Martin to Wheelwright
Floyd County
13.4 miles
The line from Salisbury to Clear Creek
Junction was officially abandoned by CSXT in 2003, but had been unused for
many years, even though rails were still on the ground. The newly
abandoned section is part of a line that ran from Martin to Wheelwright
and Weeksbury. The branch to Wheelwright has been abandoned for many years
while the Weeksbury branch was abandoned more recently. There are still
rails on the ground from Martin to Clear Creek Junction and it would
appear that the section north of Salisbury has not been officially
abandoned, though portions of it are in poor condition and the rails have
been severed.
This line was built in 1916 to serve mines and was a Chesapeake and Ohio
RY line until becoming part of the Chessie System and then the CSXT
family. Wheelwright was a model company town built by the Inland Steel
Company and many of its original buildings remain including company and
community offices, the company store, housing, and mine portals.
There were several tunnels along the
northern part of this line. One remains open and is in the newly abandoned
section. This
tunnel was
constructed as an unlined bore and is in quite good condition with very
little roof fall or drainage problems. A second tunnel has been sealed
with concrete block, a third was obliterated when a hill was cleared for a
new school football field, and the status of the fourth is unknown.
Several steel bridges remain in good condition along the line.
Much of the line runs through quite rural area but it is parallel to the highway so there are many houses and a few businesses adjacent to the rail line. The section abandoned in 2003 is currently under Negotiations for Interim Trail Use with the railroad; Floyd County is sponsoring the negotiation effort.