Hinton, West Virginia

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Hinton, West Virginia – C&O Railway’s Coal Hub

Hinton, West Virginia, situated in Summers County at coordinates 37°40′26″N 80°53′21″W and an elevation of 1,378 feet (420 m), emerged as the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’s (C&O) primary hub for its Appalachian coal operations. Located along the New River in the coal-rich New River Gorge, Hinton’s strategic position made it the key yard and shop facility for the C&O’s coal region, servicing the vast coalfields of West Virginia, Virginia, and eastern Kentucky.

Early History

Before the C&O’s arrival in 1873, Hinton existed as a small settlement, founded in 1831 as a ferry crossing on the New River in what was then Fayette County, Virginia. Named after John Hinton, an early settler, the community relied on river transport, agriculture, and local trade, with only a few homes and basic services. The C&O’s extension of its mainline from Richmond to Huntington transformed Hinton into a bustling railroad hub. Incorporated in 1880, the town’s population surged from a handful of families to over 1,000 by that year, driven by rail jobs and coal industry growth.

C&O Expansion

The C&O established Hinton as a critical division point, building an extensive yard for classifying and assembling coal trains, which comprised 70% of the railroad’s freight revenue by the early 20th century. The facilities included a large roundhouse, machine shops, coaling towers, water tanks, and turntables to maintain steam locomotives like the 2-8-4 Kanawhas and 4-8-4 Greenbriers, designed for heavy coal drags through mountainous terrain. These shops employed hundreds of boilermakers, machinists, and laborers, servicing locomotives that hauled coal from branch lines like the Greenbrier and Piney Creek Subdivisions to Midwest markets and East Coast ports, such as Newport News, Virginia. Hinton also supported passenger trains, including the Fast Flying Virginian and George Washington.

While other C&O facilities, like Russell, Kentucky, and Clifton Forge, Virginia, played supporting roles, Hinton’s proximity to the coalfields and early establishment in 1873 made it the heart of coal operations. Russell became a major classification yard post-1950s for diesel operations, and Clifton Forge focused on mainline maintenance, but Hinton’s yard handled thousands of cars monthly, central to the coal region’s logistics.

Hinton Today

Today, under CSX Transportation, the C&O’s successor since 1986, Hinton’s yard remains active, though scaled back due to declining coal traffic. CSX operates modern diesel locomotives, such as SD40-2s, for freight on the New River Subdivision. The historic roundhouse and shops, part of the Hinton Historic District, reflect its enduring legacy. Despite reduced activity, the yard continues to support regional freight, with maintenance facilities adapted for current needs.

For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

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