Go to Home page Go to Railfan 
Guide Go to Tour Guide Train Gifs by Chris Denbow Go to Stanly 
County Railroad Overview e-Mail Tony Hill Visit the Frograil Railfan Store

 

NS logo

Norfolk to Lake Erie

A self-guiding series of railfan tours


INTRODUCTION:  This is an effort to construct a series of tour segments that will coalesce into a continuous railfan tour from Tidewater Virginia, thru the coal fields of West Virginia, and on to the broad reaches of the Lake Erie shores.  While very much a work in progress, a lot has been accomplished, with just over 272 miles completed.

The tour is being assembled in segments, and has been updated thru September of 2006.

If you've not taken a Frograil tour before, you are strongly urged to visit the Frograil Tours home page, as it is packed with information and suggestions to help you enjoy your tour, maximize the effectiveness of your time, and keep you safe and comfy along the way.   To navigate anywhere within Frograil, click on the navigation buttons at the top of each page.


CONTENTS AND NAVIGATION:

        NS logo    OTHER TOURS

        NS logo    CONTRIBUTORS

        NS logo    A REQUEST FOR HELP

        NS logo    SUPPLEMENTAL AND BACK-UP DATA

        NS logo    THE TOUR SEGMENTS


ABOUT THESE TOURS:

WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE:   From a particular starting point, each segment of this coverage will allow you to follow the instructions given, drive to a railfan site, then to the next, etc. etc.  Traffic levels and patterns will be given, and the photographic/ lighting considerations for each site will usually be mentioned.  You'll be told about area attractions, such as tourist and historic sites, as well as hotels and restaurants which are trackside or otherwise worthy of note.  In short, you'll be able to plan an entire family or railfan-only outing or even a vacation from this guide, as it is completed in the months to come. 

WHAT YOU WILL NOT FIND HERE:  This is a railfan guide, not a photo collection.  There are already many excellent and enjoyable railroad photo sites available, and one more really wouldn't add much value to the general railfan.  Besides, photos take up a lot of memory, and your humble Webmaster has to pay for memory.

You will not find fancy graphics, as this is a tour guide, not an exhibition of HTML or graphics expertise.  You'll be able to load these pages quickly and print them without waiting a week for each page to print.  Also, you'll conserve a lot of toner in the process.

Finally, no maps are included.  Even if you cannot or will not purchase good deLorme or other such atlases, you can print maps from MapQuest off the Net.  Maps take up a great deal of memory, and I see no reason to duplicate what is readily available elsewhere.


CONTRIBUTORS:  Major contributors to this effort include:

    Fred Burton and Markolf Gudjons.  Help thru the Bluefield - Mohawk, WV area.

    Train Gif Artists.  Train gifs add life and color to these pages, and take almost no time to load.  I stick these gifs in whenever I get the urge -- there is no rhyme or reason, I just like them.  You can see hundreds and hundreds of train gifs by clicking on the Train Gifs navigation button at the top of each Frograil page.

    Tony Hill, Webmaster and content provider, entire tour, unless otherwise specifically noted.  All first person references refer to Tony, unless otherwise noted.


A REQUEST FOR HELP:  If you'd like to contribute to this, or any other tour, please contact me at frograil@yahoo.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.


TOUR SEGMENTS:

    Norfolk -- Lynchburg

        Petersburg (Collier) -- Appomattox, VA   97.6 miles completed

    Lynchburg -- Bluefield, WV

        Roanoke -- Wabun   14.7 miles completed
        Berton (Pembroke) -- Bluefield   51.1 miles completed

    Bluefield -- Williamson

        Bluefield, WV -- Mohawk, WV   70.4 miles completed

    Williamson -- Chillicothe, OH

        Williamson -- Crum   24.0 miles completed
        Prichard -- Kenova, WV   12.6 miles completed
        Portsmouth   2.4 miles completed

    Chillicothe -- Sandusky