Thurmond, WV 4/5/13: New River Sunshine

Upon arriving in the hotel in Beckley, I looked up Amtrak schedules for Thurmond, which was only 18 miles to the north, and we decided to go to the tiny town to capture it before heading toward home. So we got up and out of the hotel on the morning of the 5th, and I drove us in the Pathfinder down the one-lane backroads of West Virginia. We sneaked around tight curves and under the towering rock cuts, some dripping water from the springs above. At 8:30am, we arrived in Thurmond, only to be greeted by a group of people in town for the C&O Model Railroading Convention in Hawks Nest and a CSX road foreman. At 8:55am, we heard "Train 50 clear East End Rush Run" over my radio and prepared for the inbound Cardinal as the road foreman talked to the train and arranged a ride to the next terminus. At 8:59, the train called the clear signal from the Main to Track 2 and rounded the sharp curve. The horn blew for the small crossing and stopped with the engine directly to our sides. The road foreman boarded, and with two toots, a wave, and a rollby inspection, they were off. As soon as they got the signal, the waiting coal train throttled out and headed back to the coal fields. Led by CSXT CW44AHs 445 and 351, train E252-05 pulled its 110 empty hoppers west. After its passage, I talked to a man from Lynchburg for a good while, and he got my YouTube username. Mr. Moseley, this this video is for you!