Storming through William's Ridge

 Division regular, number 777, storms through the town of Williams Ridge with a through train of reefers in the late 1940s.  A heavy Mikado switches the quarry on the other side of the depot.

This photo of another heavy pacific in Terminus, shows some the famous arches that were so well known as part of Underground Terminus.  The city of Terminus was built up a level from the original city, therefore allowing streets to cross over the rail line and eliminate grade crossings.  This made for some very interesting scenes, especially as photograph from the so-called Terminus railroad gulch.

P5 2916 and P5a 2922 sit with southbound passenger trains at Terminus Terminal Station, sometimes in the late '20s. Both engines were regular passenger power on the line from the mid '20s through the '50s. This scene would be repeated daily for years to come. 2922 has The Southbound Bluefield Flyer while 2916 is in from the Point Pleasant Branch with #7.  Both trains are bound for Bluefield.

A Bluefield Pacific, 2916, crosses the crossing in the middle of downtown William's Ridge. A 4-4-2 class E, Atlantic type sits with a short passenger train at the station platform. In the far background, there looks to be a Mikado running down main street, delivering some freight cars to their industries.

A line of of 3 locomotives illustrates the main 3 locomotive classes used in the 1940s and early 1950s. The B class Berkshire stands obscuring the view of a P5 Pacific and M4 Mikado.

Heavy Mikado, 672 makes her way through the maze of switches at the north east end of William's Ridge. She has just finished switching out her freight cars and is headed to the engine terminal at Mount Frigid.

N&W Class A pulls a heavy freight on The Bluefield in January of 1951. She is seen running through the rock cut just past Post tunnel. This line only saw occasional service after 1944, when a grade reducing cutoff was built. The new line reconnected to the old line near Big Run.

in 1950, The Norkfolk and Western Railway took control of the Bluefield and Allegheny Central Railroad, but allowed to the latter road to continue to operate as a separate entity for many years.  The Bluefield benefited in the spring of that year when several of the N&W's "modern steam locomotives" showed up on the  property to help with assignments.  The Class Js rarely ever saw service on the line from Bluefield to Fairmont because their long rigid wheelbase was rough on the sharp curves common on the Bluefield. Never the less, class J 605 is captured here at the Fairmont roundhouse in May of 1950. The tender of a large articulated N&W locomotive can also be seen at the far right.

Repairs, circa 1920

Two Bluefield Steam locomotives are undergoing repairs at an unknown location sometimes in the early 1920s before the arrival of the larger Mikados that would first appear on the property in 1923. The earliest class M, Mikados were rebuilt from consolidations and kept their original road numbers in the 400 series. Behind the two Bluefield engines, you can see either an N&W class J or K2a.