When was the end of the West End torn out?

Headed down for a look at BoardTree tunnel and the rest of the old West End mainline in WV.
Last time I was there, track was still in east of Mannington.
When were the tracks thru Hundred, Littleton and west torn up?
Thnx,
Moon

I think the tracks through this area were torn up in the early 'eighties, under Chessie. No need to blame CSX for this. Too bad we don't have these tracks through here any more, at least for historical reasons, though as far as Board Tree Tunnel is concerned, it was unable to accommodate the largest B&O steam locomotives. If the tracks through this area were still in place, Board Tree likely would have trouble accommodating double stack containers and possibly car racks.

It's interesting to speculate on all this, but from a practical standpoint, you likely wouldn't find scheduled freight unit trains going over this line, when they could go through Sand Patch. Contemporary freight traffic of all kinds over the West End is another matter, with the Parkersburg Sub no longer in existence.

I've had a look at the line before, and it was a rathole division, no doubt. In addition to BoardTree, there are three tunnels just east and another further west; you are surely correct that opening all of them enough for double stacks or high cubes would have been a challenge.
It would have made a fascinating rail trail, but it is too far gone to wrack and ruin; the tunnels would be a huge problem.
I believe the middle B&O line to the Ohio River is still in service; it was running a few years back. It also has some tunnels.
Thnx for the date,
Malley

Sorry, double post.
Malley

Further historical clarification: I checked a past issue of the B&ORRHS' The Sentinel and found that the tracks through the area were torn up in the mid to late 'eighties, not the early 'eighties, as I mentioned earlier. Even earlier, coal mining operations curtailed considerably, particularly with primary customer Consolidation Coal Company Jamison No. 9 mine, which experienced an explosion in 1968 and never reopened. Other smaller accounts dwindled, with all traffic ceasing in 1980. Hope for renewed traffic never materialized, with the resultant taking up of tracks in 1987.

We got a long look at the B&O right of way from Hundred, WV, west thru to beyond BoardTree Tunnel and Welling Tunnel.
The guys remarked many times that the r-o-w looked like it had been abandoned 100 years rather than, as it turns out, only 20 years.
The tunnels were sealed, but the approroaches were badly eroded; cuts had a lot of debris and things were pretty much gone to wrack and ruin.
I'll try to post pictures.
Malley

Indeed, it would have been great to see this line survive although economically and viably I just don't think it stood a chance. The line was quite curvy and full of heavy grades along with there being a relatively small amount of traffic between Grafton and Wheeling.

I found out recently that an article on Board Tree Tunnel will be featured in the B&ORRHS' The Sentinel in a shortly-to-be-published issue. I'll try to remember to post something here about it when it becomes available.

hutton_switch wrote:I found out recently that an article on Board Tree Tunnel will be featured in the B&ORRHS' The Sentinel in a shortly-to-be-published issue. I'll try to remember to post something here about it when it becomes available.

I'm a former member, and I need to rejoin. Are they still typing it out longhand and running copies?

Please, let me know about the article.
Malley

Malley wrote:I'm a former member, and I need to rejoin. Are they still typing it out longhand and running copies?

Please, let me know about the article.
Malley

Oh, no, The Sentinel is now a quality publication, leaps and bounds beyond being typewritten in longhand and dittoed. It is now a quarterly magazine, printed on heavy glossy paper with a typical issue being around 32-40 pages, loaded with photographs and color on the front and back covers and the two middle inside pages. Cost is now $7.00 cost per issue, and worth every penny.

I'll let you know when the issue with the article about Board Tree Tunnel appears.

Definitely, rejoin the Society! See how much different and better the Society is today, than what you remember it as from years ago. Click on the link below and go to the membership page. While there, check out the link about The Sentinel.

Wade, I printed out the app, thanks.
Malley

Malley,

This is excellent timing. The article on Board Tree Tunnel has now been published in The Sentinel. It is in the Vol. 29, No. 4 issue. It appears to have been well-researched and contains familiar photos of the tunnel interior that are available on line from the Library of Congress' collection of digitized photos. You can download those if you go to http://www.loc.gov, click on "Digital Collections" at the top, then click on "Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)", then on the blue box, "Search the Catalog". Type in "Board Tree" in the search field at the top, and you'll get a link to a collection of 11 photos on the tunnel.

Wade, thnx for the link; great pics. They do present a puzzlement. Many of the photos show the tracks GONE, the tunnel portals OPEN, and a presumed date of 1977 in the margin of the pics.
My own first visit to Board Tree and the whole region around Hundred, WV, is within the last twenty years. When I went there, the tracks were long gone and the tunnel portals sealed with concrete blocks.
The blocked portals are themselves a puzzle, as other abandoned B&O tunnels (like the one on the Sheepskin, or the ones near Claysburg) have been left open.
We speculated that the B&O sealed them to protect them from temperature changes (keep them at 'cellar temp'), but a number have five feet of water in them as well. When might they have been sealed up?
Is it possible that the western end of the line was taken out first, and sooner than the mid-eighties date discussed earlier?
Thnx,
Malley