NS Bluestone Branch (WVA) questions

[troy12n]

I have some questions about what is (was) known as the Bluestone branch in West Virginia. It was apparently abandoned some time in the early to mid 90's, but was never taken up. In fact most of it remains intact to some degree. A few miles up to Coopers, WV is used currently for car storage, usually old coal hoppers waiting for use or scrapping. Currently about 2 miles worth of Autoracks is there.

In railfanning the P-D district the other day, I noticed something that it paralleled the Virginian mainline for quite some distance and there was (is) even an interchange track at Mataoka, WV. I wonder why it actually survived so long. It looks to me like large portions of it could have been abandoned immediately after the Virginian meger in 1959, and access gained to parts of it via connection tracks to the Virginian mainline, because there was obviously no online customers except coal mines.

Anyone have any more info on this, its curious to me as to why it was never pulled up, would make for an interesting railcar trip, at least up to some of the washed out sections anyway...

[Fly Device]

My map shows three mine branches coming off the line between Coopers and Rock, Rock being about where the line comes into proximity with the ex-VGN. If the interchange with the VGN was all the way up at Matoaka (not at Rock), these three mine branches appear to be closer to the N&W mainline at Coopers. I have no idea if and when those mines quit operating.

Here's what the Frograil tour (http://www.frograil.com/tours/ns/NSPokey.htm) says about the branch:

The track on the bridge under the mainline is the recently-closed Matoaka branch.  This was double tracked, and was obviously a quite important coal gathering line, but the grades going northeast out of Coopers seem to be relentless.