CSX/C&O Gauley Bridges over New River at Gauley Junction, WV

1905: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges)

2011: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

1905 Deck Truss Bridge

The Hawks Nest Powerhouse is in the left background.

Postcard via BridgeHunter_1905

Anantkumar Anantkumar posted
Gauley Junction at Gauley Bridge, WV 1910.

Scott Greathouse, Sep 2024

2011 Steel Girder Bridge

I wonder how deep those girders are. And which steel mill can roll the plates needed to fabricate them.

Street View, Oct 2015

This photo provides another view of the Hawks Nest Powerhouse.

2016 photo by Royce and Bobette Haley via BridgeHunter_2011

Road/C&O Bridge over Kanawha Canal at Richmond, VA

(Satellite)

safe_image for With lawsuit lingering, CSX begins repairs to disputed Kanawha Canal Bridge

RichmondBizSense
"The original bridge across that section of the canal was destroyed in a flood in 1985. CSX built the replacement bridge by laying wooden planks atop an abandoned railway trestle, creating the version of the bridge that has been used ever since."

This map shows the original bridge and the fact that today's bridge was an industrial railroad spur. I'm guessing that the C&O spur was used to supply coal cars to the University of Richmond. This map also confirms that what Google Maps labels as East Branch Tuckahoe Creek was the Kanawha Canal.

1964/65 Bon Air Quad @ 24,000

Appalachian Trail & CSX/C&O Bridges over and 1930 7.5mw Cushaw Dam on James River near Snowden, VA

Trail Bridge: (Satellite)

C&O Bridge: (Satellite)

Dam: (Satellite)

Powerhouse: (Satellite)

Lock: (Satellite)

Advanced Approach Photography posted

“Appalachian Intersection”

A CSX loaded coal train makes its way east towards Newport News as it crosses over the James River and the Appalachian Trail in Snowden, VA with one CSX’s Georgia Railroad mullet unit on point. The bridge to the left is the James River Foot Bridge, which is the longest pedestrian-only bridge along the length of the Appalachian Trail.

Andrew Maus posted

I wondered why the river was so wide here. Then I noticed there is the Cushaw Dam just a little bit downstream from here.

Note the bridges to the left of center.

Eddie G, Aug 2020

The pedestrian truss bridge

Michael Lowe, May 2022

The railroad steel-girder bridge

Rajesh Munusamy, Aug 2022

The dam with the powerhouse in the distant background on the right.

Panos G, Feb 2023

A better view of the powerhouse.

Harald Padeborn, May 2013

There seems to be a rather consistent flow over the dam. Most photos show it spilling some water.

Kipp Teague Flickr taken Aug 12, 2007 

view of Snowden dam on James River - 2007

Also known as the Cushaw Hydroelectric Project

HDR from a single image

 

HydroReform

I wonder what is left of the lock and the Kanawa Canal. I don't see much.

Satellite

1931 CSX/C&O Mehring Way Viaduct (Highline) in Cincinnati, OH

(Satellite, where I took the first two street views.)

The viaduct is over a kilometer long and connects the Queensgate Yard with the CSX/C&O Ohio River Bridge. It is also called the highline. C&O also had grade level tracks along the river front to serve the various industries along the riverfront.

Street View, Apr 2019

Looking the other way.

Street View, Apr 2019

Street View, Jun 2024

Street View, Sep 2011

Howard Helvey posted
Originally built in 1931 with two sets of tracks, only one remains today on Cincinnati's 7440-foot Mehring Way Railroad Overpass and Viaduct. It was and is an engineering marvel (and still used daily), but the crowning jewel is this extremely rare, heavily-skewed truss bridge spanning Mehring Way. Drone photo taken 9-15-24. Paycor Stadium is visible through the bridge.)

Greg Marck: Was the second track ever installed? I thought I read that the bride / viaduct was built for two tracks but only one was ever installed.

Tim Shanahan shared

 

Howard Helvey commented on Greg's comment
In this aerial photo, likely from the 1950s, a portion of the bridge is seen at the very top, and the two sets of tracks are present on the viaduct.

Marty Bernard posted
2. AMTK 707 with the James Whitcomb Riley on the C&O River Bridge, Cincinnati, OH June 26, 1977. Dan Finfrock photo via Bill Howes, Reid Adams collection.
Marty Bernard shared

Charlie Chuck Cox: P30CH, what a HEP nightmare! The twin Detroit V71 HEP power plants were a nightmare to keep running and when they ran to try to sync them.

1943 CSX/C&O Bridge over Big Sandy River at Kenova, WV

(Bridge Hunter broke Apr 22, 2023; Historic Bridges; B&T; 3D Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2022

HistoricBridges notes that the western approach is a long, curved viaduct over the town of Catlettsburg, KY.

Street View, Sep 2019

The trusses were built in 1943, and the steel-girder viaduct was built in 1951. [HistoricBridges]

Mtnclimberjoe Rail Photography posted

CSX empty coal train E900 and manifest M316 are neck and neck as they race each other eastbound on the CSX Kanawha Subdivision behind a well worn Dash 8 and the freshly painted Operation Lifesaver SD70MACe. The coal train is taking the lead as the two trains roll over the Big Sandy River and cross into Kenova, West Virginia.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnclimberjoe50/53255094942/

====Info====

9/25/2022

CSX Kanawha Subdivision

Russell, KY

CSX E900-25 (Coal Empties; Russell, KY to Peach Creek, WV)

CSX 7764 C40-8W Blt. 1992

CSX 7253 AC44CM Ex. CSX 333 AC44CW Blt. 1998

CSX M316-24 (Manifest; Cincinnati, OH to Cumberland, MD)

CSX 4568 SD70MACe Ex. CSX 4568 SD70MAC, CSX 768 Blt. 2000

CSX 3184 ES44AC Blt. 2015

B&T, this webpage has many more photos
C&O's first crossing was in 1894. The trusses were replaced during WWII to handle the weight of the Allegheny class articulated locomotives. The 1894 trusses were relocated to build another bridge. This webpage also has photos of that, now abandoned, new bridge as well. At first, those photos confused me because I thought I had accessed the wrong bridge. But if you scroll down you can find the photos for this bridge.

It appears the trusses span flood plains on both sides. The levee in this view confirms that they are spanning flood plains. I see that B&T's photo captures different water levels on the piers.

Street View, Sep 2021

Mtnclimberjoe Rail Photography posted

Leading their first road train after coming out of CSX's Huntington shops, a pair of ET23DCM's power the R207 local as it crosses the Big Sandy River and the state line into Catlettsburg, Kentucky with freight from Huntington bound for Russell Yard. The ET23DCM locomotive designed by Wabtec and built by CSX utilizes an SD40-2 core and repowers it with a Tier 4 In-Line 6 prime mover and supporting equipment.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnclimberjoe50/54024317609

====Info====

9/13/2023

CSX Kanawha Subdivision

Catlettsburg, KY

CSX R207-13 (Local; Huntington, WV to Russell, KY Turn)

CSX 1718 ET23DCM Ex. CSX 8832 SD40-2, CR 6440 Blt. 1977

CSX 1713 ET23DCM Ex. CSX 8055 SD40-2, SBD 8055, SCL 8055 Blt. 1979

CSX 3142 ES44AC Blt. 2013

Mike Schattl: or "How to turn an EMD into a GE", lol

1892 C&O Hawks Nest RR Bridge over New River near Ansted, WV

Bridge: (Bridge Hunter broke Mar 22, 2023; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Overlook: (Satellite)

"This railroad bridge is noted for its pin connections and 45 degree skewed configuration, and location in a very scenic area." [HistoricBridges] It has to be rare that a Class I railroad is still using a pin-connected truss.

The MA Cabin must be just out-of-frame in the lower-right corner.

Ted Gregory posted

A truly striking view from the famous Hawk's Nest Overlook at sunset on April 3rd, 2023.

The design of the twin trusses are truly works of art, and lend to the natural beauty of the Gorge.

If you look closely, you can see the  mainlines that run down both sides of this famous Gorge as they wind along the banks into the diatance and the junction of the lines on the south bank in the lower right corner.

The lines also rejoin at Sewell, which is not accessible unless you're on the rails or in the water.

John C. Sauerzopf: Nice photo. Too bad no one else knows where this is.

Ted Gregory: John C. Sauerzopf thank you.

Google map it. It's near Fayetteville, WV near a small town called Ansted.

It's a very famous location on the Chesapeake & Ohio.

There is a historic railroad resort there. Lots of bigwheels would vacation there using flagship trains of the C&O to get there out of DC.

Joe Schiavo: Such a beautiful place to visit!

Ted Gregory: Really is Joe. Especially on the tracks. I was part of one of two teams that walk inspected the entire railroad from Prince to Deepwater due to a 500 year flood event.

Keiv Spare: I've been to that overlook. This was a C&O line. My family had a picnic there on a roadtrip we took from Kansas to Maryland. It's right off US 60 which is a shortcut if you're taking I-64 all the way from St Louis to Norfolk. Glad we made that little detour. It was a very memorable part of the trip. I recognized the location immediately when I saw the picture, even though it was over 30 years ago.

John Jones: The state of west Virginia has a great lodge there where you can can take in the sights of the overlook. They also had a cable car that would take you down to the river.

This must be a popular railfan location.

Robert Wanner posted
Chessie Safety Express with steam locomotive 614 on the head end crossing the Hawks Nest bridge on the West Virginia border before CSX came on the scene. Amtrak Cardinal travers this routing in today's World. Quite the site, always impressive from above or riding the train. Do not know who climbed up there to take this photo.
John Hodges: Picture is from https://wvstateparks.com/park/hawks-nest-state-park/

Larry Massey posted
Randall Hampton shared
Hawks Nest

 

West Virginia's Shenandoah Valley added

Take Me Home, Country Roads 🎶

📍: Hawks Nest State Park 

📸: instagram.com/trailbudz5

According to Google map labels, Hawks Nest State Park is the "go-to destination for whitewater rafting."

Hawk's Nest Dam is less than a mile downstream. After analyzing the tracks in the photo, Ted is looking upstream.

1969 Fayetteville Quad @ 24,000

Back To My West Virginia Roots posted
Tom Bell   🛤️Hawks Nest State Park from a different angle🛤️   Fayette County
Randall Hampton shared

I Love West Virginia posted
I Love West Virginia

David Lubic: C&O bridge at Hawks Nest, where the railroad had a gold spike ceremony in, I believe, 1877. The bridge itself is a replacement from the early 20th century, replacing a much lighter bridge from the original construction.

The bridge would have also once been much higher above the river, before the dam was built in the 1930s. Sadly that dam and the water tunnel were the site of the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster, where over 400 workers died of silicosis, and this was because of willful neglect by the contractors who did not provide masks or water sprays to keep down the dust, which was almost pure silica.

Today I look at this photo, and think of how a large, prosperous railroad is neglecting its property for even more profits. This shows in the rust on the bridge. Didn't used to be that way, but now it is.

At the risk of sounding too political here, our capitalist system has become dumbed down to being about money only--and this isn't restricted to railroads. Everything else--employees, the community, the country, and even customers--are at best secondary considerations, at worst are impediments to even more profit.

Zachary Syner posted three photos with the comment:

Rare Construction photographs of The Hawks Nest Train Bridge in the 1870s, while completing The construction of the C&O Railway through West Virginia faced several challenges, primarily due to the state’s rugged terrain, By 1873, the C&O Railway had completed its main line from Richmond, Virginia, to the Ohio River at Huntington, West Virginia.

This route was a critical engineering achievement, as it required crossing the Appalachian Mountains and navigating the challenging landscapes of the New River Gorge. Several bridges and tunnels, including the Great Bend Tunnel, were built to make this passage possible. Photo credits to Mike Fox & Steve Eades.

1

2

3

Zachary Syner commented on his post
The Train Station by the Bridge.

Zachary Syner commented on his post
Hawks Nest Train Wreck 1900s

Zachary Syner commented on his post

Zachary Syner commented on his post

C&O Alleghany, Lewis, Kelly, Lake and Moore Tunnels

A: (Bridge Hunter; Satellite, a few thousand feet) Alleghany

L: (Satellite, a few thousand feet) Lewis

K: (Satellite, a few hundred feet) Kelly

L: (Satellite, a few hundred feet) Lakes

M: (Satellite, a hundred feet) Moores

I saw a length for the Lewis Tunnel that indicated it was almost as long as the Alleghany Tunnel. I added yellow lines to indicate where I think the cuts were extended.

Satellite plus Paint

Alleghany is the tunnel that goes under the eastern continental divide and the remaining tunnels take the railroad down the east slope. The C&O summit is just east of the Alleghany tunnel. This was the sub-division for which the 6900hp H-8 class 2-6-6-6 articulateds were built for. [Jersey Mike's Rail Adventures]

The railroad goes up 609' in the 50 miles from Hinton, WV, to Alleghany; and descends 1008' in 30 miles to Clifton Forge. Even though the slope is less, eastbound coal trains needed a helper H-8 between Hinton and Alleghany because they were loaded with coal. And Virginians spell Alleghany with "any" instead of "eny." [TrainOrders]

Alleghany Tunnel

Postcard via BridgeHunter-A
This original Alleghany bore was completed in 1870.

wikimapia via BridgeHunter-A, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)
In 1932 the parallel bore on the right was opened and the original bore on the left was converted to single track.

Lewis Tunnel

wikimapia
C&O Lewis Tunnel

A Flickr photo of te west portal

Kelly Tunnel

Jersey Mike's Rail Adventures
Kelly Tunnel's east portal
[I'm surprised that the track wasn't moved to the centerline to improve the clearances.]

Moores Tunnel

This is the post that motivated this research.

Stanley Short posted
A westbound CSX unit coil steel train exits Moores Tunnel in its climb up Alleghany Grade at Backbone, VA on Oct. 25, 1992 with a dog's breakfast of motive power.
[Jersey Mike's Rail Adventures has a photo of the east portal.
A 1989 Flickr photo
Another photo]

A day later, Stanley's photo of the east portal showed up in my Facebook feed.

Stanley Short posted
An eastbound CSX unit coal train drops down Alleghany Grade and through Moores Tunnel at Backbone, VA on Oct. 25, 1992, led by GP40-2 No. 6214.

 

Stanley Short posted
An eastbound CSX unit coal train pops out of Moores Tunnel, near Backbone, VA, as it drops down Alleghany Grade on May 18, 1997, led by CW44AC No. 269.

Miscellaneous

"Mud, Kelly, Lakes and Moore" [The Lewis Incident] Was this the Mud Tunnel and it got daylighted?

Satellite

1939 White Sulphur Springs, 1949 Callaghan, 1947 New Castle and 1948 Ronceverte Quads @ 62,500