Operations on the Kanawha & Western Allegheny
C.J. RileyIn part three of the 9-part Kanawha & Western Allegheny series, Allen Keller delivers an inside look at the operations of the model railroad devised by C.J. Riley. He offers a brief overview of the American Coal Industry during the 1940’s to provide insight into the operations of the Kanawha & Western Allegheny.
The Kanawha & Western Allegheny and the Coal Industry
The Kanawha & Western Allegheny depicts Appalachia during World War II. This period was a time when coal dominated the economy and ruled the lives of everyone. It was an affair much different than present day. It was a time when the coal industry and the government struggled to keep up with the demand for West Virginian coal and diesels were nonexistent.
Allen Keller guides us as we take a trip back in time to West Virginia. We follow a freight train as it moves through Gauley Mills, Cowen, Beech Creek, and Armstrong. You’ll learn more about the towns as the journey proceeds.
This is Appalachia in the 1940s, when coal is truly king. Coal not only rules the lives of the citizens and politicians, it is the economy. Coal is the engine that drives the small towns back in the hollers. Full employment is not a slogan here, it's a reality because of the war, and the Kanawha & Western Allegheny struggles to keep up with the demand for West Virginia coal by industry and the government. Because of the influence of coal on the railroad, diesels are non-existent.
Steam power remains king along with coal. Grab your miner's hat and lunch bucket and join us for a trip back into West Virginia behind number 1117, a Western Maryland 2-10-0. Traffic volume on the Kanawha & Western has made the appearance of WM Power a common sight. The decapod picks up steam leaving Gauley Mills. The town is older than the railroad, so the only place for the tracks was down the main street of this mill town.
Cowen Yard handles the hoppers from all the coal mines in this part of West Virginia. There's also a connection with the B&O here. Exiting the rock bore tunnel, our freight pulls through Beech Creek and its junction with a branch line to the coal mines. At Armstrong, our train of boxcars, hoppers, and tank cars will be moved to the staging yard at Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
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