Elkhorn (Pocahontas Coal)

The Elkhorn/Landgraff area along US-52 sits on Norfolk Southern's double-track Pocahontas Division mainline, one of the most storied coal-hauling routes in North American railroading. The Railstream.net camera mounted on the Elkhorn Inn's balcony broadcasts the action live 24/7, logging approximately 30-40 NS train movements daily. Visitors can watch from several public vantage points along US-52 (Coal Heritage Road), which parallels the double-track main and Elkhorn Creek through narrow Appalachian hollows. At the community of Elkhorn proper, Elkhorn Station Road (CR 52-11) leads to a grade crossing with a small gravel pullout suitable for parking. A talking defect detector sits at milepost 381.0, just east of the crossing, announcing approaching trains — though westbound empties and returning helpers can move fast enough that the detector provides limited warning at this particular location. The Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff, about a mile west, offers the ultimate railfan experience: rail-view guest rooms, a covered front porch and balcony overlooking the tracks, an ATCS scanner and monitor, and the live railcam feed. Railfan & Railroad Magazine called it "the best legal train-watching location in the USA." The atmosphere is intimate — the double-track main runs just yards from the inn and from US-52 for miles through this corridor.

The NS Pocahontas Division threads through the narrow valley of Elkhorn Creek in McDowell County, hemmed in by steep, forested ridges of the Cumberland Mountains. The terrain is classic southern West Virginia coal country: tight hollows, winding two-lane roads, and remnants of the coal camps that once dotted every creek bottom. Landgraff, an unincorporated community approximately 6.4 miles east of the county seat of Welch, was named after Constance Landgraff Andrews, the wife of a coal company executive. The 2001 and 2002 floods along Elkhorn Creek devastated the area, destroying most structures. The only surviving historic building is the 1922 Empire Coal & Coke Company Miner's Clubhouse, now the Elkhorn Inn. The landscape is lush from late spring through fall — oaks, poplars, and mixed hardwoods cover the ridges, and the creek runs alongside the tracks for miles. Fall foliage is outstanding through late October. In winter, bare trees open up sight lines to the tracks. Cell service is limited in the hollows. The area is remote and strikingly quiet between train passages, with little modern development to intrude on the scene.

Norfolk Southern's Pocahontas District runs approximately 100 miles from Bluefield to Williamson, WV, and this corridor through Elkhorn/Landgraff sees the full parade of traffic. The Railstream camera at the Elkhorn Inn documents 30-40 train movements per day. The traffic mix is dominated by coal: loaded eastbound trains heading toward Norfolk's Lamberts Point export pier and empty westbounds returning to mines in McDowell and adjacent counties. Manifest freights, intermodal trains, grain trains, and autorack movements also use the corridor. NS symbol trains operating over the Pocahontas include the 18M/17M, 186/185, 188/189, and 194 manifests, plus coal symbols in the 754-771 and 810-829 series. Amtrak's tri-weekly Cardinal (trains 50/51) passes through as well. Power is predominantly NS GE units — ES44ACs and AC44C6Ms — often in pairs with distributed-power (DPU) remote units mid-train or on the rear. Pushers are still utilized on most heavy eastbound trains climbing toward the Elkhorn Tunnel summit east of here, making this one of the last manned helper districts on the NS system. The Pocahontas Division dispatcher frequencies are 160.650, 161.190, and 161.250 MHz.

The Elkhorn/Landgraff corridor offers several photography setups along US-52. At the Elkhorn grade crossing (CR 52-11 / Elkhorn Station Road), sight lines extend in both directions along the double-track main, and both morning and afternoon light work for different angles. The Frog Rail railfan guide notes this location has "good sight lines for AM and PM shooting." A 70-200mm zoom isolates locomotives against the forested ridges, while a wider 24-70mm captures trains curving through the creek valley with the mountains as backdrop. The Elkhorn Inn's front porch, balcony, and trackside patio in Landgraff provide arguably the most comfortable railfan photography setup anywhere — you can literally shoot from your breakfast table. Winter is the best season for clear shots, as summer foliage can screen the tracks in places along US-52. Further east toward Maybeury and the Elkhorn Tunnel area near Coopers, additional dramatic angles are available (the massive bridge carrying the mainline over US-52 near the tunnel portal is a signature shot, best captured with a telephoto on a clear day). Compass orientation of the valley roughly runs east-west, so morning sun illuminates eastbound trains and afternoon sun lights westbounds.

This stretch of the Pocahontas Division dates to the Norfolk & Western Railway's ambitious Ohio Extension of the late 1880s. The original Flat Top Tunnel (later called the Coaldale Tunnel or Old Elkhorn Tunnel) was completed in 1888, piercing Flat Top Mountain and opening eastern McDowell County and its vast Pocahontas coal seams to rail transport. The first carload of Pocahontas coal had reached Norfolk in 1883, and the extension west through the tunnel made the N&W the dominant coal hauler in the region. By 1913-1915, the steep Elkhorn Grade was electrified by Westinghouse — a 27-mile segment between Bluefield and Vivian using 11 kV 25 Hz overhead catenary, eventually extended to 52 miles. The N&W ordered twelve twin-unit LC-1 boxcab electric locomotives from Baldwin-Westinghouse, the largest and heaviest in the United States at the time. After World War II, the N&W built a new double-track Elkhorn Tunnel on an easier grade, dedicated June 26, 1950, at a cost of $11.9 million. The old tunnel was abandoned and the electrification dismantled. The Elkhorn Inn building itself dates to 1922, when Empire Coal & Coke Company built it as a Miner's Clubhouse. The N&W merged with the Southern Railway in 1982 to form Norfolk Southern.

The Elkhorn/Landgraff corridor is one of the few places in North America where a purpose-built railfan inn sits directly on a Class I mainline. The Elkhorn Inn's rail-view rooms, ATCS scanner, live Railstream camera, and railroad-themed "Dinner in the Dining Car" events — featuring menus from James D. Porterfield's railroad dining books and original 1950s N&W dining car menus — create an experience found nowhere else. The Pocahontas Division itself is historically significant as one of the most consistently profitable railroads in North America, built specifically to move high-BTU Pocahontas coal from mine to port. McDowell County's coal heritage is palpable: the Coal Heritage Trail (an America's Byways route) runs right past the inn on US-52. The area's connection to Homer Hickam's "Rocket Boys" (filmed as "October Sky") and the Mine Wars history adds cultural depth beyond railfanning. Elkhorn Creek, running alongside the tracks, is renowned for wild brown and rainbow trout averaging 24-32 inches.