Mann's Creek Railroad

The Mann's Creek Railroad was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad that operated during the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States.[1]

Mann's Creek Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersClifftop, West Virginia[1]
LocaleFayette County, West Virginia
Dates of operation1886–1955
Technical
Track gauge3 ft (914 mm) (narrow gauge)
Length9 miles (14 km)

History

The Mann's Creek Railroad was constructed in 1886 to haul coal and lumber for the Babcock Coal and Coke Company, which owned and operated the line.[2] The line followed Mann's Creek, a tributary of the New River,[3] from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's mainline at Sewell for approximately 9 miles (14 km) to the community of Clifftop.[1]

Due to the area's rugged terrain, construction of the line required numerous retaining walls and demolition of numerous cliffs. A 35-foot (11 m) high, 224-foot (68 m) long timber trestle was constructed over Glade Creek on a sharp horseshoe curve where the line deviated from the Mann's Creek in order to gain elevation.[1][2] At Clifftop were the Babcock Coal and Coke Company's coal mines,[2] which the railroad served by hauling coal down to 193 beehive coke ovens along the C&O mainline at Sewell.[1]

The line was subsequently extended approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) to the community of Landisburg to serve a sawmill and planing mills.[2] Presumably this occurred around 1910 when the railroad began hauling lumber from Landisburg to Sewell, an operation that lasted until 1929.

The Mann's Creek Railroad owned three Shay locomotives, one of which was Shay No. 8, built in 1923 by Lima Locomotive Works.[1] Operation of the Mann's Creek Railroad ceased in 1955. Many relics of the railroad's existence remain visible in Babcock State Park, where the abandoned right-of-way was converted to a roadway and a multi-use recreational trail, known as the Narrow Gauge Trail.[1][2]

References
  1. Byer, Alan D. (2010), Looking for Ghosts in West Virginia: Mann's Creek Railway (PDF), Trains Magazine, Kalmbach Publishing Co., retrieved April 5, 2014
  2. Unrau, Harlan D. (1996), New River Gorge (PDF), National Park Service, p. 66, retrieved April 5, 2014
  3. Gannett, Henry (1904). A Gazetteer of West Virginia, Volume 8, Issue 233. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 97.
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