As this photo shows, railroading is a 24/7 job. In all types of weather, at all times of the day or night, railroads move the freight. In the instance of the Hitop branch and Secondary, this means coal and chemicals, and lots of it. Coal moves both east and west, from connections with the C&O at Gauley Bridge, to the N&W, ex-Virginian at Alloy, or Deepwater Bridge depending on which railroad you’re on.

Taken with several flash bulbs, we see a run through from the C&O headed back to Gauley Bridge with B&O and C&O hoppers in tow, with old wooden caboose 90707 bringing up the rear end. Taken on a warm summer night at about 11PM, you can almost hear the crickets chirping, as this freight clears the east end of Dickinson yard.