The Chesapeake &Amp; Ohio Railway
Lynchburg -- Clifton Forge
Introduction
This is a part of our eventual self-guiding tour of CSX's ex-Chesapeake and Ohio mainline from Tidewater to Cincinnati. This segment of the tour extends from Sandy Hook Yard in Lynchburg to Clifton Forge. a distance of 85 miles, and extends the completed Williamsburg - Lowmoor segment to a total of 271 miles. You'll go from city to wilderness rather quickly, and if variety of countryside is your thing, you'll be happy as can be. This is the James River Line to Clifton Forge, and the Allegheny Subdivision further west. Beyond Lowmoor, the tour is under construction, and has now been extended between Alderson and Willow Wood, West Virginia, an additional 9-10 miles.
The Introduction to the entire C&O series of tours is here.
As with all tours in the railfan guide, you will be able to print out this text and hit the road, but before you do, we suggest you take a long look at our tour guide "home" page -- it's got some good tips on it. That page is here.
Contents And Navigation
Contributors
Loyd "Big Bass" Lowry, content provider, Alderson - Hinton.
Peter Furnee, CSX logo
Tony Hill, Webmaster and content provider, Lynchburg - Low Moor. Any first person singular pronoun refers to Tony, unless otherwise specifically mentioned.
Train Gifs. All train gifs used within this tour are from the Ed Bindler's train gifs site, which is here.
Help
If you'd like to contribute to this, or any other tour, please contact me at webmaster@frograil.com, and let me know what you'd like to do. We'll work together: You supply the data/info, and I'll do the HTML stuff and upload it. You'll get a chance to review the fruits of your efforts before the general public sees the finished product, so you can let me have your corrections, additions and changes.
Supplemental And Back-Up Data
The Railroad -- Background.
James River Subdivision. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, as the name implies, was built to link the mid-west (at Cincinnati) to the deepwater port at Newport News, Virginia. The economic justification was found in the coal in the middle portion of the railroad, which could be inexpensively shipped either to the east or west from central western Virginia and central West Virginia. The original main line was via Charlottesville and Gordonsville to Richmond. The James River Line was a secondary main constructed in the 1880's well after the original main line. However, it was brilliantly engineered, and the construction standards were such as might be expected of a heavy duty, main line coal hauler. Indeed, in the 2000's, single AC's were hauling full 10,000(+)-ton coal trains on this excellent trackage!
As the years have gone by, the JRL has evolved into the main line, and the ex-main via Charlottesville has been significantly down-graded. In fact, the latter is now operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, and sees only a local plus empty west bound coal and grain hopper trains.
Today, CSX refers to the JRL as the James River Subdivision.
As to the engineering on the line, Gerry Callison comments:
"The reason that the James River Line is so well engineered is that it was laid on the tow path of a canal. The James River and Kanawah Canal was built in the mid 1800's with the purpose of linking Richmond, Virginia (above which boats can no longer navigate the natural James River) to the Kanawah River somewhere in West Virginia. While it never made it past Buchanon, Virginia (southeast of Clifton Forge), it enjoyed relative success hauling crops, especially tobacco, to market. It operated with packet boats, which were boats designed for shallow waters that were pulled by mules on a parallel tow path.
In the late 1800's, the canal shut down and the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad built a line along its tow path from Richmond to the Clifton Forge area. The Richmond and Allegheny was then purchased by the C&O. As for railfanning this line, a canoe would be the easiest way. Virtually the entire line is accessible by canoe and there are outfitters in the Glasgow/Balcony falls area, and I can tell you first hand that the James offers some spectacular canoeing!!!"
Allegheny Subdivision. Not surprisingly, beyond Iron Gate, the Allegheny Sub is very different than the relatively flat, water-level James River Sub. The Allegheny Sub will be more completely discussed in the Clifton Forge - Hinton segment of the Frograil C&O Tour.
Railfanning considerations. This is not an easy tour. In fact, there are no roads which parallel the railroad for more than a few miles. In most places, you'll have to go decidedly out of your way to get trackside. Further, the countryside near the railroad is not merely rural -- it is often remote. You must have plenty of gas, food, water, and whatever else you consider essential, if you're going to remain trackside any amount of time. Do not undertake this tour if you are not prepared. This is a long tour segment, and you will need all day to do it, unless you just want to run from place to place -- and you'll still need most of a day. Please understand that for the majority of this tour, it is impossible to hurry -- the roads will not permit it. You will greatly enjoy yourself if you do your prep and take it easy.
Within this tour, some mile points are approximate, as the timetable does not always specify where a given location is. For example, Reusens is listed as 149.9, but I don't know whether that point is where the station used to be, or whether it's the east or west end of the siding. Perhaps you tourists could help out in that regard.
The Railroad -- Traffic patterns. The primary traffic still consists of coal loads going eastbound. There is a set of Russell, KY - Richmond (ACCA) manifest trains. You'll also see unit grain, unit sulfur, and a local. Some empty coal trains are routed off the JRL from Richmond via the Charlottesville ex-main to Iron Gate, so you won't see those until you're in Clifton Forge. As far as volume, I'm just guessing that there are probably12-16 trains a day over the JRL. Norfolk Southern has trackage rights from Balcony Falls to the Southern Connector in Lynchburg, so you might just get surprised and see an NS manifest or coal train on this ex-C&O route.
Mapwork: Much of the tour is virtually impossible if you have no detailed map for back country roads. Your friendly webmaster has done his best to give you precise and complete driving instructions, but there is simply no substitute for a good map and prior planning. I definitely recommend you get a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, study it before your trip, and copy pertinent pages for your field work. You can find information here about Railfan Maps that are available.
Recently, MapQuest, Google Earth, and other Internet-based mapping services have begun to offer satellite views of mapped areas. While some are of such low resolution as to be no help, many are quite good, and an excellent addition to the railfan's armamentarium of tools.
Photographic considerations: An attempt has been made to evaluate the photography fields at crossings and other locations. Crossings are rated as in the following example: NE4, SE1, SW2, NW4. Going clockwise, from northeast all the way around to northwest, each quadrant is rated, with 1 being excellent, 2 being good, 3 being OK-fair, and 4 being non-existent. Note that I'm rating the photo field; i.e., how wide open the area is. The photogenic or artistic aspects of the quadrant are not rated, as this is a purely subjective evaluation, and I'm no photographer. Understand that if I rate something as a "1", you'll be able to get unobstructed, non-wedge shots.
Maps and Driving navigation. There are conflicts between DeLorme, MapQuest, and any other map you can get your hands on. The best way to ensure on-the-ground accurate road identity is to use the Virginia local road numbering system. With the exception of US-501 and Lynchburg streets, most of the roads we'll be on are in the VA-600-series. Virtually all intersections outside of cities have a pole with numbers on them. Sometimes, you'll have to pull off and walk to the rear of the sign post facing the road you're on to verify that what you hope is VA-622 really is VA-622. Taking 120 seconds to do so can save you a lot of grief. You'll note that I try to stick with road numbers rather than names, and I'd suggest you do the same. The DeLorme is the best source for those numbers, unless you can get a VDOT map.
Abbreviations. Some phrases are used repeatedly in this tour, so I've developed some standard Frograil abbreviations:
JRL. The James River Line, also known as the James River Subdivision.
NAG. A not-at-grade crossing. Unless I mention otherwise, these are usually not worth the time and trouble to drive to them.
NARL. Not a railfan location. This is because of any number of reasons, such as lousy photo ops, dangerous, no shoulder on a NAG bridge, etc. As a general rule of thumb, it is wise to avoid NARL's.
WEBMASTER'S NOTE: I do not recommend or condone walking along the tracks, as this means trespassing and exposing yourself to danger. You may have to be creative, in some instances, to avoid trespassing while getting to the detailed locations included herein, but you will either have to be creative or not visit those sites. At no point in this tour guide, or any other tour which is part of Frograil, is it recommended that you trespass or expose yourself to danger. If you are a fool and have a leg cut off (or worse), don't come crying to me: You have been warned. Trains are big, powerful, and often surprisingly quiet. Don't end up being a statistic.
Site Listing
The Tour
Lynchburg -- Sandy Hook Yard. For those of you who have come west from Richmond on the Richmond - Lynchburg tour, sit tight and watch the yard action while we get those just starting their C&O tour down to where you're parked. From US-29/Lynchburg Expressway, take the first exit south of the James River onto Main Street eastbound. Take your first left east of the Expressway, and go down the very steep bluff via Garnett Street. Both Florida and Ruby streets will get you to Garnett. Cross the tracks on Garnett, and take a right onto Concord Turnpike. After about a mile, Concord will go over the tracks and then go back left to parallel the tracks. There is ample parking off railroad property.
The yard itself is to the east, and you'll catch some light engine and switching action. The main tracks are closest to you, so you'll seldom be blocked out by standing cars. Everything in and out of the yard and all thru traffic will be right in front of you. I know you want to get started on the tour, but I'd suggest you consider getting out a cooler and the lawn chairs and enjoying the best place to watch CSX trains in the Lynchburg area. Whatever you do, make sure you get pix of the concrete coaling tower before you leave!
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Lynchburg -- Garnett Street. For about a mile north of the Concord Turnpike crossing of the tracks, there are industries and at least one track that can be used for storage. It is not irregular to see engines and part of their train in this area. In particular, as you pass the last industrial facility, there is a very large open field, with the tracks about 70 yards beyond the road. Take a left on Garnett Street, and drive to just before the tracks, and park to the left in the field. You can walk to the engines, and you'll also have good northerly access to thru trains. From the south, the viewing is more cramped, but still pretty good. I'd rate it as a NE4, SE1, SW1, NW1.
Be careful around Garnett, because the road coming down from the bluff is very steep, and there is a lot of traffic.
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Lynchburg -- Washington Street. A lot of work has been done by Lynchburg in recent years in the riverfront area, and the benefits are definitely showing. Continuing past Garnett Street on Concord Turnpike, you'll see the US-29/Lynchburg Expressway overpass. Just beyond that is a railroad track going south and steeply uphill from the CSX main. This is the NS, ex-Southern connection with CSX, and it's well polished. There is a parking lot on the north side of the street for the Percival's Island river walk trail. The trail is worth exploring, as it goes over the river to its namesake island, which was the site of the Norfolk & Western Railway yard before it vacated the river level trackage. There are apparently some archeologically interesting things to see, but I didn't get a chance to take the walk. The river walk connects to the Blackwater Natural Area, which has 12 miles of trails. The Blackwater area contained active N&W trackage as recently as the early 1980s.
According to Paul Wilson's Central Virginia Railfan pages, Norfolk Southern has trackage rights between Balcony Falls and Lynchburg. NS uses this old "Southern Connection" to get up to Mountview and Kinney yards. Interchange between NS and CSX is also via this track. All four quadrants around Washington Street's crossing of the CSX and NS tracks are wide open, with some interesting backdrops as props.
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[Webmaster's Note: At this point I was rudely stopped -- by a massive street festival/carnival -- from continuing my re-exploration of the riverfront area. In 1999, the last time I'd been in Lynchburg, there were still 3 towers standing, albeit in various stages of precariousness. I don't know if they're still standing, but I hope to give a Lynchburg -- Riverfront addition to this tour at a later date.]
[Follow-up Note: In October, 2002, I got a chance to re-visit the area. All rail lines north (west) of the start of the Southern Connection are fenced in, and becoming somewhat overgrown. Access to any rail locations thru downtown is virtually ziltch. The ancient towers are still standing, but are held together by memories, and access is likewise ziltch.]
Lynchburg -- Reusens West End. Beyond the riverfront area and the western part of Lynchburg, there is no rail access. Seventh Street crosses the tracks, but all four quadrants are part of a very large industrial pipe manufacturer, so this is not a railfan location. Therefore, go uphill for 2 blocks to Main Street, take a right, and head west. Main will become Rivermont. According to the city map and MapQuest, several streets seem to go almost to the tracks. They do, but they are way far up the bluff, and you can't see anything but trees and nasty neighborhoods. Just keep going northwest on Rivermont until you get to Riverside Drive, then take a right to go north.
Irrespective of the street name (there are very confusing map/street signs in this area), go straight until you must take a hard left. You will now be on Reusens Road. Past a small industrial building, you'll have to take a hard right to stay on Reusens. There is a sign there to Buncher Railcar Services. Reusens will take you to trackside. If you continue on until you have to take a very hard left (about 120°) to go up V.E.S. Road (no street sign was seen), or go straight over a very narrow bridge into a very narrow road, you'll be at the end of the Reusens siding, and the start of single track westbound. The few houses along here are not high class, and the residents seem to have appropriated the land opposite their homes on the other side of Reusens Road. You'd best be real, real careful where you park. The tracks are high above the road. On the north side of the tracks is a large, mown, grassy area which would be great for train watching, but it would also be blatant trespassing.
Further back towards the southeast, there is an office building south of the street; this is Buncher's headquarters. My suggestion for railfanning Reusens is to ask for permission to park in their parking lot next to the tracks. I was there on a Friday and there were a few cars in the lot, but not many. However, there were definitely enough to require you to use good judgment and get permission first. Buncher seems pretty busy, with several railroad cars on their property, and they aren't old derelicts rusting away. The property itself was some large industry at one time, and the Buncher area is quite extensive. Access to the east end of the siding is not publicly available.
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Lynchburg -- Reusens Dam. Continue northwest via the narrow bridge and road until it ends at the Reusens Dam. Past that little bridge, Reusens Road is probably Hydro Road, but there are no signs. Find a place to park (good luck -- and don't cheat and try to park on the dam side of the road), and take a look around. This hydroelectric plant has a gate around it, and the fence is recessed significantly at the entrance to the facility. If you put your back almost against that fence, you have excellent photo fields to the northwest -- great for loaded trains during warmer months. There is a line of poles on the west/south side of the tracks, so the overall photo ratings are E1, W3, but you'll be lucky to be able to take advantage of the east, as the light will not always be in your favor. This is an interesting location, and someone who is not merely a picture taker could probably come up with something nice here.
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Pearch -- East End. When Reusens or Hydro ends, there is a road going up the hill and back towards the roads that will carry us to the next location. It isn't very long, but it is one ugly road. It is very much vertical, and is as narrow a paved road as I have ever seen. I don't think 2 bicycles could pass on it. What does one do when one meets a city truck coming down it to the dam? I don't know, and thank God I didn't have to find out. This is Old (and it must be real, real old) Trents Ferry Road, and it will take you to a T with Trents Ferry Road. Take a right and enjoy a longish drive thru some very pretty countryside. It is also going to be an example of why you need a good map.
Trents Ferry will T at Holcomb Rock Road, and you should take a right to go north. NOTE: Both Holcomb Rock and Trent Ferry are VA-645. It would be wise to follow VA-645 rather than try to keep up with road names -- not all of which are on any street signs. Eventually, you'll go way down and cross a stream, and shortly thereafter you'll get to a very confusing 3-way intersection. The road going sharply back to the right is VA-645, and there is a sign saying it will end in 1.3 miles or something like that. Take this right (it is not intuitive -- you have to see the map to understand why) and drive to the area of another small hydroelectric power plant. This one is owned by Georgia-Pacific, a very large international wood, paper and related products firm.
The area away from the plant itself is not posted, and is apparently used by fishermen for parking. There is a parking area across the tracks close to the river, and the nice, maintained grassy area would be good for a picnic. Photo ops are E2, W3, as there is a pole line west of the tracks. Note that the rails are pretty much northerly here, thus the references to east and west, even though the railroad is itself east-west by timetable. There are signals just north of the switch, as this is the start of double track westbound. This, at just over 10,000', is the longest passing siding between Lynchburg and Clifton Forge. [NOTE: I continued on VA-645 to the northwest, but it went uphill and ended at a house.]
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Waugh -- East End. Go back to the 3-way intersection and go straight, on VA-651. You'll now get a treat, as you'll be on the best roads you've seen since you left Rivermont Street in Lynchburg, hours ago. VA-651 will take you uphill to and honest-to-goodness US highway, US-501. This has its downside: The huge mill at Waugh/Big Island is fed with logs, thousands and thousands of logs, virtually all of which come via US-501. Be alert for big, powerful, fast moving trucks. Take a right on US-501, and drive north towards Waugh/Big Island, and you'll descend and see the Georgia-Pacific mill and the highway laid out before you. Before you get to the mill, you'll notice a signal mast, and there is a pull-off just before the roadway into an aggregates/cement plant. Park there, and take in the scene. You're at MP CAB 163.61. [NOTE: In November 2002, a new defect detector was reported to be at MP CAB 163 by Galen Wright in Lynchburg. This detector will probably not be in your current station list. Apparently, it will replace one at MP CAB 155.]
The signals you saw are about 100 yards to the southeast, and the photo ops at the crossing into the aggregates plant are NE2, SE3, SW1, NW2. The view towards the mill complex from the southwest is particularly nice. This is a nice location, because you can take pix here and not be hassled, unless you get in the way of the aggregates' plant's trucks. Once you get down to the mill area, you have no access.
In Big Island, you can get trackside, but the viewing conditions are very poor, and it's not a railfan location.
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Major. Continue on north via US-501, and in just a couple of miles you'll be at the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is access to the Parkway, and this is a logical place to exit the tour, but there are lots of goodies to come! US-501 goes under the Parkway, and the tracks parallel the former. Viewing is quite good from the west and non-existent from the east: E4, W1. There is no life support in the area. The point known as Major is actually just north of the Parkway.
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Major -- Rocky Row Run. Continue north on US-501, and you'll eventually get squeezed between the hillside to your left and the river. To solve the problem, the highway engineers moved the highway over the river here. The bridge goes over the railroad at a rather high elevation, and there is no protected walkway, so this bridge is NARL. Once on the north bank, the road hugs the waterway, which swells, because there is a dam just north of the bridge itself. You'll soon come to a parking area for a boat put-in on your right, you'll go over a creek, and there'll be a parking area for the Appalachian Trail on your left. Park in the Trail lot. There are several things happening here, and all are good.
The creek between the 2 parking lots is Rocky Row Run (which wins my vote for neat names). Where the road goes over the creek there is a bridge with an unobstructed view of the impoundment lake. Coming across the lake on a low thru deck girder bridge is the railroad. You have an absolutely glorious view of it all the way across the lake. If the sun is wrong, don't despair. From the bridge, walk on the foot path thru the woods. This is actually part of the Appalachian Trail. It leads to a staircase, which in turn takes you up to a bridge all the way across the river, but north of the trestle. Therefore, you've got both north and south access here, and you should be able to get great pix. This is a really cool spot.
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Major -- Picnic Area. Depart the reservoir area via US-501 north, and you'll start up what seems to be a good-sized hill. Just as you start up the hill, you'll see an intermediate signal on your left (CAB 171.? I think), and shortly thereafter, you'll see a picnic area on your left. Park, and walk straight down the middle of the picnic area to the rear. There is an obvious trail going downhill. It is a little too rough for nice shoes, but really not at all a bad hiking trail. As you get close to the area over the tracks, there are a couple of neat rock outcroppings that seem to offer very nice possibilities for good photos. Shadows will be a problem during cold weather months, but for up close and personal railroading, I like this spot.
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Balcony Falls. Depart the picnic area by turning left and continuing up the hill. After a while, a light will come on in your head: "This is not a 'hill'. This is a mountain." Yes, you are now in the mountains; to be more precise, you are in the Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachian Mountains. While it's true that these mountains are separated by often generous valleys, there's no doubt that this thing is a mountain. Far below you, the builders of the James River Line used the breach of the Blue Ridge by the James River as an easy way to get up top. The James presents a prototypical "water gap", and while you can't see it very well, the railroad is climbing 98' between Major and Balcony Falls, a distance of 8 rail miles.
Coming out of the mountain, take a left on VA-130 and drive along the town of Glasgow's southern edge. You'll cross the single tracked Glasgow Industrial Track, which connects the NS Waynesboro - Roanoke Line with the JRL in Balcony Falls. This short connector is quite active, so don't take it for granted. The Connector joins the JRL at MP 175.0. Unfortunately, the only way I know of to get to the actual junction is to hoof it, so it's not recommended.
Continuing west on VA-130, take 12th Street south towards the tracks, and you'll come to a large staging/parking area. This part of the Glasgow area is known as Balcony Falls. You'll be impressed with how neat the entire railroad area is -- whoever runs this place is on top of things, apparently. At the tracks, a small electronic tower (K Tower) is to your left, there is a "road" crossing at CAB 175.34, and the distinct Balcony Falls combination station is just to your right. But as the cable advertising guy says: "But wait! There's more!!!" And indeed there is, at least in Balcony Falls. Behind the track at the front (south) of the station is a big steel water tower, and (drum roll, please) to the west is a beautiful big concrete coaling tower. This, plus the one at Sandy Hook Yard in Lynchburg form really nice bookends for the first 30 miles of our tour of the James River Line. Be patient, and you'll see another coaling tower in 60 railroad miles.
If you see a CSX employee, ask for permission to park in the area and photograph trains and the fine collection of railroad structures in the area. Balcony Falls is a nice railroady place. It almost looks like a museum.
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Balcony Falls -- West End. If the area around the foot of 12th Street is cluttered, or if any other reason seems to indicate that maybe you don't want to fan there, retrace your steps back up to VA-130. Take a left and go one long block to another left on 13th Street. This will take you down to the west end of the CSX materials area, and is quieter than the area around K tower. Park to the west and be unobtrusive, and you'll probably be OK -- just don't approach any of the tracks.
While this is probably just a part of the previous location, I don't recommend you drive from K tower directly to the west end at 13th Street, because that means driving thru the CSX material yard, which railfans have no business doing. Go the long way around via VA-130, and minimize trespassing.
[Webmaster's Note: From here west, we'll be using the photographic ratings discussed in the Photographic Considerations above.] Photo ops here are: N1, S4.
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[Webmaster's Warning: We are now going to be entering an extremely rural, almost mountainous area. Some roads will be only one lane wide, some will have horrible washboard dirt surfaces, and the curves on most will make forward sighting very limited. Have good tires, plenty of gas, antifreeze, and all necessary creature comforts before proceeding towards Clifton Forge. Having a 4-wheel drive vehicle would be nice, but is not a necessity under normal conditions. Betsy II is a full sized van, and we busted a tire bouncing off a hunk of rock, so be careful up there. It is essential to have a DeLorme or equivalent for this part of the tour.]
Greenlee. Continue west on VA-130. As you approach the Natural Bridge area, take a left onto Arnolds Valley Road, one of the (very) few roads that go over the James. Just before going over the river to the area of Greenlee, take a right onto VA-759, and take your first, almost immediate, left back towards the Arnolds Valley Road overpass. The tracks go under the bridge and pass a Westvaco facility, apparently a ballast, aggregate, or other mineral facility. There is no access beyond the area of the bridge, nor is there access south and west of the bridge. However, the one remaining quadrant is excellent: NE4, SE4, SW4, NW1, albeit it's on the north side of the tracks.
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Gilmore Mills. Continue west on VA-759/Greenlee Road. Keep bearing to the left as you drive thru the village of Natural Bridge Station, and go under the NS tracks, which have been elevated here, as they are about to go over the James. Continue to the left and go up the hill and park before the big turn to the right. You can walk along the NS tracks and look down on the C&O, but you're trespassing, and the photo aspects and viewing both are very poor. This is Not a Railfan Location (NARL) and the crossing is Not At Grade (NAG).
Continue up the hill, bearing to the right, and you'll shortly come to a crossroads with Gilmores Mill Road. From Natural Bridge Station to Buchanan, the ex-C&O will hug the James on the north bank, and the ex-N&W will ply the south bank. They may as well be 20 miles apart, because you won't see them both at the same time. Gilmores Mill Road will follow the CSX line for quite a few miles. Note that some references refer to "Gilmore Mill", others to "Gilmore Mills", and still others to "Gilmores Mill", but all refer to the same area. Along the road, the railroad line is not treed in, but there is a line of wires. They aren't black, heavy wires, but there are many of them, and they'll ruin your photos. Be patient and get further south.
You'll see a defect detector ("Gilmore Mills" at CAB 179.9), and the white concrete mile marker at CAB 180 just after that. When you get to Gilmore Mills itself, the road will become a gravel surface, and you MUST slow down severely. The road (at least it was in October 2002) has a hideous washboard surface, and it will flat tear you and your vehicle apart over about 15mph. Hopefully, when you do your tour of the line it will have been scraped, but don't count on it.
You'll leave the tracks for a short while, and then drop back down to them, and you'll discover that the wires are now on your right, and the tracks to your left are wide open. The line is virtually east-west here, so you're looking into the sun almost all day, but the viewing is excellent, so just leave your camera covered. N1, S4. Note that for most of this tour, access from the south is a rare and precious thing. In many places, you can throw a rock from the road, over the tracks, and well out into the river. There is very little extra real estate available! There is a set of intermediate signals here.
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Alpine. Continue west/south on Gilmores Mill Road, which has become VA-608 in the village of the same name. You'll swing somewhat away from the tracks, and go over a smallish hill, and then come to an intersection with VA-609. Take a left, and go over the tracks. About 100' from the crossing is a parking area to the left. Walk back to the tracks, and the photo ops are NE1, NE2, SW1, NW4. In particular, the southwest quadrant is a farm field, and you can get glorious morning shots of eastbounds approaching the road. This is a sweet shot. The crossing is at MP CAB 185.1. The east end of the Alpine siding seems to be inaccessible, even though it's only one-tenth of a mile west.
A word of caution is in order here. This little road, although paved, doesn't look like it gets much traffic, but the parking area mentioned is a very popular put-in for canoes and other small river craft. On good weather weekends, including Fridays, there can be a lot of traffic and congestion, as folks vie for the limited parking, unload their boats and equipment, etc. Watch out for them, because they don't seem to pay much attention to mundane things like cars on the road.
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Rocky Point. Continue on via VA-608, and you'll pass the west end of Alpine siding. The hillside is rocky and steep, and there are rockslide fences, spoiling any picture ops. Even though you're now on the south side of the tracks, there are no photo ops along this road, no place to pull over, and no place to walk around. So, just continue to the crossroads known as Rocky Point (and it is). VA-608 swings over the tracks, and the crossing itself gives some limited photo potential: NE4, SE4, SW1, NW4. If you were in the Midwest, you might stick your nose up at this location, but in this territory, you get what you're given and enjoy it. The southwest quadrant is pretty good, and you can get some very nice shots here.
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Indian Rock. From Rocky Point, you have a choice: Nasty and fairly short, or easier and much longer. VA-608 comes to an intersection just a tenth of a mile past the tracks. The long way around is to continue to the right, and this will take you to the frontage road at I-81. Continue south to the intersection with VA-608 and take it south to Indian Rock. This is about 8 1/2 miles, and the road up to I-81 from Rocky Point is no picnic. The short way is to take a left just north of the Rocky Point crossing, and take VA-608 over some hills to Indian Rock. This is only about 3 miles. However, there is a price for the short cut. To make the left to continue on via VA-608, you have to go past the turn, find a place to turn around, and come back to go up VA-608. The turn is impossible for virtually any vehicle, with the possible exception of a small SUV or a Vespa.
But that's not really the price you're paying for the short cut. The price is the road itself. My notes summarized it as "hilly, curvy, narrow, dirt, very, very, very narrow", and we have a busted tire to prove it. My wife swung too far in on a particularly nasty curve and bounced off a rock outcropping on the side of the road. Pooched out the tire. Bummer. Happened at about 5mph. Be really, really careful on this road, and pray you don't meet a log truck!
Once at Indian Rock, the railroad is on a fairly sharp southeast - northwest curve, and the view to the northwest is excellent, and to the southeast is good. Once again, there is no viewing from the south/west side of the tracks, so most of the time light won't be your friend.
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Buchanan. Take VA-608 north to I-81's frontage road and go south to a left on US-11. There is life support in the area of the interstate, as well as in the town, and you are advised to gas up, etc, before continuing west. There is a nice place to watch trains in Buchanan, but it's (surprise) north of the tracks only. From US-11, just before going over the river, take a right on the last street (could not find a name), and then your first left onto Bridge Street. This will end at the tracks, and you can park in the apartment building parking lot. Viewing on both sides of Bridge Street is excellent. The east end interlocking for the Buchanan siding is just west of Bridge Street.
If you have the time, and especially if you're with your family, you'll want to walk out on the pedestrian suspension bridge over the river. It's very beautiful, and it also bounces around, so hold on to the railings!
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Buchanan -- VA-750. There is one more spot in Buchanan worth a mention. Go back up Bridge Street for 2 blocks and take a left on VA-43 to head west out of town. You'll see the tracks to the south, and VA-750 will go thru farmers' fields to cross the tracks. Viewing here is not particularly good, but it's a place to get trackside in a hurry if you know something is coming. NE4, SE2, SW3, NW4. Note that this is one of the few places since Lynchburg that you can get access from the south side of the tracks.
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Springwood. You'll shortly go under the I-81 bridges (no access) and that marks the southern-most point of the tour from Balcony Falls. While the route will be ostensibly northwest from here on, the actual westward progress is minimal, as this is almost entirely a northerly route. Many areas from here to Clifton Forge are either inaccessible or require detours so major as to be impractical. As you drive north on VA-43, look for VA-630 on your left. Take it (it's called Springwood Road), and go west to just before going over the James River into the Springwood area. There is an unmarked road going off to your left, with a sign stating "Not open to Thru Traffic" or words to that effect. Park and hoof it to the tracks. In winter, this is probably a N2, S4, but in summer it's somewhat overgrown, and is no better than an N3.
From here north for quite a ways, this is perhaps the loveliest part of the James River Valley. There is a fairly broad valley with hayfields, pastures, picturesque buildings, the mountains, etc, etc. It's so beautiful that it's hard to watch for trains, view the scenery, and drive at the same time. Life is slow here, so slow down and enjoy yourself -- and be careful.
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Salisbury -- VA-688. From the turnoff onto the just-mentioned unnamed road, go west on Springwood Road just a very short distance further to a right onto VA-631. This will take you back out to VA-43. The river to your west forms a very narrow ox-bow, with the railroad going over both legs of the very narrow "collar", and VA-43 going around the loop far to the east. To access this area, it is necessary to go over the river at Springwood, and take VA-630 to a right on VA-625, to a right on VA-690. This is a very major detour from the main tour, as you will have to totally backtrack to continue northward, or go all the way north to Eagle Rock to cross the James off US-220. However, if you have the time, the map indicates that both bridges should be fairly accessible (famous last words!), so going up to the ox-bow on VA-690 might be well worth the time.
Continuing north on VA-43, the road will swing to the west as it attains the top of the ox-bow, and a road will go off to the left. Neither on the ground, on MapQuest or in the DeLorme Atlas did I find the name of this road, but both maps show it going on the north side of the tracks on the north bank of the second leg of the ox-bow. We did not explore this road, and I'd be glad to have your comments as to the railfan opportunities the road affords. VA-43 will once more become northerly, and will cross a creek, and then VA-688, Saltpetre Cave Road, will go off to the left towards the railroad. Take a left onto Saltpetre Cave, and you'll shortly see the railroad come in on your left.
Be careful, and choose your parking spot carefully. There aren't very many such spots, so you might have to walk a ways. The road is narrow, and walking along it is not without danger, but the valley is really lovely here, and the photo ops to the west are excellent, and those to the east are good. There is no access from south of the tracks.
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Salisbury. Continue west on VA-688, and take VA-809, Salisbury Road, to the left. You'll pass VA-731 on the left, which maps show as crossing the tracks near the river. However, the road is blocked for public access a mile or so in, and this is therefore NARL. At the Salisbury area, VA-809 ends, and there is excellent viewing both to the northwest and southeast. Once again, however, there is no access from the south side of the tracks.
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Eagle Rock -- DD. Drive back up to VA-688, Saltpetre Cave Road, and take a left. Saltpetre Cave will, according to both MapQuest and DeLorme, cross the tracks, re-cross the tracks, and then come to an intersection with VA-692. The latter will go straight, but you want to turn left, which is how VA-688 continues. You'll come down to the tracks, and will see a defect detector ["Eagle Rock" MP CAB 211.4]. Note that this must be a fairly new detector, because it is not in most station lists I've seen.
Also here is the east end of the Eagle Rock siding. There is a private crossing of the tracks to the east of the detector, and wonder of wonders, you finally have a place to take pictures from the south (actually mostly west). The photo ratings in the vicinity of the crossing are NE3, SE1, SW1, NW2, and in the area of the interlocking, N1 and S4.
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Eagle Rock -- Station Area. From the south of town and on thru town to the north, the railroad ascribes a very broad southeast - north - northeast arc. Take VA-688 into town, continue bearing to the left, and take the first right to go down to and over the tracks at the south end of the station. West of the station is an employee parking area which also seems to be used by locals who walk down the bank to access the river for fishing. The station is a nice structure, and you'll want to take some pix. NE1, SE1, SW1, and NW1, so you can see this is a good location. With a little effort and luck, you can work it into some photos. However, the next location is a better train watching and photo area, at least in your humble Webmaster's opinion.
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Eagle Rock -- Kiln Area. The street in front of the station is Railroad Avenue, and you can drive north a few blocks to the point at which it veers to the east. Continue straight into the grassy area in front of the blue C&O caboose. This is an interesting place. There are several ancient lime kilns here, the earliest of which dates back to 1847. They are curious anomalies in the 2000's, and are well worth an exploration. The grassy area east of the tracks, as well as the open graveled area to the west, are excellent photo locations. This is a place to get out the lawn chairs, coolers, and scanner, and relax and enjoy the big dogs in the river valley. The detectors at 211.0 ("Eagle Rock") and 216.9 ("Haden") should give you plenty of advance notification.
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Glen Wilton. As you leave Eagle Rock on VA-43, there is excellent visibility between about MP's 213-214, but you've got to literally stand in the road to take your pix, so move on. You'll shortly join US-220 as the latter comes across the James. In the vicinity of Gala, a few miles north of the intersection, US-220 is very close to the tracks, and MapQuest shows a road to them, but I could not find it on the ground. Gala is on the center page crease on the DeLorme, so nothing shows of such a road. The road would be less than a football field long, but just isn't obvious on the ground -- it's probably long gone.
Shortly past Gala, take a left on VA-622, and drive back towards the tracks. Here, you must be very careful. Looking at the map, there is a mildly sharp, reverse curve back to the southwest. In actuality, this is VA-702, and if you see such a numbered sign, you're OK. However, there is a private road just before this road that also requires a very sharp, reverse curve, and is easily confused with VA-702. I know, because we turned on that private road, and at it's start, it's no worse than many of the local public roads; however, it very shortly degenerates to a 2-rut track, and I had to back up several hundred yards to get out. Ugh!
We did not take VA-702, the Hayden Loop (note the disagreement between "Hayden" and "Haden" in the area), but there is a creek between the railroad and road, so I don't know how good a railfan location the Loop would be. Both maps show a road leading from VA-702, in the northwest corner of the Loop, to and across the tracks. There are both a defect detector and siding in the area, but as mentioned, we did not explore it.
Continue north on VA-622 to a road to the left leading to Glen Wilton. Actually VA-622 itself goes 90° to the left, over the river and to the community. The crossing is not much for photos, at NE3, SE3, SW3, NW3, but it is the closest place to get trackside for quite a few miles. Some complicated map work in the Glen Wilton area will leave you scratching your head. North of the Hayden Loop the tracks cross to the west side of the river, and continue so up thru Glen Wilton. VA-633 shows as going down to a community named Baldwin, and a crossing. Baldwin does not appear on the railroad station list, so we didn't take the several mile detour. However, if we were doing the tour a second time, we'd probably take the bait and go on down to see what, if anything, is down at Baldwin.
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Iron Gate -- Lick Run. Go back over the river on VA-622, and take a left to continue north on VA-633. You'll come to an intersection with US-220, take a left, and go over the river and the tracks. Just past the bridge is a small road, Simmons Lane/VA-700, going away from and under the highway. Take Simmons, go under the highway, and then park where a paved crossing going nowhere is seen. Actually, the "crossing" allows the local farmer access to the field east of the tracks. The railroad is virtually north - south here. Using the crossing as a reference point, the photo ratings are NE3, SE2, SW1, NW1, so it's an OK morning location, and an excellent afternoon place.
This is a very quiet spot, and you could spend a very nice afternoon here. Other than farmers and fishermen, don't expect to see much vehicle traffic thru here.
On another subject entirely, we've followed the James River all the way from Rivanna Junction in Richmond to this point. As we enter the town of Iron Gate, you'll pass Fork View Road on your left. Directly on your right and out of sight behind the tracks and homes to the right, the Jackson and Cowpasture rivers come together to form the James. We wanted to get over and see the location, but the Head of the James Road does not go thru, at least from the south.
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Iron Gate -- 10th Street. Continue north on US-220, and enter the town of Iron Gate. The first town street is 10th Street, and you should take it to the right and the tracks. The crossing is rated as NE2, SE1, SW4, NW2, and the "Iron Gate" interlocking at the (compass) north end of the Iron Gate siding actually begins just north of 10th, and the siding continues to the south. Often, when Clifton Forge is stuffed, trains will be held here awaiting entry to the yard and the Allegheny Subdivision. Trains coming south in the morning are especially well lighted.
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Iron Gate -- 3rd Street. From 10th Street, go north on Commerce Street all the way thru town to 3rd Street. MapQuest shows 3rd going across the tracks, but it has been cut for many years (of course, the railroad itself is still identified as the "C&O", so you trust free Internet maps at your peril). Take a right and go one block to the area of the tracks. Park and relax. You're at the southern limits of the Clifton Forge yard area, with double track starting here, and heading all the way thru JD Cabin and the yard, and out to Lowmoor. Both sides of the tracks offer excellent viewing and photo ops, so this is a good place to relax and enjoy the CSX action.
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Clifton Forge -- US-220Business Overpass. From 3rd Street in Iron Gate, get back on US-220, and head into Clifton Forge. Make sure you take the US-220Business exit, and not the bypass. Some incidental information is in order here:
In the eastern edge of Clifton Forge, the original C&O main line, now operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, and the James River Subdivision join to head west as the Allegheny Subdivision. The junction itself is at JD Cabin. The presence of steep hillsides, the Jackson River, heavily forested countryside, and road limitations make getting to JD virtually impossible without blatant trespassing. From the VA-629 exit on I-64, you can go south towards US-220, and get a good view of the area at 60mph, but that's not very satisfactory, obviously. Incidentally, this road does not exist on MapQuest, but it does on the ground. From US-60Business heading east out of town, you can wend your way to Golf Course View Road and the crossing of the Charlottesville line, but you'll have to hoof it along the tracks for at least 2/3 mile to get to the junction. That would be 2/3 mile of blatant trespassing. IMHO, it isn't worth the trouble or risk to get to JD Cabin, so let's forget it and move on.
There is one other thing to consider, however, involving JD Cabin. At that point, the 2 westward lines meet, but their mile points don't match. Indeed, the James River Line's MP at JD is CAB 229.4, and the end of the North Mountain Sub (the original Chesapeake and Ohio thru Charlottesville) is CA 276.0. From now on, all westbound mile points will be the original C&O CA mile points. So far on this tour from Richmond's Rivanna Junction, we have come 229.4 miles, and we're ready to head west with mile points starting at CA 276.0. Bring 'em on!
US-220Business swings 90° from northwest to southwest, and parallels the Jackson River and the tracks (on the far shore of the river, of course) into Clifton Forge. There's really nothing fancy about Clifton Forge -- it used to be a railroad town and still is, but your Webmaster thinks the town looks much cleaner and perkier than it did 10 years ago. There are nice looking places to eat in town, and relatively few boarded up buildings. Someone is doing something right and working hard.
When US-220Business swings 90° to the north to go over the river and the tracks, continue straight and find a place to park. Walk out to the bridge on the west side of the road. There is a nice sidewalk on the west side of the bridge, and nothing at all on the east. For morning shots of trains departing eastward, this is a very fine down-on photo location.
Bring 'em on, indeed, and to continue west, go here to go thru Clifton Forge and on to Hinton.