After leaving a cut for the Arizona Eastern at the interchange in Clifton, a 4 pack of Phelps Dodge GP38-2s climb the steep grade back to the copper mines. These units are specially geared for th... (more)

A Santa Fe mine shuttle with GE U23C's 7512 and 7506 snakes around curves on the Santa Rita District near Hurley, New Mexico in May 1974. The train––loaded at a Kennecott open pit mine just ar... (more)

A WVN mine run was climbing out of a mine spur near Howesville, WV on August 18, 1975 with SW1200 No. 52 and NW2 No. 50.

The crew of a mine run were all on the ground looking at the results of a practical joke on the engineer. While working the B&O interchange at Tunnelton, one of the trainmen strapped about 10 tra... (more)

The climb on the WVN to to the B&O interchange at Tunnelton, WV was a brutal one and five or six loaded hoppers was the limit for the two switchers. On May 5, 1978, a mine run was struggling upgr... (more)

On May 5, 1978, when shooting the West Virginia Northern, the weather seemed to change by the moment. When we started at Kingwood, we had fog. By the time we got to Chapman, it had turned to driz... (more)

The morning fog was beginning to lift when the WVN went to work on the morning of May 5, 1978 with SW1200 No. 52 and NW2 No. 50. The facility was an interesting mix with a modern diesel shop resi... (more)

A WVN mine run was climbing up the grade up to the switchback near Chapman, WV in a spring shower on May 5, 1978 with SW1200 No. 52 and NW2 No. 50.

Far be it for me to ever accuse C&O of wasting anything. In a day when "repurpose" seems to be the word, one has to look back at the C&O and conclude they were "king" years ago. Witness the MofW... (more)

A C&O Mine Run was crossing the Spruce Fork of the Little Coal River near Sharples, WV on May 19, 1979 with GP40 No. 4068 and GP39 No. 3902. Obviously, the bridge had seen some recent attention f... (more)

The crew for an outbound mine run has just arrived and is checking over the power before heading out for a night of shifting coal cars. Units like GP30 No. 3044 were becoming more common in the c... (more)

A C&O mine run, running caboose light, passes the station at Man, WV on May 18, 1979 with two Geeps. The mine run is westbound on the Logan Subdivision and the Buffalo Subdivision diverges to the... (more)

Back in 1979, things were done a bit differently when it came to communications. A trainman had dismounted and was talking on the phone to get authority to proceed further up the Logan Subdivisio... (more)

A C&O mine run is en-route to the mines with a train of empty hoppers at Elimer, KY on C&O's Sandy Valley and Elkhorn Subdivision. By this date, May 31, 1978, C&O's U25Bs were nearing the end of ... (more)

N&W's slug sets were among the most interesting facets of railroading on the Pokey. Here, two of them lead a train of loads towards the main, outside of historic Matewan.