Coaling Tower: (
Satellite)
Backshop: (
Satellite, between the mainline and river about halfway between the coaling tower and depot.)
Depot: (
Satellite)
Page 63 of the May, 2017 Trains Magazine has a picture of a coaling tower. The article explains that it is on the former C&O New River Subdivision. Most of the buildings are empty, but they are preserved because the whole town is part of the New River Gorge National Park.
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I Love Trains posted
photo courtesy of Chris Cook - The coaling tower in Thurmond, WV, built by Fairbanks-Morse in 1922 for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, has the capacity to hold 500 tons of coal. Coaling Towers were used to load coal onto steam locomotives. The coal was then used to heat the water that turned into steam and power the steam driven engine. Once an important part of rail life, coaling towers are no longer common. Most of those that remain were those made of concrete and steel. |
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Zachary Syner posted
Construction of the Coal Tower in Thurmond, West Virginia 1922.
Randall Hampton shared
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Raymond Storey posted
The C&O...Thurmond WV |
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Ted Gregory posted, cropped
C&O coaling tower still standing along the mainline in Thurmond WV. Behind it, is the New River.
WJ Spence: I think it was built by Fairbanks Morse if memory serves 🤔 |
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Mark Mitscher posted
Thurmond, WV |
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Southern West Virginia Online posted
The 70-foot-tall C&O Railway coaling tower, built in 1922, looms over Thurmond, West Virginia, as a towering relic of the steam era, once refueling locomotives at this busy rail hub with up to 500 tons of coal. Randy Ferrell Clay: There’s one just like that in Sylvester wv. Boone county. Southern West Virginia Online sharedPhil Hotchkiss: Still one standing in Lincoln County. |
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Life is West Virginia posted
Thurmond, West Virginia
Tim Shanahan shared |
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Eric M Ziegler posted
Thurmond WV, Picked up a load of coal, 3-30-16 |
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Tim Marbarger posted
New meets old. A CSX engine seen through the old C&O coaling tower at Thurmond WV.
Roy Miller: Looks like it was built in 1922.
John Richard Kraft: Built by Fairbanks/Morse...
Tim Shanahan shared |
Eric M Ziegler
posted two photos with the comment: "I see alot of pics of the coaling tower at Thurmond WV but don't see pics of who built it, Fairbanks Morse."
Christopher D Coleman: The wood tipple at Chama NM on the Cumbres and Toltec is also a Fairbanks Morse tipple. The tipple business was a side line to promote sales of their engines to lift the coal into the bunker.
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Robert Slavy
posted two photos with the comment: "Two views of Thurmond one taken in July 1974 and the other last Friday 12/01. Lots of changes in those years and I am glad I was around to see it then. Back in 1974 when I took that photo an old railroader at the station told me 'You should have seen it 50 years ago.'"
Nick Martin: What’s the track off to the left used for today with the dwarf signal?
Bill Fair: Nick Martin regional coal mines I believe. When I was there earlier this year, RJ Corman had one of their locomotives sitting on there.
Steven K Bennett: Nick Martin that track is now the only track servicing loop creek branch by R. J. Coleman thru Red Star, Garden Ground, Mt. Hope and Carlyle.
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The Past & Present of West Virginia posted
Looking toward downtown Thurmond, what a busy time it was for trains. This photo was taken from the present-day parking lot for the depot visitor center. |
Tim Starr
posted two photos with the comment: "Exterior and interior view of the small Chesapeake & Ohio engine house at Thurmond, WV. (Jet Lowe photos, 1988)"
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Zachary Syner
posted nine photos with the comment:
The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Engine House in Thurmond, West Virginia, was essential to the town's development as a major railroad hub in the early 20th century. Constructed in 1905, the engine house initially measured 150 feet by 66 feet, providing 9,900 square feet of space—sufficient to service two locomotives simultaneously.
In 1921, an expansion extended the building to 245 feet in length, allowing for the servicing of up to four engines at once. At its peak, the engine house operated continuously with three 8-hour shifts, employing between 50 to 70 workers per shift.
These included machinists, boilermakers, steam fitters, and other skilled tradesmen who maintained and repaired steam locomotives and railcars. The facility serviced between 60 to 100 railcars daily, ensuring the efficient operation of the C&O Railway's extensive network. However, the advent of diesel-electric locomotives in the mid-20th century rendered many steam-related facilities obsolete by 1963.
Randall Hampton
shared with the comment: "C&O engine house at Thurmond, which has not survived."
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Note that
the bridge has a one lane road as well as a track.
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Mike Tewkesbury posted
Thurmond is a nearly abandoned town in Fayette County, West Virginia, on the New River. It was incorporated in 1903. The population was five during the 2010 census. During the heyday of coal mining in the New River Gorge, Thurmond was a prosperous town with a number of businesses and facilities for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
J.B. Rail Photog shared |
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Zachary Syner posted
Thurmond Train Bridge and Station. This town used to service 15 passenger trains a day. It had attractions such as a movie theater, two hotels, two banks and more. Thurmond began to decline with the switch to diesel locomotives and the closing of local coal mines. The train station was restored by The National Park Service in efforts to save the history of the town, today it’s used as a visitor center museum. |
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Wolfgang Schmittenhammer posted
Ghost town of Thurmond, West Virginia. |
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Andy Chabot posted
Westbound Hoppers at Thurmond, West Virginia CSXT 465 on the point as another hopper train rattles the windows of the old Thurmond Depot. 09/13/2006 ©2006 Andy Chabot |
This photo makes you appreciate how much work they did to refurbish the depot.
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Robert Slavy posted
Cardinal stopping in Thurmond 1978. |
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Robert Slavy posted
My first day at Thurmond in July 1974. Lots going on from that bus again to the locomotive tender behind it. Everybody was nice to a 25-year-old carrying a camera that day. I was asked twice that day as to why I would want to take pictures of a dirty old train. |
It seems that neither Google nor Bing have sent a street-view car to this town. That is really desolate! I'm getting used to being able to get pictures of grain elevators and bridges from side streets in Midwest towns because the coverage of the streets is pretty good. I have even found some pictures from parking lot aisles. But it seems that no streets in this town have been visited by either mapping service.
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Robert Slavy posted
Just a caboose sitting between mine runs in Thurmond. 1977. I grew up with red Virginian and N&W cabooses but sure liked the color of the C&O cabs. |
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Robert Slavy posted
Two cats in Thurmond with some of the Matewan movie props still around. The second kitty is hard to see. |
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1 of 4 posted by Craig Hensley Photography
CSX G227 - Thurmond, WV
An eastbound CSX grain train passing through the town of Thurmond, WV in the heart of the New River Gorge. Chock full of history, this rather small town was incorporated in 1900 and was named for Captain W. D. Thurmond who settled here in 1844. C&O began operating through Thurmond in 1892 and since this was a coal mining town, coal was the primary export. A railroad station was constructed in 1888 and still stands today as a historic depot and an active stop on Amtrak's tri-weekly Cardinal service. The railroad took up the majority of real estate in town, as is still does today as part of the CSX New River Subdivision
Douglas Drexel Mitchell: Is the track over the bridge still used?
Peter Kazmierczak: Douglas Drexel Mitchell Primarily coal traffic is taken over that bridge, but some mixed freight for customers on that line as well. RJ Corman calls it the Loup Creek branch. Often times a CSX local will leave either a full empty coal train or other cars for them on a siding just north outside of town. RJC will get permission to either grab the mixed freight with their own power, or in the case of a coal train they use the CSX power for taking the train to and from the loading site. Loading takes place at Pax, using RJC power to move cuts of cars through. Once complete, they will tie back on with the CSX power and take it back for interchange. These ops are as-needed, but usually there's at least one coal train a week. |
Some proof that the track over
the bridge is still used.
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J Reeves Photography posted
A coal train slowly passing through the ghost town of Thurmond, West Virginia, in the heart of the New River Gorge National Park.
Chris Robinson: The coal is from a mine in Pax WV. Alpha Resources.
Randall Hampton shared
Coming off the branch.
Eric Domboski: Nice photo! Since Thurmond still has some residents, it is NOT a ghost town.
J Reeves Photography: Eric Domboski might be a slight exaggeration, but it's certainly slight. 5 people don't make up much of a town. |
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