The Big Red Trains of Dunloup Creek Canyon

The big red locomotives of the RJ Corman's West Virginia Line

RJ Corman's bright red diesel locomotives have become a familiar sight along the rails between Thurmond, Mount Hope, and Pax, West Virginia.  Now known as the West Virginia Line, the shortline transverses the routes originally built as the Loup Creek Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) and the Kanawha, Glen Jean, and Eastern Railway (KGJ&E).

RJ Corman took over the Thurmond to Mt. Hope portion of the route in July of 2005, and rebuilt part of the former KGJ&E branch, extending the line to Pax in 2006. Currently, the line serves four industries along the 16-mile route -- Georgia Pacific, Austin Powder and Tanner Industries in Mount Hope, and Pioneer Fuel Company near Pax. RJ Corman is headquartered in Nicholasville, KY.

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Big Red Trains of Dunloup Creek Canyon (Cont'd from Page 1)

The West Virginia Line interchanges with CSXT at Thurmond, WV, the state’s smallest incorporated town, with a population of seven people. Despite its small population, Thurmond is presently among the most visited locations within the New River Gorge National River.

A coal train coming off the former Loup Creek Branch waits for clearance
before entering the CSXT mainline at Thurmond, WV.

Located near the center of the New River Gorge, Thurmond thrived as a retail trading center during the height of the coal boom of the late-1800s and early-1900s.

Thurmond was a major shipping point on the C&O line. By the early 1900s, hundreds of railroad cars of smokeless coal were being shipped through the town daily from several nearby branch lines and more freight revenue was being generated for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) via shipments from Thurmond than did the much-larger cities of Cincinnati, OH, Richmond, VA, or Charleston, WV.

In 1910, 76,541 passengers boarded trains, and 4,283,641 tons of freight were shipped from Thurmond, which amounted to almost one-fifth of the C&O's entire revenue that year.

The line cross Dunloup Creek several times along its route
through Dunloup Creek Canyon

Trains operating on the West Virginia Line follow the C&O's old route along Dunloup Creek from Thurmond (elev. 1070 ft.), crossing the steam several times as the line makes it's way through Dunloup Creek Canyon to Mount Hope (elev. 1705 ft.)

At the mouth of Sugar Creek, the line follows the old KGJ&E route along Sugar Creek to a tunnel through Packs Mountain. On the other end of the tunnel, at Tunnel Siding, the line reaches it's highest point, at an elevation of 1843 feet. From there, the rail line makes its way through a divide that leads to Pax (elev. 1633 ft.)

The C&O originally completed the branch line between Thurmond and Mount Hope in 1893. The KGJ&E completed its branch line from Mount Hope to Pax in about 1910.

The C&O's Loup Creek Branch and the KGJ&E shortline were originally built as coal hauling railroads. but both railroads did operate passenger trains on the routes. The last passenger train operating on the route was discontinued by the C&O during the mid-1950s.

The map, at right, shows the routes of the area's railroad, circa 1925, and lists the coal mines in operation during that time period.