SLRR C801-1 eases north out of Bentree, WV. Two of the helpers broke down early in the trip and overworked the rest of the trains motors, but the timing couldn't have been worse - the train was stuck on a tunnel with a rather significant gradient. Thankfully for the crew, three units had been working a train in Alloy. They dropped their train and sped off south towards the stalled train. SD50s 4056 & 4044, with the unique one-off ph4c SD40-2 3872, latched onto the front and rescued the heavy coal train. The new leaders would remain with C801-1 until Boaz, where the now-DIT helpers were dropped off to be worked on and the electrics prepped for their next assignment.
The sun is edging nearer and nearer to the horizon as the train rolls past Chloe, WV.
Substation #8 at Mt. Zion can be seen in the background as the SD50s glide through the curve that will take the train back down this mountain. It's not a pleasant ride down that way, that's for sure!
There's nearly 26000hp on the head end of C801-1 as it descends the St. Marys' Grade, just one of the many treacherous grades on the West Virginian sub. It is, though, one of the easiest of the tough grades - an oxymoron if ever there was one.
Passing Pleasants Power Station at Willow Island, WV. Sometimes, trains drop off right at the power plant, other times they use the plants small yard to run-around their train to bring the coal up to Kammer Mitchell Power Plant, some 50 miles north. In this case, the coal will head straight to the yard at Boaz. Some of it will be exported, some of it will head to other industries for their own processing, and yet still some may end up in the power plant. There's enough coal left in the primary mines near Clear Creek to last the railroad and its customers for decades, but time will tell when the electrified conveyor belt will have run its course or not.
Cheers,
SM