Norfolk and Western route to Pocahontas
Source: Library of Congress - Map showing the Norfolk & Western Railroad and its connections (1887)
Coal in the Midlothian Basin was near the Fall Line, and relatively easy to transport via the Chesterfield Railroad to a port on the James River. The coal in the Appalachian Plateau was far harder to move to market. Virginians were aware of the coal in 17501, but the first railroad did not reach Virginia's Appalachian Plateau and start coal shipments between Pocahontas and Norfolk until 1883. To get from the Appalachian Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean, coal trains needed to cross the eastern edge of the Appalachian Plateau (the Allegheny Front), then travel through the Valley and Ridge, the Blue Ridge, the Piedmont (with the Fall Line at the eastern edge), and the Coastal Plain provinces... with lots of ups and downs in that trip.
To connect the existing mainline between Lynchburg and Bristol and carry coal from the Appalachian coalfields to Norfolk, the Norfolk and Western Railroad built a new line that snaked through down the New River Valley and then up the valley of the Bluestone River. The new line crossed into West Virginia, following the river valley and looping back to Pocahontas.2 That route was longer, but it avoided the steeper climb over the ridges. Why? Because locomotives lose most of their power when trying to go uphill.
The engines in a locomotive generate horsepower, but a complex formula is used to determine the pulling ability of the locomotive ("tractive force") to spin steel wheels on slick rails. Once the train gains momentum, the smooth metal track minimizes friction. Just one modern diesel locomotive can haul 100 cars carrying 150 tons of coal... on flat ground. However, an uphill incline (the grade of a railroad) dramatically reduces the ability to pull a load. "[I]f at 20 mph on a level track a locomotive exerts 3 pounds to overcome the friction of the steel wheel rolling on the steel rail for a one-ton load, on a 1% grade, it has to exert 23 pounds of tractive force." On a 2% grade, 43 pounds of the locomotive tractive force would be required to haul the load uphill.3
The physics of gravity and traction forced railroads to build longer lines through valleys or to contruct expensive tunnels in order to avoid grades. If that was not cost-effective, then railroads had to purchase more-powerful locomotives, split trains and haul then in portions over the hills, or add additional locomotives to the trains to help haul the weight through steeper sections of track.
In the 1900's, four railroads hauled most of the Virginia coal to salt-water ports at sea level - the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O), Norfolk and Western (N&W), Virginian, and Clinchfield railroads. Those historic railroads demonstrate the impact of topography on transportation - though today, tracing their routes require knowing some business history. The C&O and the Clinchfield have been incorporated into the CSX railroad, while the Norfolk and Western and the Virginian are both part of the Norfolk Southern railroad now.
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Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O)
The C&O was constructed west from Clifton Forge (originally known as Jackson's River Station) after the Civil War. Collis P. Huntington financed the expansion to connect the Ohio River and the Atlantic seacoast, ultimately choosing to build his port at Newport News. The Virginia Central used the first railroad tunnels in Virginia (built at state expense) to cross the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap and reach Jackson's River Station/Clifton Forge at the western edge of the Valley and Ridge physiographic province, prior to the Civil War. After the Civil War, the Virgina Central became part of the C&O. The C&O built westward across the Allegheny Front, but it also revised the existing route east of Clifton Forge. In the 1880's, the C&O bypassed the steep climb over North Mountain and the Blue Ridge by acquiring the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad, using the canal path as the route for a new line with a much more gentle grade to Richmond. Even with a tunnel to reduce the peak grade across Allegheny Mountain, the modern CSX track still has a 1.1% grade between Alleghany Tunnel (2052 foot elevation) and Clifton Forge (1031 foot elevation). However, the loaded trains from the West Virginia coalfields are going downhill after climbing out of the New River Gorge and entering the James River valley, and only empties returning from Newport News are forced to climb that grade. For eastbound freight, the ruling grade4 is 0.6% on the western side of Alleghany Tunnel. Once past Clifton Forge, the coal-carrying CSX trains on the old C&O have a relatively gentle glide travelling nearly 1,000 feet downhill along the James River through the Blue Ridge at Balcony Falls to Richmond (54 feet elevation). East of the Fall Line at Richmond, the CSX drops just another 30 feet before reaching the docks at Newport News (15 feet elevation).5
 Norfolk and Western in 1882, when the line up the New River was a branch off the main line between Lynchburg and Bristol Source: Library of Congress - The Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia Air Line; the Shenandoah Valley R.R.; Norfolk & Western R.R.; East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia R.R. (its leased lines,) and their connections (1882) Norfolk and Western (N&W) The eastbound Norfolk and Western crossed Flat Top Mountain at Bluefield, where the ruling grade now is 1.4% for traffic headed east. Returning empties face an even-steeper 1.6% grade from Glen Lyn up to Bluefield. The loaded trains have to travel up the New River Valley from Glen Lyn (1520 feet elevation) to cross the Allegheny Front at Christianburg (2052 feet elevation) to reach the Roanoke River valley. The last part of that eastbound climb at Christiansburg involves a 1% grade up to the crest - returning westward, the Norfolk and Western was engineered for locomotives to pull empties over a 1.3% grade to the crest of Alleghany Mountain a Christiansburg. Unlike the C&O, the N&W developed no water-level route through the Blue Ridge to an Atlantic Coast port. Instead, trains followed the Roanoke River valley to Roanoke (905 feet elevation) and crossed the Blue Ridge (1296 elevation) after climbing a 1.2% grade.6 The Norfolk and Western was not designed initially to haul coal; the original Virginia and Tennessee (V&T) track between Lynchburg and Bristol was a general merchandise line. The line crossed the Blue Ridge west of Lynchburg, then several other ridges in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province between Roanoke and Bristol. It was an up-and-down train ride. "In the 200 miles between Lynchburg and Bristol, V&T's total rise and fall was in excess of 5700 feet, more than five times greater than the difference in elevation between the two endpoints!"7 Virginian The Virginian was engineered and built 50 years later than the Norfolk & Western, and designed with one purpose - to carry coal from West Virginia to Hampton Roads. The ruling grades on the Virginian were substantially less than on the N&W, because the Virginia built a tunnel to cross the New River-Roanoke River divide. The Virginian Railroad's Allegheny Tunnel elevation was 1953 feet, about 50 feet lower than the N&W route eastward to Roanoke. The eastbound grade of the Virginian from Whitethorne to Merrimac, across Allegheny Mountain at Christiansburg was 0.75%, in contrast to the N&W's 1% grade. Further east, the Virginian followed the Roanoke River through the Blue Ridge, travelling downhill while the N&W climbed a 1.2% grade through the Blue Ridge gap. The N&W connected Roanoke to Lynchburg, while the Virginian bypassed the towns on the Piedmont. That route sacrificed the chance to pick up some general merchandise traffic, but maximized the efficiency of the route to Norfolk. The Virginian finally started to climb out of the Roanoke River valley at Red Hill (the last home of Patrick Henry), reaching the drainage divide with a 0.2% grade at Abilene. The Virginian and the N&W ran in parallel at Abilene, headed down the Appomattox River valley. The modern Norfolk Southern route between West Virginia and Norfolk combines the best grades of the N&W and Virginian routes. Trains loaded with coal climb out of the New River valley and go through the Allegheny Tunnel, the route with the more-gentle grade, then follow the old Virginian route east along the Roanoke River. This bypasses both the Blue Ridge grade and the old 0.5% grade at Bray Hill, east of Lynchburg (where the N&W climbed out of the James River valley). Norfolk Southern trains with empty hopper cars returning from Norfolk follow the old N&W route, with a 1.3% grade in a 12-mile climb from Elliston in the Roanoke River to Christiansburg at the crest of Allegheny Mountain.8 Light trains carrying empty hopper cars take that route into the New River valley, because it leaves the Allegheny Tunnel on the old Virginia route free for the heavily-loaded coal trains headed east. Clinchfield The Clinchfield was built to haul coal from Dickenson County to Spartansburg, South Carolina. The route was southward along the Clinch River, and the climb over the Blue Ridge occurred in North Carolina. However, a later extension was built northward to connect St. Paul with Elkhorn City in Kentucky, allowing the Clinchfield to ship coal into the Ohio River valley. The Sandy Ridge tunnel was built north of Dante to minimize the grade required for the Clinchfield to cross the Tennessee Valley divide, between the Clinch River and the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River. |
"Pusher" locomotives are used to provide supplemental power where the grade is especially steep. Using pushers enables the railroads to minimize the investment in capital equipment. Coal trains are slow freight, intended to travel at a steady and cost-effective pace. For example, for most of the distance between Glen Lyn on the West Virginia border and Norfolk, one or two locomotives can haul a loaded coal drag downhill. Only at a few spots is additional tractive effort required. One of those is Whitethorne west of the Allegheny Tunnel at Christiansburg. Two locomotives are often stationed there to attach to the back of a coal train and help push it over the crest and through the tunnel. Once into the Roanoke River valley, the locomotives cut free and return to Whitethorne to help the next coal drag.
1. From Journal of Doctor Thomas Walker--1749-50 (www.users.mis.net/~chesnut/pages/walkerjournal.pdf last checked April 25, 2004):
June 19th. We got to Laurel Creek early this morning, and met with so impudent a Bull Buffaloe that
we were obliged to shoot him, or he would have been amongst us. we then went up the Creek six miles,
thence up a North Branch to its head, and attempted to cross a mountain, but it proved so high and difficult,
that we were obliged to camp on the side of it. This ridge is nigh the eastern edg of the Coal Land.
2. see map at www.rootsweb.com/~vatazewe/Coal-Coke.htm (last checked April 25, 2004)
3. "Getting Them Up the Grade the Norfolk and Western Way," Trains Magazine, April 2004, p. 68
4. A "ruling grade" determined the maximum locomotive power required to move traffic on the railroad line. "Mountain railroading terminology," Trains.com, www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/004/965iggka.asp (last checked April 26, 2004)
5. "Pocahontas Region Coal Routes," Trains Magazine, April 2004, p. 34
6. ibid
7. op. cit., "Getting Them Up the Grade the Norfolk and Western Way"
7. op. cit., "Getting Them Up the Grade the Norfolk and Western Way," "Norfolk and Western pusher districts" Trains Magazine, April 2004, p. 70