CSX - Santa Train 2012 and 2013
Rail Fan Adventure --
1. 8:27 A.M. – must be Haysi, Va. Herb Parsons and Don Mills beat me here.
2. Crossing the McClure River at Clinchco, Va. 11-17-2012 I’m standing on the grade of the old Clinchco mine spur.
3. CSX P907-17 pulled by 8140-9993 going by Allen passing siding just south of McClure, Va. The blue facility in the background is a ventilation fan for McClure Mine. 11-17-2012.
4. CSX business car “Youngstown.”
5. CSX business car 994500 “Ohio.”
6. CSX P907-17 passing by Dante Yard. The turntable is seldom used these days. No employees at Dante except maintenance-of-way and a few train crews.
7. A huge crowd awaits Santa at St. Paul, Va. Santa heaves off gifts for 20 minutes here. 11-17-2012.
8. P907-17 departs on schedule at 11:28 A.M. Next stop is Dungannon and arrival in Kingsport at 3:08. On the left is the connection between NS’s Clinch Valley District and CSX’s Kingsport Subdivision.
9. CSX business car 994307 “Waycross.”
10. This past October 23rd the weather was not near as nice as 2012. CSX rebuilt SD-40-2 4043 and F40PH 9998 round a curve just south of Haysi with a 10 car train. As evidenced by the recently excavated hillside, this was the location of a recent rock slide that thankfully didn’t derail any trains this time.
11. Santa won’t have much to do until except wave at railfans until his next stop at Clinchco at 9:00 A.M.
12. The Santa Train leaves Clinchco.
13. P907 at Wakenva.
14. “Approach slow” signal at the north end of Boody passing siding. Also known as “Hanging Rock Curve” for obvious reasons. Just past the south end of Boody CSX crosses NS’s Clinch Valley District at grade. This is mile post 40 from Elkhorn City.
15. The Santa Train passes the north end of Boody. Note the “doll arm” on the signal. This signifies that the high signal is for the main line and the dwarf is for the siding. This was a common Clinchfield practice.
16. P907 had a brief mechanical problem which enabled me to get this parting shot of Santa near the NS interchange at Boody. 11-23-2013.
Train images used by permission of Everett N Young
last update - 03 Nov 2014