Published: November 06, 2009 10:18 pm      

Busy coal corridor makes way for excursion train

BLUEFIELD — Today’s arrival of an Amtrak excursion train from Roanoke, Va., is creating excitement in Bluefield, but operating a passenger train on the Norfolk Southern mainline from between the two cities is made especially challenging due to the incredible volume of coal train traffic that use the mainline 24 hours per day, 7 days a week and every day of the year.

“Between loaded coal trains, empty trains going back to the mines and merchandise trains, we move from 26-30 trains between Bluefield and Roanoke every day,” Gary Shepard, superintendent of NS’s Bluefield-based Pocahontas Division said. “In order to keep tracks open for the excursion train, we’ll stage trains on our Clinch Valley line, and back into Welch. We certainly have a long working relationship with the city of Bluefield, and this is good for the city and the communities we serve.”

William G. “Bill” Carper Jr., resident vice president of NS’s Pocahontas Division said that the mainline between Bluefield and Roanoke has become even busier in recent months. “The export coal we transport has improved, and we move a lot of that coal through Bluefield and Roanoke, on to our loading facility at Lambert’s Point,” Carper said.

“We schedule our coal train traffic just like we schedule merchandise trains,” Shepard said. A few years ago, railroaders referred to any non-coal train traffic as “timed freight,” but Shepard said that since NS started scheduling coal trains as well, productivity has increased dramatically.

“We have vessels approaching Norfolk, Va. (location of the NS load-out at Lambert’s Point) all the time,” Shepard said. “We have vessels coming in from Russia, China and other countries, and we work hard to get them into the facility, get them loaded, and get them back out.

“We coordinate everything by scheduling our coal train traffic just like we schedule our merchandise trains,” Shepard said. He added that at any given moment, NS has 1,200 to 4,500 available coal cars ready to move to various load-out facilities at coal mines and preparation plants in the region to transport coal to vessels in the port.

“Scheduling all of the trains allows us to get the vessels loaded and back out to sea without causing them to wait a long time, and without having coal trains sitting loaded at the pier waiting to unload,” Shepard said.

Shepard said that traditional train traffic between Williamson and Bluefield — coal and merchandise trains — will be a little slow today, but he said the division has made all of the scheduling arrangements to be able to work with the excursion train coordinators, people who enjoy the excursions and the communities.

“Most of the passengers who take these excursions are folks who enjoy riding the train,” Kelley Massie, president of the Pocahontas Division National Railway Historical Society said. “We’re not participating in the excursion, other than being here to show our support for the members of the Roanoke Chapter who are hosting it.

“The Roanoke Chapter has car hosts in each of the cars in the train,” Massie said. “The hosts can help people on and off the train, answer questions about the trip and provide information about some of the history,” Massie said. “Our chapter will have eight members staffing a table outside Landmark Antique Mall. Along with supporting the Roanoke chapter, we’ll be encouraging people to attend our model train show — Railfest 2009 — next weekend at the Herb Sims Youth Center and city auditorium.”

The excursion train is set to arrive at 11:30 a.m.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com