(The following story by Marc G. Auber appeared on the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram website on April 27.)
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — As the coal industry goes in West Virginia, so goes the freight train.
The state Department of Transportation reports that in 2001, 95 percent of all freight shipped in West Virginia was coal (121.4 million tons for the year ending 2001).
The percentage has varied little during the last 13 years, according to Association of American Railroads data.
“Coal is the king in West Virginia,” said Robert Mazur of Parkersburg, a train advocate who worked four years with West Virginia Central Railroad. “More coal is hauled out (by rail) than any other means.”
He believes railways always will have a place in West Virginia. That’s despite railways losing so many smaller lines because of competition with the highway system and trucking industry after the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.
“Clarksburg still sees (freight trains) because you have the line from Grafton to the Ohio River,” Mazur said.
To the north, Norfolk Southern runs a line from Pittsburgh to Loveridge Mine in Marion County.
It depends entirely on coal, with eight to 10 trains running daily, said Rudy Husband, director of public relations at Norfolk Southern.
But freight train whistles just don’t blow as often as they once did in Elkins, said David Turner, professor of history at Davis & Elkins College.
“Elkins was a major railhead both for passengers and for freight,” Turner said. “Coal, of course, being the major commodity.”
Railways for nearly a century were the primary means of carrying heavy freight like coal, wood and metals, said West Virginia Wesleyan professor Dr. Bert Popson.
“That was your only option, pretty much,” Popson said.
Turner traces significant changes to 1956, when the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration made a conscious decision not to rely solely on trains to haul goods, he said.
Beginning in 1956, Eisenhower emphasized the urgent need for better highways. That resulted in the pay-as-you-go method of financing road construction.
“The development of the highway system and the trucking industry certainly meant some loss of market share for the railroads,” said Jane Covington, spokeswoman for CSX.
Mazur said the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 helped railroads get back on better footing.
“It allowed them to price their transportation service without getting government approval, so they could go out and directly compete with trucks,” Mazur said.
Basically, companies could not afford to maintain the tracks or buy new equipment, he said. “They cut employment to the bones.”
Now, because of rising gasoline costs and highway safety concerns caused by more trucks navigating the byways, focus is beginning to shift some to the rails again.
“More and more, people are taking a harder look at railroad freight,” Mazur said.