| CSX 453 and another six-axle GE bring hopper cars along Second Avenue in Huntington, WV on a July afternoon. The floodwall, built around 1947, is to the right (north) of the engine, and the Ohio River is about 300 yards further away. During this era (2005), there were at least two separate rail-to-river coal handling facilities. One is just to the left of this photo, with a multi-track yard and formerly a GE 45-tonner switch engine to handle the movement. I don't remember that company's name. About a mile behind this train, and in fact it may have been coming away from there, was a similar operation owned by the Ohio River Company. They had at one time several Alco units, including an S-2, RS-1 (since scrapped, according to a friend who used to work there), and a C-415! Sadly, that operation is no more, as all the tracks in that yard were taken up sometime between 2005 and 2012. |