Elizabeth and I awoke at the Holiday Inn in Washington Court House and following a hotel breakfast and Internet duties, I drove us Jackson, Ohio.
Wellston and Jackson Railway Company station built in 1894.
The name of the railroad on the building. The W&J Belt was owned by the Cheasapeake and Ohio and was an interurban electric. That interurban line ended service in 1915 and they made a coal carrying road out of it. The Baltimore and Ohio was next to the C&O tracks but the Jackson B&O station was about 300 yards south and on the other side of the tracks. Other railroads, even the Iron Railroad from Ironton, went into the Jackson/Wellston coal fields in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most ran tracks within spitting distance, minimum, to rock-throwing distance, maximum throughout this area. Across the tracks to the west of the Cheasapeake and Ohio depot in Wellston was the two story CH&D depot. South of them was the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton, and south of it was the Baltimore and Ohio.
Chesapeake and Ohio caboose 3292 built by International Car in 1970. We continued on our way and passed through the City of Oak Hill and had to stop.
Chesapeake and Ohio caboose 90997 built by the railroad in 1929, renumbered 1834, was on the main road through the town.
Model of the above caboose. From here we drove to Ironton.
Seaboard Coast Line caboose 0873 built by the railroad and later became Seaboard System 20873.
Norfolk and Western Ironton station built in 1907, now The Depot Restaurant. From here we drove to Huntington, West Virginia, where we met Tim Hensley, author and the Collis P. Huntington Chapter National Representive of the National Railway Historical Society. This museum is the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Museum.
Chesapeake and Ohio caboose 90665 built by American Car and Foundry in 1924. Tim had keys but none of them would work so we could not go into the fenced museum. I took photographs of all the equipment on display but somehow they completely disappeared from my laptop. Elizabeth managed to take this photograph through the fence but as I was taking the pictures, she and Tim had a good conversation. He was a very affable and knowledgeable gentleman who had been a vice president of CSX and had several hands-on experiences with Norfolk and Western 611. In fact, he gave us an autographed copy of "Norfolk and Western Six-Eleven -- Three Times A Lady" that he co-authored.
The two of us said our goodbyes to Tim then went in search of another station in Huntington and found more than just a station.
Chesapeake and Ohio caboose 3187 built by International Car in 1969.
Chesapeake and Ohio freight house and passenger station, which is a stop on Amtrak's Cardinal route. On the way to Gassaway, we stopped at Jersey Mike's for linner and after a great meal, we later arrived at our next stop.
Coal and Coke Railroad station built by 1915. The Coal & Coke Railway Company was incorporated May 14, 1902, by former United States Senator Henry Gassaway Davis and associates, to connect Charleston with the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg Railway in the vicinity of Elkins. Davis had acquired extensive landholdings in the Roaring Creek area of Randolph County and other coal properties in Upshur, Braxton and Gilmer counties. The construction of a railroad was necessary for the development of these properties. After selling the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg in the fall of 1902, Davis acquired 25 miles of track owned by the Roaring Creek & Charleston Railroad and the Roaring Creek & Belington Railroad, both serving his coal properties in Randolph and Barbour counties. He soon acquired 64 more miles of track, which had been constructed by the Charleston, Clendenin & Sutton Railroad, extending from Charleston toward Sutton.
With these acquisitions, only 107 miles of new track from Roaring Creek to Sutton had to be built to provide through traffic from Elkins to Charleston. Construction on the new segment of the Coal & Coke Railway began in the spring of 1903. It was completed on December 2, 1905, when the last spike was driven at Walkersville in Lewis County. Twelve tunnels, totalling two miles of underground trackage and 30 steel bridges, had been constructed to penetrate the mountainous terrain on the route from Roaring Creek (now Norton) in Randolph County to the new town of Gassaway on the Elk River in Braxton County. When the Coal & Coke Railway was completed, it provided a much needed north-south route through the heart of West Virginia. The Coal & Coke connected with the Western Maryland Railroad at Elkins and with the Kanawha & Michigan at Charleston. The Coal & Coke Railway provided a way for West Virginia coal to get to outlets on the Great Lakes, as well as an alternate route to Atlantic Ocean ports. The first coal originating on the new line was shipped from Charleston to the Midwest on December 3, 1905. The first passenger train ran from Elkins to Charleston on January 21, 1906. For more than a decade, passengers and large quantities of coal, coke, timber, and other products were moved over the Coal & Coke. After Davis' death in 1916, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad purchased the controlling interest.
We continued on our way to Washington, Pennsylvania but had a covered bridge to visit before we crossed the state line.
Simpson Creek covered bridge, built in 1881 and crosses Simpson Creek in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Elizabeth drove us to Washington where the car's GPS took us into the hills to a nice residental area. She then used her phone to drive us to the Ramada Inn for the night.
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