsick, perhaps several pulloffs might be needed :) If you're coming on the county road from Tunnelton, you'll reach Friend's Gap as previously mentioned. Take a left here on Rt 50 and continue east until you reach Macomber. On the way to Macomber, you'll pass a restraunt / store at Cool Springs with a cow on the roof. The store at Cool Springs is a good place to stop, whether to get something to eat or throwup after all the curves from Grafton. This store has an old steam engine that doesn't run and quite a few old B&O wooden cabooses and cars in poor shape in a nearby park, which is a great place on a summer day. Reaching Macomber, take a left onto Rt. 72 which will take you into Rowlesburg. Along the way, the Cheat River will be to your right and flood damage from the numerous floods is still visible along the road. After about 2 miles you'll enter Rowlesburg, WV. Continue along the road for about 1/4 of a mile when you'll cross over the Mountain Subdivision track. Continue to Part II of the Mountain SD Railfan guide which deals with M&K Jct and Cheat River Grade.

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Notice and Disclaimer: These guides and Northern West Virginia's Railroads DO NOT recommend or endorse any form of tresspassing, whether on railroad or private property. I have tried to list locations which are on public roads or property, but if I have made a mistake, please adhere to posted signs or the wishes of the landowners. Remember to use common sense and think saftey! Also, please note these railfanning guides are published for your entertainment purposes only. While I have tried to make these guides as accurate and easy to read as possible, some mistakes may exist unnoticed. As a result, use at your own risk because I do not wish to be held accountable for someone's ruined trip - Thank you for your understanding.