The North Valley Shortline Railroad

## North Valley Shortline Railroad

> *"The high-iron interstate in the Appalachian Plateaus."*
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> ***-North Valley's Tagline***
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The **North Valley Shortline Railroad** (reporting mark **NVSR**) is a fictional regional railroad that operates daily trains in the Blue Ridge mountains of east Kentucky. The railroad operates over 172 miles of track to Hazard, Kentucky, with a few branch lines along the line, and they interchange with CSX. They can also deliver passengers from Hazard back into the mountains.

## Average Trains:

### Passenger

* North Valley Cannonball (Main line passenger run)
* The Mountaineer (Mountain passenger run)
* Scenic Tourist Train (Ashley's tourist train)
* The Valley Limited Excursion
* The Pioneer's Dinner Train
* McGuire Excursion (only runs in September, tribute train to the original founder of the railroad)

### Freight

North Valley's freight trains are designated by what train they are, and the number of what train that has ran.

Here are some examples:

A loaded coal train to CSX, that's the 3rd train of the day is designated C-CSX-3. (Coal-CSX delivery-3rd train of the day)

The loaded woodchip train to CSX that's the 11th train of the day would be designated W-CSX-11. (Woodchip-CSX delivery-11th train of the day)

* W-MTW-# (woodchip local)
* W-MTM-# (mountain branch local service)
* W-CSX-# (woodchip train to CSX)
* M-CSX-# (manifest from CSX)
* M-NVS-# (manifest to CSX)
* M-MOWH-# (maintenance train on the main line)
* M-MOWM-# (maintenance train on the mountain branch)
* L-LBR-# (log train local)
* T-TNK-# (oil tank local)
* C-MNC-# (coal train local)
* C-CSX-# (loaded coal)
* E-CSX-# (empty coal)
* Y-NVY-# (yard work)
* Z209 (CSX's reporting mark for NV when working the local transfer)

## History:

The North Valley Plateaus are an area of mountains in Southeastern Kentucky, a part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains. The name “North Valley” comes from the valley being north of Daniel Boone’s Trace trail, a trail the pioneers used to access the valley. Pioneers started living in the valley in the very late 1780's. In 1797, the valley was discovered to be super rich with coal. Mines quickly opened as work for the pioneers, and by 1825, the coal began being delivered to Perry Court House, which would eventually become Hazard, KY. For many years, the decedents of the pioneers refused to let the area be controlled by the government of Kentucky out of fear of corruption. By 1865, the last of the families of pioneers moved away, leaving the small village and mines in North Valley completely abandoned.

Several years later in 1882, expedition teams sent to the Plateaus discovered all of the coal mines dug out by the pioneers. In response, a railroad line quickly began construction in 1884 by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. The C&O called the line, the *North Valley Branch*. Early service began in 1888, when the section from Pikeville to Numa was completed. The extension to Mountain Top was completed in 1890, while the extension to North Valley itself was completed in 1894.

Along with delivering coal, a sawmill and forestry were established and built in 1902, and started delivering lumber and wood chips from the area too. With larger mines and more coal being discovered, the railroad was extended in 1907 with several more branches and mines opening. In total, 14 mines were opened for the railroad to serve.

Due to how isolated the local communities and towns are, local residents relied on the C&O to deliver food and supplies for each town. World War 1 demanded a huge supply of coal, so the C&O had trains seemingly every minute full of coal. But after the war, it got quiet, and the original cycle returned like normal.  Then, in 1929, the Great Depression started. Many of the mines shut down in the area. Out of the original 14 mines on the line, only 2 of the mines managed to remain open. World War 2 then started several years after the stock market crash, and more coal was demanded, but unfortunately, the amount of coal delivered was hardly diminished due to how many mines shut down. This caused the C&O to greatly lose interest in running the line. After the 2nd war ended, traffic diminished harder. Following a major disaster in October 1949, the C&O officially made the decision to abandon the line. The last coal trains ran through November 1949, and the last train was a passenger train in December 1949. The C&O quickly removed the connection from Pikeville to McCoy's Grove in March 1950. As the locals around the valley worried hard for what to do, a new light would shine on the branch less than a year later.

On June 19th, 1950, 2 local people named David Aaron McGuire and Lucas Eaton raised up the funds to lease the line from C&O, chartering the North Valley Shortline Railroad. With track repairs quickly made from Mountain Top and other places, they managed to reactivate the contracts with a few coal mines. With the reactivated mines, they also built an interchange line passed McCoy's Grove to Bodie's Creek and built a junction into Hazard, KY, to interchange the coal to the Louisville & Nashville. They also had 2 engines that served the line. With the service being very profitable, they bought 2 more engines in 1955, who are Ashley and Matt. They both were restored and put in active service for the line. In February 1960, McGuire and Eaton officially bought the line from C&O. Thanks to Ashley and Matt's service, the North Valley managed to increase revenue and they're locomotive roster over the years. The 2 original engines broke down in 1968, and were scrapped the same year. Meanwhile, Ashley and Matt continued to operate, and the roster would expand to the current cast. In May 1971, the North Valley started a tourist train operation, and in August 1975, the North Valley started passenger service. In March 1991, the North Valley was officially classified as a regional railroad.

Although the railroad has the name "Shortline," the reason why they keep the name is because to hold the history to when the railroad was first chartered.

David McGuire would retire in July 1980 because of health concerns, handing over control to Lucas Eaton. Lucas retired in late August of the same year. David McGuire passed away in September 1980, and his son, Adam McGuire, would take over the railroad.

Today, the area from North Valley to Lithonia is still a very isolated location from major highways and bigger cities. The railroad continues to operate the tourist trains, passenger trains, and the coal and log contracts. They even have a woodchip contract to deliver out. The railroad also delivered manifest trains of various supplies to local customers around the towns.

(MORE INFO SOON)

## Accidents/Incidents:

This section lists all accidents/incidents that's happened on the railroad over the years.

### 1888 Attempted Sabotage

On April 21st, 1888, two men hijacked a C&O passenger train from Hodges to McCoy's Grove in an attempt to destroy a house by derailing the train into the home. The men successfully managed to get the train moving to just outside of Water's Edge. The train stalled due to a grade climb and rainy weather, and the men were caught quickly. The two men were discovered to be allies of the Hatfield's in regards to the Hatfield-McCoy feud, and they attempted to destroy a home whom they believed was owned by the McCoy's.

### 1920 Mountain Top Derailment

On August 31st, 1920, a C&O coal train derailed in Mountain Top, spilling tons and tons of coal into the lake. No injuries were reported, and it was determined that the train was overloaded.

### 1969 Runaway

On July 9th, 1969, a North Valley manifest train lead by Paul became a runaway due to faulty brakes. The train was rescued and stopped by Lenny. No injuries.

### 1976 American Freedom Train Incident

On July 6th, 1976, the American Freedom Train was visiting on a tour. The excursion consist was stolen by Matt. Eventually, he was caught and the train was returned. Matt was out of service for the rest of the year following the incident.

## Towns/Control Points:

***NOTE: All of the towns listed, except for Hazard, are fictional and do not exist.***

Each town in the valley is separated due to how isolated the railroad is in the mountains. But as the railroad gets closer to Hazard, town's are more close together.

Control Points are labeled with "CP." CSX trackage rights (which are real towns/communities) will be labeled without a milepost.

In order from North Valley to Hazard with milepost locations:

* North Valley/NV Yard (MP 0.0)
* CP Lovell Cavern (MP 13.5)
* Hatfield's Bottom (MP 26.8)
* Mountain Top/MT Yard (MP 39.1)
* CP Coleman (MP 42.2)
* Lamarr (MP 44.3)
* Gramling (MP 67.6)
* CP Mesabi (MP 70.4)
* Lithonia (MP 73.4)
* CP Yank (MP 78.9)
* CP Creek (MP 80.8)
* CP Branch's End (MP 86.8)
* Smithton (MP 93.8)
* Crackensville (MP 95.0)
* CP Numa/Numa Yard (MP 98.2)
* Marrow (MP 117.4)
* Europa/CP Europa Jct. (MP 128.2)
* Campania/Lucania (MP 140.5)
* CP Hodges (MP 147.2)
* CP Water's Edge (MP 155.4)
* McCoy's Grove (MP 162.0)
* Bodie's Creek (MP 169.6)
* CP Hazard Jct. (MP 172.7)
* Yerkes
* Typo
* Combs
* Hazard

## Branch Lines:

As mentioned, North Valley also has a couple branch lines within the line itself.

* Mountain Top Branch *(22 miles long, with 1 additional 8 mile long branch line)*
* MT Industrial Branch *(3 miles long)*
* Lamarr Industrial Branch *(13 miles long)*
* Smithton Branch *(19 miles long, out of service)*
* Lovell Cavern Industrial *(Former 17 miles long, abandoned in 1979, removed in 1984)*
* Burgundy Branch *(Future branch, 53.5 miles long)*

## Locomotive Roster:

View the characters page to see the roster.

Characters Page: Category:Characters