Day 6 The Last Day of The Forest and Rail Trip

Today we start out by driving to nearby Caldwell to do our 3rd and final water quality test on the Greenbrier River.  (see page at top of blog for water quality test procedures)

Testing the Greenbrier River near Caldwell WV.

From Caldwell we head toward Clifton Forge VA on Interstate 64.  Clifton Forge is the site of the C & O Museum.  http://www.cohs.org/  After the Civil War in 1869, Collis P. Huntington began forging together smaller railroads creating the C & O Railroad.  His Idea was to link to Ohio Valley to Richmond and then later on to Hampton Roads and the Atlantic Ocean.  The great feat was crossing the Allegheny Mountains.  The line was completed to the Ohio Valley in 1873.  The city of Huntington, named for Collis P., was the Ohio River terminus.  Later the line was extended to Newport News which allowed coal mined in West Virginia to be shipped overseas.  Clifton Forge had the 2nd largest shop on the C & O line.  A shop is a place on the line where maintenance and repairs were completed on the engines and equipment of the R.R.  Where do you think the largest shop on the line was?  Later, the railroad was completed to Chicago Ill. connecting it to the great lakes.

Pictured above are just some to the many interesting exhibits that can be found at the C & O Railroad Museum at Clifton Forge.  The last picture is one of a coal pier at Hampton Roads VA.