Tunnel Travels

[Butch]

I am still checking out the RR tunnels of Kentucky (155 down, 14 to go) and here are a few recent pictures that may be of interest to NS fans.

These are the northern portals of the Hatfield Tunnels in Pike County, just across the Tug Fork from Matewan, WV.  The NS tracks run the WV side of the river, except that they cut off what would be about a five-six mile loop by crossing the river, going through the tunnels in KY, and then crossing the river again.  For the golfers, there is an interesting little course just to the left of these portals that plays both sides of the river, including tee shots that go across it, if you don?t mind using a swinging bridge to cross the river.

http://home.insightbb.com/~heyref/Hatfield_Tunnels_N15.JPG

Moving on south near Delorme, WV, I saw a caboose on a string of empty coal hoppers.  

http://home.insightbb.com/~heyref//NS_cabose_2.JPG

On another day I ran across a 100+ car coal train while exploring Wolf Branch in Martin County.  

http://home.insightbb.com/~heyref/Wolf_Creek_N48.JPG

Just north of Walton, the NS tracks cross over the CSX tracks (CNO&TP over the L&N Short Line).  

http://home.insightbb.com/~heyref/Walton_NS.JPG

Anyone interested in the former L&N or abandoned lines can check out:

http://home.insightbb.com/~heyref/index4.html

I have also updated Rathole Tunnel pix (Tunnels 3, 4, 5, &10) at:

http://home.insightbb.com/~heyref/index.html