CSX Eagle Rock, VA - a photo on Flickriver

CSX Eagle Rock, VA

            In Virginia Appalachian coal has rolled east on the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway following the descending path of the James River to ocean shipment at Newport News for more than 130 years. The James River and Kanawha Canal was built from Richmond as far west as the town of Buchanan by 1851 along the James with the ultimate goal to provide a commercial waterway over the mountains to the Ohio River and Midwest. This eighteenth century business venture supported by George Washing and other Virginian landowners became reality too late. The final lock of the canal near the village of Eagle Mountain was never completed. After the Civil War and a flood in 1877, railroads had rendered the bankrupt canal obsolete. A railroad built on the towpath of the canal became a low-grade alternative to the original Chesapeake and Ohio Railway mainline which crossed three mountain summits to reach the head of the James from Richmond. Eagle Mountain grew as a rural town and was later renamed Eagle Rock. Businesses on Railroad Avenue parallel to the C&O in Eagle Rock including a bank, general merchandise store, butcher shop, wheelwright, and barber shop grew to serve the local area. After years of urbanization and a catastrophic flood in 1985, little remained in Eagle Rock. The population in 2020 was 209.

Gravity does nearly all the work. After releasing brakes in Clifton Forge, the engineer of an eastbound coal load on the James River Subdivision spends most of his time regulating dynamic brake effort to control speed. As evening twilight fades to darkness, the whir of dynamic brake fans overcomes the quiet on Railroad Avenue at Eagle Rock. CSX train C208-04 from the Massey Energy Marfolk Mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia leads 146 loads of coal bound for ocean export at the Dominion Terminal at Newport News, Virginia. Bank of Botetourt still maintains a branch office in the ornate bank building facing Railroad Avenue. After business hours, the lone car on Railroad Avenue belongs to an occupant of a second story apartment.

Taken on: September 6, 2024

Tags:

Eagle Rock

Virginia

Railroad

General Electric

AC4400CW

Coal

James River Subdivision

NGC « less

Groups appears in: • The Light Fantastic • ~*~Atmosphere~*~ more » • Clouds, Storms, Sunsets & Sunrises • ~Engineering is Art~ • Progressive and Artistic Railway Photography • National Geographic Group • Light, Composition, Imagination (Railways) • Train art • Cool Train Pix • Railroad Night Photography • in explore • ambiance ferroviaire • Shadows and Moods • CSSS: Earth - My Perspective, A Personal Focus • CSSS: 50 States of Sunrises / Sunsets (& US Territories) • Train & Ambiance • WONDERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL.MARAVILLAS DE LA FOTOGRAFIA EN • CSSS: Earth - Sunrises & Sunsets (Virginia) • Appalachia Railroading « less

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