Natural Tunnel

[CSX1702]

Just curious as to how many trains a day the Natural Tunnel park in Virginia sees? And doesn't both CSX and NS run through it? I would like to head over that way on my next vacation......even though that's wayyyy in the future. Lol.

[bigbassloyd]

The coal decline is certainly felt there. I've been there several times for several hours each visit over the last year. I haven't caught a train yet.

So about like that.

CSX has rights over NS, and NS has rights over CSX. There doesn't seem to be a pattern as to what runs when and where.

Loyd L.

[troy12n]

The 2 times I have gone down to rail level at Natural Tunnel, I waited for hours and got not one movement. Probably bad luck, but it's quite a climb back up. The times I went were off-season and the lift was not running. There's lots of scenic places on the line from Speers Ferry to Norton, but traffic is lacking at times.

The only guarantee as to what railroad runs what line, is every movement off of the L&N near Appalachia has to run over the ex-Southern to get to the Clinchfield at Frisco. Sometimes NS trains off the Clinch Valley heading south to Bulls Gap will run over the Clinchfield between St. Paul and Frisco, sometimes trains off the Clinchfield will run over the Southern N&W/Southern between St. Paul and Frisco, but that's not usually the case. It's considerably longer on the N&W and Southern routing via Norton and Big Stone Gap than it is over the Clinchfield.

[CSX1702]

Well that sucks. From all the videos I've seen it looks like it would be a really cool place to watch. Oh well.......

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by CSX1702

Well that sucks. From all the videos I've seen it looks like it would be a really cool place to watch. Oh well.......

It's an interesting place no doubt.

[CSX1702]

Originally Posted by troy12n

It's an interesting place no doubt.

Yeah it seems like a place you can get real up close to the action.

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by troy12n

The 2 times I have gone down to rail level at Natural Tunnel, I waited for hours and got not one movement.

/Mitch

PS - I've visited once, spent 2 hours, and saw nothing but rails and ties.
Maybe some mining cars up on top? On display - can't recall.

[CSX1702]

Originally Posted by Mgoldman

Originally Posted by Mgoldman

PS - I've visited once, spent 2 hours, and saw nothing but rails and ties.
Maybe some mining cars up on top? On display - can't recall.

That really sucks.....