Railroad: Norfolk & Western Railroad
Location: Green Cove, Virginia
Date: 1956
Credit: O. Winston Link, O. Winston Link Museum, Historical Society of Western Virginia, OWL2009.05.089

Norfolk & Western’s “Virginia Creeper” mixed passenger and freight train steams into Green Cove, Virginia, in 1956. The train took its name from the local vine as well as its slow speed over the railroad’s meandering Abingdon Branch.

The Norfolk & Western replaced the last of its steam engines with diesel-electric locomotives in 1960. Traffic continued to decline on the rural Abingdon Branch. After devastating floods in 1977, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted permission for its abandonment.

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Trail: Virginia Creeper National Recreation Trail
Trail length: 34 miles
Date: October 26, 2012
Credit: Ron Flanary, courtesy of the photographer

Trail visitors stop in the National Forest Visitor Center at the Green Cove
segment of the Virginia Creeper National Recreation Trail on a brisk October day. With its beautiful scenery and rich history, the Virginia Creeper National Recreation Trail attracts some 250,000 visitors annually.