Norfolk Southern Buchanan Branch: Hill Run

Tucked away in the southwest corner of Virginia is one of the most important branch lines on the Norfolk Southern system. At one time, this line would see upwards of 10 loaded coal trains in a 24-hour period. In order for these trains to make it out of Buchanan County, they face the steep and unforgiving Raitt Mountain grade, of which this channel gets it name from. Starting off at Weller Yard, shifter crew U56 and the J80 pusher have been given the task of running 106 loads out to the Pocahontas mainline at Ought One. Ahead of them, they face eight miles of 1.8% uphill grade and about the same distance of 2% downhill grade. Come with us as we watch this train take off from Weller. Listen carefully for the pusher to tell the head end crew that they’ve made it onto the main line. The head end will say “Here we go bud”, and so begins the show.