At the Y - Thurmond, West Virginia
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
At the Y - Thurmond, West Virginia
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Situated on the edge of the New River, where tracks converge at a Y, lies the Thurmond Train Station. Directly in front of the station runs the busy mainline, while to its right can be found the spur line that closely follows Dunloup Creek. This spur uses the Southside Junction Railroad Bridge to meet up with the mainline and shares the crossing over the New River with a single-lane automobile bridge.
A boomtown in the 1900s, Thurmond, West Virginia, was one of the busiest and most notorious railroad towns along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Right in the heart of the coal country, all the coal mined in the area was brought to Thurmond to be shipped out. Over fifteen passenger trains traveled through town daily, and the depot served around 75,000 visitors a year. When the diesel locomotives came along, and coal was not as widely used or mined, the businesses closed down, and residents moved on.
Today, Thurmond is not much more than a ghost town with only seven residents (2005). Located along the New River, what remains of the town is owned by National Park Service and is part of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
Like a time capsule, Thurmond still possesses all the characteristics of a 1920s Appalachian coal town. The town has been designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. While the town is no more, many trains still pass through daily.
Copyright 2023 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
August 4th, 2023
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