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.

Eagles eye view of Terminus Terminal Area

This view was taken from atop a factory that bordered the Terminus railroad gulch area. Once again we see two passenger trains at the Terminal Station platforms.  The terminal station head house is above track level off camera to the right.  This station saw trains from the Bluefield as well as the N&W and The Ironball System.

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 visitor on the Bluefield.

In 1946, The Bluefield was considering its options for adding to its fleet of modern steam power for freight service and decided to borrow locomotives off of other roads to test their performance on the Bluefield. One of the locomotives tried was a Reading T1 4-8-4, 2103. The T1 design was the result of a collaboration between the Reading Company and Baldwin locomotive works, and they were built by elongating the boilers of several of the Reading's large 2-8-0s and building a new engine around that key component. They proved so successful that the Reading built 30 total.

In this nighttime photo, 2103 sits alongside a Bluefield P4 Pacific and a class M Mikado, the night before her trial runs were to begin. Eventually, The Big 4-8-4 was deemed to long the drivers too big for the Bluefield. After her trials, she was stored temporarily at Mount Frigid before being returned to the Reading.

Doubleheaded Mikados blast forth from Mount Frigid's North Tunnel with a southbound freight. Even on the relatively short trains seen on the Bluefield, doubleheading was often necessary. The Bluefield was primarily a coal hauler, and most of that coal was bound for the connection with the N&W. 

Original power for the Bluefield Flyer came in the form of 4 beautiful little Atlantic type 4-4-2s.  1571 is seen here on the main line at Mount Frigid, pausing for a photo, possibly for use as a publicity photo. The train moved fast and sported a Victorian style coach/baggage combine, a very fine coach with a women's dressing area attached to the women's restroom and a parlor/observation car.  When the railroad wanted to replace the consist with heavyweight equipment, the 4-4-2s proved not powerful enough.  in 1910, light pacifics 915 and 916 became the standard power for the train. They were finally replaced by the larger P5s in 1923.

A Brand New 777 has arrived fresh from the factory

In this striking color slide, a brand new 777 has just been delivered to the Mount Frigid Engine Terminal from her birth place in Lima Locomotive Works in Lima Ohio.  The Bluefield ordered a total of 4 Lima-built Berkshires, numbered 775-778. They were essential copies of the famous Nickel Plate locomotives of the same wheel arrangement. When she arrived, the 777 had white running boards and white trimmed drivers (a look typically reserved for passenger power). She also sported a handsomely sheathed smokebox. The engine would not keep her fancy appearance for long, as tough mountain railroading and the many tunnels located on steep grades created less than clean conditions for any steam power.

A Bluefield 2-8-4 makes her way slowly through Williams Ridge with a reefer train in tow.  Bluefield had several 'hotshot' freights, and although they were not extremely high speed, they were faster than one would assume on a steep and winding road like the Southern Allegheny Division. 777 was a division favorite as far as heavy home steam power. She was a bit slippery on the grades, however, as were the other 2 original Bluefield 2-8-4s. The railroad continued to make small adjustments to try to give the engines better starting power.

A double headed southbound coal train passes Mound Frigid Engine terminal behind 2 M4 Mikados. The year is 1948. The Train originated in Mount Frigid yard on the other side of the mountain. The coal came from mines north of Mount Frigid and most of it will continue south to Bluefield, where the N&W will take it to the port at Lambert's Point. These through coal trains were seen regularly on the Bluefield and were the railroad's bread and butter. Once N&W took over the line, articulated N&W power could be seen more and more on these through coal trains.

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.

This photo was taken at the Mount Frigid Engine Terminal in fall of 1950. You can see N&W 1238 on the right. She was a regular guest on the Bluefield in 1950 and was regularly serviced at Mount Frigid along with a couple of her articulated sisters.  In the center is an older Bluefield consolidation.

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.

An early Bluefield Passenger Engine

A Bluefield 4-4-0 backs towards the coach yard in Terminus, circa 1919. In the early years, Bluefield had quite a few 4-4-0s.  159 was one of 3 4-4-0s kept into the 1950s for branch line service.

1913 Bluefield and Allegheny Central Map.

This is the way the Bluefield and Allegheny Central Railroad appeared in 1913. The map was not to change much in the next 50 years except for the addition of some branch lines. By 1950, B&AC was controlled by the Norfolk and Western, but continued to essentially run as its own entity into the 1960s. Trains north of Fairmont operated with trackage rights over the New York Central to Pittsburgh.