Buchanan County History Project - Railroad History

History of the Railroad
in Buchanan County:

The history of rail traffic in Buchanan County begins with an early railroad established by the W. M.Ritter Lumber Company.  Mr. Ritter’s established a timber empire in West Virginia during the later part of the 20^th century. Corporate headquarters for Mr. Ritter were later moved to Columbus, Ohio.

 In order to tap the vast tracks of virgin timber located on Knox Creek in Buchanan County, the Ritter Company From the railhead on the main line at Devon, West Virginia.  In order to accomplish this, 2 separate rail lines were established to extend the tracks from the main Norfolk and Western line.  This main N&W line from Bluefield to Williamson along the Tug River had been built during the 1890’s – this was the Pocahontas Main Line.

 The part of the line that was in Kentucky was called the Knox Creek Railroad.  The part of the line that was in Virginia (Buchanan County) was called the Big Sandy and Cumberland.  My understanding is that the two lines were separate due to state tax purposes. 

The main Norfolk and Western line was standard gauge rail.  That is the typical rail we see in the county today.  The line for the Knox Creek and Big Sandy and Cumberland Railroads was a 42-inch narrow gauge.  These lines were cheaper to construct but it also eliminated standard gauge cars from the line.

 In order to branch off the main line at Devon a bridge had to built across the Tug River.  In addition a tunnel was constructed at the mouth of Know Creek.

In order to transfer lumber and other wood products from the narrow gauge lines to the standard gauge lines the first three miles of track out of Devon were of dual gauge and enabled standard gauge freight cars to be loaded utilizing the third or outside rail.  Ties, poles, lumber, etc. from the Woodman, Ky yard could be loaded directly on standard gauge cars without reloading at Devon.

The W. M. Ritter lumber and the extension of the BS&C turned Hurley, Virignia into a boom town.  Hurley became the center of operations for Ritter in this region.  As the timber in the Hurley area was cut the line was extended deeper and deeper in the areas of virgin timber.   Rail lines extended deep into many of the hollows around the Hurley area including Lester’s Fork, Guesses Fork, and Main Know.  Allmost all traces of these early rail lines have been erased by time.  Between 1903 and 1907 the BS&C lines were extended over Rock House Mountain to tap the timber on Slate Creek and to a railhead at Stacy.  The rail lines were then extended down Slate Creek and the first trail ever rolled into Grundy in April of 1916.  A temporary depot was built above Grundy until while litigation concerning a right-of-way was resolved.  A permanent depot was finally built were Jackson’s Hardware now stands and a trestle extended over the Levisa River behind the depot.

Now let’s look in greater detail at the workings of the BS&C:

In 1916, the BS&C owned 4 locomotives, 69 freight and 3 passenger cars.  During 1917 more than 85% of the traffic moved over the road consisted of logs or timber.  By 1920, the line had increased to 6 locomotives and the number of cars owned to 84 for freight and 4 for passenger service.

Early Stories of the BS&C:

Passenger service on the BS&C was added in 1907 from Devon to Stacy on Slate Creek.  Liquor was easy to buy in West Virginia so many Buchanan County men would place their orders and the liquor would soon arrive in Buchanan County.  The narrow gauge line would move at about 5 miles per hour uphill and only 11 mile per hour on the downhill sections.    Anyone traveling into Buchanan County by rail would take the N&W Pocahontas main line to Devon and then check into the only hotel there “The Savoy”.  They would be aroused at 6:00 a.m. in order to eat breakfast in time to catch the 7:30 am departure of the BS&C to Buchanan County.  The Savoy was not your typical hotel.  There was no heat and guest often slept in their clothes to stay warm.  In addition when the hotel was crowed, complete strangers would often be assigned the same room.

Locomotives of the BS&C:

4 Shay Locomotives, 3 Climax Locomotives

The Big Sandy and Cumberland made it’s last trip to Grundy in June of 1931 thus ending the colorful age of the narrow gauge lines in Buchanan County

The Norfolk and Western Age

 In 1923, Norfolk and Western Railway purchased the capital stock in the BS&C.  N&W continued the operation of the narrow gauge railway for several years with Mr. Ritter continuing to serve as President.  Mr. Ritter maintained his right to run log trains until his company pulled out of the area.  Soon after 1923, N&W started mapping almost the entire county for the purpose of finding the best possible rail routes to open up the counties rich and extensive deposits of coal.  By 1928 the mapping was completed and in that same year  N&W received permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission to rebuild the Big Sandy and Cumberland to a standard gauge railroad.  The 13 miles from the main line at Devon to Hurley was utilized in the building of the new line.  This project was particularly difficult as rail traffic between Hurley and Devon had to be maintained on the old narrow gauge lines.  (picture of the new depot at Hurley).  However, practically all of the narrow gauge lines south of Hurley were abandoned.  This included all lines up to Blackey and over to Stacy and on to Grundy.  These lines were impractical for standard gauge lines hauling coal for the emerging coal industry in Buchanan County – the grades on the narrow gauge line to Grundy exceeded 6% in plases and could only be navigated by the small Shay locomotives with their short wheel base and geared driving wheels. 

 Work was started in 1928.  Extensive excavations had to be completed in order to extent the main line to Grundy.  Over 3.2 million cubic yards of rock and earth had to be moved.  Two new tunnels had to be creaated.  The first 1,600 feet in length at Looney’s curve across the Tug fork nead Devon and the other 4,000 feet in length between Lester’s Fork and Home Creek.  The main line was extended up Lester’s Fork.  Construction of the 3,766 foot Raitt Tunnel was was completed in 1931 and the line extended to Thomas on the Levisa River.  The line was extended 4-miles downstream to Kentucky to tap the coal reserves near the state line.  However, from Thomas, the principal line was extended upstream for 10 miles from Thomas to Grundy.  This line was completed in 1931.  This new modern line from Devon to Grundy was 36 miles in length and the BS&C line from Grundy, up Slate Creek, and to Hurley was soon abandoned.  On July 1, 1931 the first standard gauge train rolled into Grundy, Virginia.  The deep-toned whistles of the big N&W locomotives replaced the shrill whistles of the small shay locomotives of the BS&C.

The years from 1931 to 1936 saw a boom in railroad contruction.  Weller Yard, located on the Levisa Fork east of Thomas was constructed as the principla assembly year for coal trains on the Buchanan branch.  John Thomas (for whom Thomas is named) became the first roadmaster of Weller Yard - roadmasters house was completed in 1936 (show picture).  Between 1935 and 1936 36 miles of new trackage were added as extensions of the Buchanan Branch.  The Harman branch was extended up Bull Creek.  Most of the new trackage extended east of Grundy to open up these coal deposits.  The Buchanan Branch was extended 8 miles from Grundy to the mouth of the Dismal River.  From this point the line was extend 5 miles to serve the new mines at Keen Mountain and Page.  More importantly the line was extended 24 miles up the Dismal Creek to serve new mines as far away as Jewell Ridge..

With the coming of the railroad, the county began to change quite noticeably.  Coal operations were opened, mining communities sprang up, stores, gas stations, schools and churches were constructed.  In 1930 the census of Buchanan County placed the population at 16,740.  In 1950, the population had more than doubled to 35,748.

New Coal Companies opening in 1932 were:

Ø     Home Creek Smokeless Coal Company

Ø     Buchanan City Coal Corporation

Ø     Lynn Camp Coal Corporation

Ø     Panther Coal Company

Ø     Virginia Lee Coal Company

Ø     H. E. Harmon Coal Company

Ø     Red Jacket Coal Company

Ø     Oakwood Smokeless Coal Company

Ø     Page Coal Company

Ø     Sycamore Coal Company

Ø     Rock Crysatl Coal Company

Ø     Paragon Jewell Coal Company

Ø     Jewell Smokeless Coal Company

In 1944-1945 the existing branch from Thomas to the state line was extended 11 miles into Pike County, Kentucky to Dunlap where it connected with the already existing Ashland Division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. 

The last major construction in Buchanan County was completed in 1970 with the connection of the Dismal River line and N&W’s Clinch Valley line out of Richlands, Virginia.  This was an 8 mile connection up a 2% grade to Jewell and through the 3100 foot Blair Tunnel.  Then extends down Deep Creek in Tazewell County to Richlands.

Passenger Service to Grundy on the N&W:

Passenger service to Grundy via the Norfolk and Western was called the Tri-State Limited from Devon, WV to Grundy.  This line operated until 1957 and motive power for it was K1 (4-8-2) and Y3, Y3a (2-8-8-2).

Buchanan County names that came from the Rails:

Ø     Roseann  - came from the owner of Panther Coal Company – Mr. W. S. Lecke – his daughter was named Roseann

Ø     Luke – nickname for the Resident Engineer for the N&W Railroad – Mr. S. S. Ward

Ø     Thomas – Named for Roadmaster and Assistant Trainmaster – Mr. John W. Thomas

Ø     Weller Yard – Names for the General Superintendent, Western General Division of N&W – Mr. H. C. Weller

Ø     Raitt – Named for Assistance Engineer – Mr. J. W. Raitt

Ø     Roth – Named for Assistance Engineer – Mr. E. H. Roth