Old single track tunnel

[NW Mailing List]

As in many newspaper articles (including todays) there can be a mixture of disjointed facts strung together that create an erroneous story.
There are no indications that Caples worked on Elkhorn Extension or on Bluestone Low-Grade Line.

The Elkhorn extension and Elkhorn Tunnel were constructed in 1887-1888 in conjunction with the Flat-Top Extension that became the Bluestone Branch. The original Elkhorn Extension went up MIll Creek after crossing the Bluestone River at Cooper(s) on a relatively minor bridge. The distance from Coopers to the Elkhorn Tunnels east end was approximately 1.37 miles

 I am assuming the bridge at Coopers the newspaper article refers to is the bridge that was built across the Bluestone in the 1901-1903 time period as the N&W constructed the low-grade line from near Bluestone Jct towards Elkhorn Tunnel. 

In 1900, M. J. Caples was associated with W.M. Ritter in both his lumber company and railroad enterprises such as Iaeger and Southern and Tug River & North Fork. When Ritter (and others) sold the Pocahontas Coal & Coke Co. (and its railroad charters) to N&W in 1901, Ritter went to work for N&W as chief engineer and superintendent of the new land company. Caples became GM of the Pocahontas Coal & Coke Co on Dec 23, 1903 and then superintendent of the N&W's Pocahontas Div in Feb 1904. Caples left N&W employment in Aug 1905 to become Chief Engineer on the Clinchfield RR that George L. Carter was building. In Nov 1911, Caples joined C&O and Hocking Valley as 4th VP in charge of operations & Construction and in Aug 1918 he joined Seaboard Air Line Railway as VP and Director where he remained until 1928.

NWHS publication "Pocahontas Division" by Mason Cooper provides a good accounting of the Bluestone Low Garde Line; NWHS publication on Bluestone Branch discusses construction of Flat-Top Extension and Elkhorn Extension. "Pocahontas Division" and "Billion Dollar Coalfield" provide good accounts of the N&W's acquisition of the Pocahontas Coal & Coke Company. All books available from NWHS Commissary. 

Alex Schust
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 2:29 PM
  Subject: Re: Old single track tunnel


  Gene,

  N&W MP Dept. Data Book II from about 1950 lists the length of the single-track Elkhorn (Flat Top) tunnel as 3015 feet.

  M. J. Caples was instrumental in the N&W's Elkhorn Extension, which included the single-track Elkhorn tunnel, but someone else, possibly Alex Schust can probably provide more details about him.

  Gordon Hamilton
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: NW Mailing List 
    To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
    Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 5:10 AM
    Subject: Old single track tunnel


    Gordon;
    Do you know the length of the "single track tunnel"?  Also what did Mr. M. J. Caples do that brought attention to his ability?
    Thanks Gene A.


    [In less than four years the electrification would be a reality, but it would be some 39 years before the old single-track tunnel and the electrification would be replaced by the present double-track Elkhorn tunnel.]

    Gordon Hamilton


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