How did the railroad work Jenkin Jones

[NW Mailing List]

Gordon,
Part of my answer to the Switchback question is total chance.  A few nights ago I was reviewing the April/May/June 2014 Issue of the Arrow.  In this issue is an article by David Vos entitled “A Great Locomotive Chase”.  The opening pages of the article are pages 8 and 9 which are a center spread picture of Switchback, WV.  David shot the photo looking west of an eastbound.  From the photo it appears that there was a switchback and a tail track to access the facility.  

As recent as in the last 6 to 7 years, I noticed a track still intact near the Substation at Switchback hidden in the weeds.  I noticed it a few times when I passed by on a required train ride. 

If I remember correctly, the name for Switchback originally came from a much more severe switch back that diverged from the south side of the eastbound main.  It was used to access mine operations in Barlow Hollow in the pre-Elkhorn Tunnel days before the 1950 re-alignment. Alex can probably offer more detail on this.  

My thanks for the great operational topics.

Cheers,
Chris Dalton 
Bluefield, WV

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