The former Northern Ohio & Western 4497 EMD GP9, out of service near Bishop WV in March, 2016.
Photo courtesy of Lee Stone
Month: March 2016
The Hemphills, #1 & #2
This is Hemphill tunnel #1 west portal, about 800′ long.
and this is Hemphill tunnel #2 east portal, about 1200′ long
If you’ve got Google Earth, set the options to “digital” and enter these coordinates:
37.44387, -81.59671
Or just follow the N&S railroad line south of Capels WV and you’ll find where my buddy was standing when he took these pictures. He was sort of in between these two, with #1 being slightly to the SE of him.
There’s great history of these tunnels here <click>
Pictures courtesy of Lee Stone
Welch Tunnel
This is the N&S’s Welch tunnel, located just north of Welch WV. It’s about 1300′ long.
Coordinates (decimal) 37.435642, -81.583812
No lie, this once was a busy tunnel…two tracks and all.
If you use Google Earth, check the Historic Imagery of this tunnel and dial it back as far as you can. That shot really shows the tunnel well.
West Vivian Tunnel
My coal country-obsessed buddy recently journeyed to the area around Welch WV. He found and photographed a couple of tunnels on the N&S lines through there. The first one is:
(Photo courtesy of Lee Stone)
The east face of the West Vivian tunnel at Kimball WV.
The tunnel is centered at (Google Earth entry form) 36 25 28.03N, 81 30 30.09W.