Thurmond Depot and Southside Junction Railroad Bridge - Thurmond

by Susan Rissi Tregoning

Title

Thurmond Depot and Southside Junction Railroad Bridge - Thurmond

Artist

Susan Rissi Tregoning

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Thurmond Train Depot is located at the New River's edge, in the Y, between where the railroad tracks merge. The station is positioned directly in front of the bustling mainline, while the nearby spur line follows Dunloup Creek on the right side. The spur utilizes the Southside Junction Railroad Bridge to connect with the mainline and shares the crossing over the New River with a one-lane automobile bridge. The bridge is one of Thurmond’s most important historic features since it was the construction of the bridge across the New River that officially established Thurmond as a town.

A boomtown in the 1900s, Thurmond, West Virginia, was one of the busiest 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.

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 and is part of the New River Gorge National Park.

Copyright 2023 Susan Rissi Tregoning

Uploaded

September 14th, 2023

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Viewed 184 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 09/29/2023 at 2:45 PM

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