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Jim,<br>
<br>
Again, the typical was atypical on the Division. No two branch lines
were operated the same way. As opposed to a local freight or an LCL
box on the passenger run, the North Fork operation handled mixed
traffic on the mine run, and what little LCL in the combine of the
passenger run before its demise in 1950. One notable exception was a
gon of sand that went to Cherokee every Monday, shoved ahead of the
Class M on the passenger run.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/3/2025 9:10 AM, NW Mailing List
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.12719.1764774909.722595.nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">
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<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> Most company stores had railroad sidings
and warehouses. They were fully stocked dept stores that sold
clothing shoes, furniture, animal feed, etc. Mules were e also
delivered to company stables as well as feed. Mining equipment,
mine timbers, building supplies, and sand were also delivered to
company yards, and possible farm animals such as pigs, cows and
chickens, long before they were advertised on WCKY Cincinnati
(1929-1994.</div>
<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> <br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> Attached is a photo of the company store
at Filbert on Sand Lick Branch. The store was served by a small
stub end siding across the creek from the store. On the left
side of the 1925 photo note the freight house, a bridge across
the creek with a small railroad leading to the larger store
warehouse. It appears the small railroad track had been paved
over in 1925 when the road was originally paved. The store used
a small cart on the rails to transfer freight from the boxcars.</div>
<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> <br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> The other photo shows a different store
view along with the railroad siding.</div>
<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> <br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof"> Alex Schust</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"
style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b>
NW-Mailing-List <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org"><nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org></a>
on behalf of NW Mailing List <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"><nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 3, 2025 8:36 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> NW Mailing List <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"><nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org></a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: North Fork Hollow Mine Run</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">Thanks, Alex,
<div>So, more than just hoppers on the branch! Did all those
company stores and mining operations get their merchandise
in box cars? Ever anything unusual? Did those get
delivered on the passenger runs or the mine runs?</div>
<div>Jim Cochran</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="x_gmail_quote x_gmail_quote_container">
<div dir="ltr" class="x_gmail_attr">On Wed, Dec 3, 2025 at
8:21 AM NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="x_gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204); padding-left:1ex">
<div class="x_msg6806576270602908824">
<div dir="ltr">
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
The track between the two switches was 130 feet long.
The 328-foot upper stub track served two stables that
probably received boxcars of hay.</div>
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Alex Schust</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block; width:98%">
<div id="x_m_6806576270602908824divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font
face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000"
style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> NW-Mailing-List
<<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org</a>>
on behalf of NW Mailing List <<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, December 2, 2025 10:45 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>
<<a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: North Fork Hollow Mine Run</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>Jim,<br>
<br>
The Algoma tipple was located just below the upper
switch such that empties had to be shoved above there
on the tail track that was the delivery track, an
extension of the (runaround) main track. Alex notes
the extension was 25 empties long as of 1925. Empties
were then dropped as needed from there into the three
tipple tracks. The tail track on your track chart
snippet suffers from severe foreshortening due to the
nearby curvature schedule/chart, as shown here:<br>
<br>
<div><img alt="" data-outlook-trace="F:1|T:1"
src="mailbox:///C:/Users/gc/AppData/Local/Temp/pid-3340/ForwardedMessage.eml?number=0&header=quotebody&part=1.1.2&filename=7reD9NWFGesRnivZ.png"
moz-do-not-send="true"><br>
<br>
There were two spurs at Algoma. The one shown above
just beyond the upper switch was used for
mine/tipple supplies and equipment. Not shown above
was the company store spur just below the outlet
(lower) switch, and was the destination for the
occasional boxcar I mentioned in the reply below.<br>
<br>
To deliver by pulling instead of pushing empties
would enlist the tail track and upper switch in a
proper switchback move. Empties would be pulled past
the upper turnout, then switched back into a
delivery track below the turnout. So, the needed
additional feature is the 25-car delivery capacity
that would have to be added between the upper switch
and the first tipple track switch.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter<br>
<br>
On 12/2/2025 7:58 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
The Buzzard Creek Branch was extended in 1899 to
connect with the Crosby & Beckley logging RR's
wooden track that went over Indian Ridge to go
down Pinnacle Creek. The standard gauge portion of
the extension was probably left in place when the
logging stopped in 1904. In 1914 the N&W
surveyed a route from Buzzard Creek along the old
logging RR right of way to connect with the
proposed Guyandot & Tug River RR coming down
Pinnacle Creek.</div>
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
In 1925 the Buzzard Creek Branch was extended to
hold 25 empties to accommodate the new Algoma
tipple. The stub track, which only held four cars,
was put in at the same time.</div>
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:14pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Alex Schust</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block; width:98%">
<div id="x_m_6806576270602908824x_divRplyFwdMsg"
dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"
color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b>
NW-Mailing-List <a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org></a>
on behalf of NW Mailing List <a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, December 2, 2025 7:44 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> NW Mailing List <a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">
<nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org></a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: North Fork Hollow Mine Run</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">Grant,
<div>More thanks than I can express for this
information. Your response contains lots of
goodies, so I am going over it several times
to make sure I glean all I can, and am going
to respond one piece at a time to make sure I
cover as much as possible. Since Mike Rector,
and perhaps others that are following along,
have not properly committed themselves by
fully memorizing the layout of North Fork
branch in all its archeological incarnations
:^), I will attach portions of track charts
and possibly other diagrams stolen, uh, I mean
borrowed from <b
style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><cite>North
Fork – Norfolk & Western Branch Line</cite></b>
by <span
style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style:italic">Alex
Schust, Mason Cooper.</span> I would
highly recommend picking up a copy from the
commissary, a steal at $28.</div>
<div>So now for my first (of many) questions,
refer to attached track chart snippet. Your
message stated "Algoma was at the end of the
spur with no tail track to pull past". The
chart shows four tracks at the tipple, three
of which went under the structure I believe
for loading while the fourth was a bypass.
The empties would have been stages "above" the
tipple for gravity loading. The chart shows
the "bypass" track extending a ways past the
point where the loading tracks converge on the
uphill side, with a short stub off a facing
point turnout. So did the mine run push all
the empties up past this extension for
storage? What was the purpose of the stub
spur? What additional features would have
been needed for a "tail track" that could have
allowed the run to pull the empties up instead
of pushing them?</div>
<div>As always, more to come,</div>
<div>Jim Cochran</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<br>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">On Sun, Nov 30, 2025 at 6:48 PM
NW Mailing List <<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204); padding-left:1ex">
<div>Jim,<br>
<br>
As if operations are not confusing enough,
they varied and evolved over the decade from
the opening of the new Elkhorn Tunnel to the
end of steam. So by "headed West," that
would be to the Eckman Yard table, with or
without loads, turn, then pick up loads and
head east, if in the same time period as
when the mine run is still dispatched from
Eckman Yard.<br>
<br>
Regarding the North Fork Mine Run, I found
this:<br>
<br>
Regarding your mines of interest, my info
only goes back to post-WWII. By then, the
working tipples I heard about were at
Algoma, Gilliam, Rolfe, Ashland and
Crumpler. <br>
<br>
The North Fork Hollow mine run was a
daylight job out of Eckman Yard. Dispatched
facing upgrade, the regular power was the
2023 with Cicero Sells as engineer, the
senior man at Eckman. <br>
<br>
An Elkhorn job out of Bluefield would set
off empties the night before on the storage
tracks Elk Ridge (60 cars) and North Fork
(55 cars) adjacent to the branch line near
North Fork Junction. The mine run could
bring more empties from Eckman Yard or Byrd
Yard in Northfork, as needed. <br>
<br>
The job was broken up into three round trips
from the junction up the branch: first to
Algoma up the Buzzards Creek Branch, then to
Gilliam and Rolfe, then to Ashland and
Crumpler.<br>
<br>
Algoma was at the end of the spur with no
tail track to pull past, so empties were
pulled off the junction-end of the storage
tracks while backing out onto the main line,
then shoved forward up the branch main
track, then up the spur. Loads came back to
Byrd Yard. <br>
<br>
Gilliam and Rolfe were delivered by trailing
point moves from the main track, so empties
were pulled up the branch on this trip. The
engine backed down with loads trailing to
Elk Ridge and swapped the loads for the
remaining empties.<br>
<br>
Like Algoma, Ashland and Crumpler were
stub-end, but the empties were pulled up the
branch to Jones Siding, run around there,
then shoved ahead. Ashland was delivered
first, leaving the loads for pick up on the
way back down from Crumpler.<br>
<br>
Crumpler, aka Zenith, was steep with five,
ten-car delivery tracks that made it
particularly tedious and dangerous. With no
radios to stop him, the rear brakeman rode
the drawhead and jerked the angle cock open
to stop. The middle brakeman made the cut
while the rear brakeman set brakes, watching
for the next cut to get on and stop them.
Tipplemen, called "droppers", would help set
brakes. Every load had brakes on and if they
were set out on the main track, every brake
had to be put back on.<br>
<br>
Loads were usually blocked at the tipples
and both east and west loads were set out on
Elk Ridge and North Fork storage tracks, the
main track, or in the yard upon returning to
Eckman.<br>
<br>
The North Fork mine run became First Vivian
out of Bluefield when Eckman closed in 1951.
"V1" would leave Bluefield with a 2000 in
reverse, a cab on the pilot, and usually ran
light. Empties were waiting on the Elk Ridge
and North Fork storage tracks and Byrd Yard
as before, but west loads were set off in
Eckman Yard and it returned with east loads.
If it was running close on time (16 hours)
or Bluefield was (usually) unable to take
short trains, the east loads were set off at
Flat Top Yard and it ran light on to
Bluefield.<br>
<br>
Sometimes the daylight job put empties in at
Algoma, but the loads would store there
until the night job could pull them.
Occasionally, North Fork/V1 would deliver
Dan's Branch, but time-slipped.<br>
<br>
Non-coal work included an occasional boxcar
to the company store at Algoma. 84 would set
off refrigerator cars of meat on the North
Fork Middle Track about 1am every Monday
morning for the North Fork Passenger Run to
spot at the Wilson, Armour and Swift packing
plants. After the passenger run was cut off,
V1 would get called early at 4am (usually
8am) to spot the cars.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter</div>
</blockquote>
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</blockquote>
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