Thurmond,
West Virginia

On my way home to Pennsylvania from an excellent Saturday chasing Norfolk & Western #611 across central Virginia with my brother-in-law, on Sunday I made an impromptu stop across the New River in Thurmond, West Virginia. What I love about railfanning is the element of surprise: some locations on some days yield nothing in the way of action; others yield everything. Thurmond this Sunday morning turned out to be the right place at the right time. When I rolled up to the historic depot, I noticed there was some folks with luggage standing around. I checked Amtrak.com on my phone: Sure enough, the Cardinal was running almost an hour late that morning. I would be able to catch it's station stop. Then I noticed a westbound CSX freight on the far side of the depot, stopped by a control point signal. Before long, it became clear that he was waiting, not for the eastbound Cardinal, but for yet another CSX freight that had to come through before #50 could do its station work. The dispatcher cleared the two freights, and then the familiar profile of a Genesis unit appeared under the Thurmond signal masts. #50 rolled in, dropped off and took on a handful of Sunday travellers, then highballed out of Thurmond for Chesapeake & Ohio points east -- thus fulfilling one more time the time-honored American flag stop routine. Three trains in one hour, in a great location: That's what I love about railfanning. It was a great morning to visit the otherwise sleepy little town of Thurmond, West Virginia.