How did the railroad work Jenkin Jones

Tue Apr 20 09:51:58 EDT 2021

Switchback originally was a track designation which appeared on the N&W's New River Division and Branches West of Bluefield Map dated Feb 13, 1888. It showed a track leaving the main line and going back eats to serve the Shamokin Coal & Coke Company at  Maybeury and continuing east to the Elkhorn Coal & Coke Company at what was known as Barlow Hollow. A branch line went north from the Shamokin C&C Co. up Little Fork to the Norfolk Coal & Coke Company. There was no designation for the point where the switchback began. At the time the coal plants were still under construction and the Elkhorn Extension did not ship its first coal until August 1888.

The 1888 N&W Annual Report listed four stations on the Elkhorn Extension. These were East End Trestle No. 3 (Maybeury), Switch Back, Turkey Gap and Elkhorn.

The original track named Switchback was eventually called Elkhorn Branch. Elkhorn Branch traveled about 0.79 miles from its junction with the main line to a switch that sent the left Fork of Elkhorn Branch to the Norfolk Coal & Coke Company and the Right Fork of Elkhorn Branch to the Shamokin C&C co. and the Elkhorn C&C Co.

The Norfolk Coal & Coke Company started operated a central power plant at Switchback in 1903. It supplied electric power to the Norfolk, Angle, Delta and Lick Branch operations, which were all located within about two miles of the power plant. Coal for the power plant was supplied by the Delta Mine via a tram road from the mine.

On May 20, 1904, The Norfolk Coal & Coke Company properties were merged with the Jenkin Jones properties (Caswell Creek, Shamokin and Rolfe operations) and the Sagamore Colliery as the Pocahontas Consolidated Company. This merger formed the basis of the Pocahontas Fuel Company.

It appears that a new power plant was built at Switchback in 1910. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph of March 10, 1910 noted that the Pocahontas Consolidated Collieries Company would have one of the finest power plants in to coalfield when the company was through with its Switchback plant constructed of brick. The new equipment and connections cost over $300,000 and would be capable of generating 10,000 kW of power. The new plant would provide electricity to all of their mines whereas the existing power plant only supplied the Norfolk, Angle, Delta, Lick Branch and Sagamore mines.

By March 1911 the Pocahontas Consolidated Colliers Co. was negotiating with the New River Power Company to take over the Switchback plant. A series of agreements was reached in May and June of 1911 where Pocahontas Consolidated agreed to purchase 10,000,000 kW annually from New River and New River would take over the Switchback power plant, which was valued at $1,000,000 at the time.

The power plant operated until about 1914. In 1927 parts of the power plant were removed and the facility was rebuilt as a distribution center. The 1927 photos do not show a sidetrack for the power plant. A sidetrack was probably built during the reconstruction for the Elkhorn tunnel and new Maybeury bridge. 

When the new Elkhorn tunnel was put into operation the junction for the Elkhorn Branch was moved from the east bound main to the west bound main. 

Switchback and the power plant was covered extensively in “Billion Dollar Coalfield” available from the commissary.

Alex Schust 

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Subject: Re: How did the railroad work Jenkin Jones

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

Sent from my iPhone

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