Photo Showcase

This month's progress included shifting the siding south about 1500 feet closer to town.

To prevent trains from blocking this crossing...

...it was converted into an overpass.

A view of the nearly completed Riverside Concrete facility where

powdered concrete is packaged for sale in stores.

The railroad brings in sand, and takes out loaded boxcars full of dry concrete.

A loaded coal train (originating on NS from an Alabama coal mine) slides

out of the Westview siding.

Westview Siding is one of many locations that received an upgrade to its track. This siding along with Westview Junction, is equipped with CTC, and is operated by the dispatcher in Chautauqua, AL.

Here's a view of why the mid-siding crossover is a handy tool: The CFA local (longer than usual on this day) gets off the mainline to prepare for it's switching chores, and a ballast train

takes over the south end of the siding to clear the mainline while it changes crews.

The creeks offer great opportunities to photograph a train's reflection (when there

is water in them of course). An old SSW caboose still wearing it's original

paint brings up the rear of today's local.

First mile, first crossing, first train

A ballast train heads south as the town of Westview takes shape.

A restaurant and commercial building pop up along the highway

It isn't often that NS run-through power shows up on the C&FA. But today's is extra

special as NS 6920 and 911 lead a train past Westview.

A rerouted sand train heads north out of Westview

Same spot as the image to the left, now filled with foliage.

A trio of RF&P F7s lead a train a long way from home in the summer of 1958,

when this line was double-tracked and operated by the L&N

Chessie System SD40-2s lead elephant style through the town of Westview

BNSF power leads train CQCH (Chautauqua to Copperhead) towards the power generating station.

The night lights of Westview

It is here that unit coal trains bound for the power generating station leave the mainline. The 675-megawatt power plant and spur were completed in 1985 to help meet energy demand

as this area began seeing a steady increase in population.

The junction is governed by modern signals, as is the rest of the line since a revitalization of the line in the early 2000's, which replaced the aging signals, and improved the maximum allowed speed in some areas

A short road freight, headed by a trio of WM RS3s on lease to the L&N, heads south on the mainline at Westview Junction

In a rare occurrence, a trio of N&W SD45s lead a coal train through Westview Junction,

led by N&W's bicentennial locomotive #1776.

Another shot of the CQCH seen earlier on this page, diverging off the main onto the Copperhead Branch on the final leg of its journey to the power generating station.