CSX locals shuffle back and forth putting their trains together at Doswell, Va. The two mains in the foreground are the former RF&P between Richmond and Alexandria

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NS interroad empty is northbound on CSX trackage rights between Tunnel 29 and Copper Creek Viaduct on October 28, 1986

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A "Pepsi Can" is westbound at the former Santa Fe drawbridge at Middle River, CA, a few miles west of Stockton. March 1995.

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The railroad business at Loyall, Kentucky was once phenomenal. Not all 25 units are visible in this scene from July 29, 1986. It could not last forever, of course, as fossil steam plants in the Southeast were retired because of obsolescence. For the remaining plants, Appalachian coal became less price competitive against natural gas, which was suddenly cheaper thanks to fracking. The utilities also didn't have to deal with fly ash disposal, an increasingly challenging byproduct of coal firing. It was just an unfortunate consequence of supply and demand economics and the American free enterprise system. I learned that in the first semester in college in 1966 in Economics 101. I miss the trains so much, though, and I feel for the coal miners, truckers, suppliers, and railroaders whose jobs evaporated. To make matters worse, the rest of the country doesn't care--particularly elected leaders. It would be naive to expect help of any kind, and more likely the situation will only worsen. America's proposed trade tariffs might destroy what little is left in the metallurgical coal export market. What then?

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CSX Q690 was passing the former Clinchfield Railroad passenger station in Kingsport, Tenn. on November 16, 1991. This through freight was usually used to ferry excess motive power back north to bring more coal tonnage southbound.

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