This old loader is near the Wakenva VA junction (it’s just ahead in this picture). It was hard to figure this one out. There had been a pulley system of some sort with stout wire cable, but I couldn’t tell what it was for. It had both rail and truck access.
This is the Elkhorn City portal of the Martin tunnel on the CSX…29.87 miles from Elkhorn City. The tunnel, at 37.041013, -82.308243, is 387′ long and, as you can see takes a turn to the right before opening out very near a community called Wakenva. The story is that this town was established by a coal company that had interests in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. I don’t know how you get “West Virginia” from “Wa”, but that’s just me. The date over the portal is 1920.
Blogging the Railroad Tunnels 