Virginia Creeper Trail

The Virginia Creeper Trail is a 34.3 mile rail-to-recreation trail starting in Abingdon, Virginia, traveling eastward through Damascus, Va. and ending just past the famed Whitetop Station at the Virginia-North Carolina border. Operated as a branch of the Norfolk & Western Railway, the last steam engine was retired from the line in 1956 and replaced with diesel power. By 1974, the railroad had petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon the line due to low traffic and deteriorating right of way. Track removal began in 1977. The Creeper Trail as it exists today was completed in 1984 and is maintained by public-private partnerships between the U.S. Forest Service, towns of Abingdon and Damascus, and "Creeper Keeper" trail volunteers.

See also our complete Norfolk & Western Railway mainline collection

Norfolk & Western #433

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Norfolk & Western #433

builder:ALCO Richmond
arrangement:2-8-0 Twelve-wheeler
class:Class M1, 1 of 75 from Alco
built:Jan 1907, Alco #40329
fuel:coal/water
notes:
20 x 30" cylinders, 56" drivers
on static display, Abingdon VA

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Trail

map of the Virginia Creeper trail / Roanoke Times / web

Abingdon

Abingdon, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

outbound view / Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

N&W mile marker / Abingdon, Va / RWH

passing under Interstate 81 / Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Watauga, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Abingdon wye

overhead of former wye area / web

Just east of Abingdon, the Norfolk & Western maintained a wye track arrangement for turning locomotives and equipment for proper orientation in and out of Bristol, Virginia. Tracks and roadbed surfaces are long gone, but the raised right-of-way can still be observed along the Creeper Trail.

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Alvarado

A trail restroom facility has been constructed in Alvarado, Va in a style reminiscent of many of the smaller Norfolk & Western depots along the Creeper line and throughout the region.

Alvarado, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

Alvarado, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

westbound view / Alvarado, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

eastbound view / Alvarado, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

trail crossing highway / east of Alavadro, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

Damascus

westbound view / Damascus, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

eastbound view into town / Damascus, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

bridge into town / Damascus, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

Damascus, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

Green Cove

The Virginia Carolina Railroad built Green Cove depot around 1914. It functioned as more than a railroad station, serving also as a post office, general store, and telegraph office for the surrounding area. The station is memorialized in railroad photographer O. Winston Link’s “Maud Bows to the Virginia Creeper,” which he photographed in 1956 during the heyday of Norfolk & Western branchline steam. The building is now owned by the National Park Service.