West Virginia coal would be worth nothing if it could not get to market.  As the coal industry grew, small short line railroads were built to service mines in remote locations.  There were at least two railroads built to service the Kilsyth area.  One was the Kanawha, Glen Jean & Eastern railroad and the other was the Dunloop Railroad.  I could not find much information about the Dunloop Railroad and would appreciate any information or pictures that any one might be inclined to donate to this site.  he KGJ&E was a railroad like hundreds of short-line railroads that existed across the nation.  It was regarded by all the locals as "their" railroad.  The equipment was not the most currently available but it still had a certain charm that endeared it to the local residents.  Most people could even knew the engineers and some could even identify who was driving what train just by the way the whistle sounded.  Locals referred to the KGJ&E as the KG. 

Railroad MapThomas McKell had built the KGJ&E to get coal from his mines in Kilsyth to the rail head at Thurmond where it would connect with the C&O Railroad.  It was only an eight mile long railroad but it was heavily utilized during the early part of the century providing coal, freight and passenger service.  He also built a repair shop complex next to the Kilsyth Mine and the power house.  This power house still stands with two of the smokestacks over-shadowing the town. 

The repairmen kept the equipment going well into the late 30's but due to the Great Depression, there never seemed to be money available to upgrade the aging engines and cars.  A veteran engineer of the KGJ&E once commented, "One of our locomotives looked so old compared to the C&O and VGN locomotives, some people probably thought it had been built during the Civil War!" 

Refinements were added to the KGJ&E locomotives, such as small metal houses, nicknamed "dog houses," that were attached to the rear of the tenders of the KGJ&E locomotives. These tiny enclosures gave the KG's head brakeman a way to escape the cold rains and snows common during the winter months. The KGJ&E locomotives were rarely turned around, so on return trips from Pax, WV, the head-brakeman kept watch from the "dog house" while the engine crew backed the engine over the road to Mount Hope.  However the railroad was never modernized and was finally sold to the C&O Railroad in 1939 after the death of William McKell, and in 1940, the C&O rushed to buy the KGJ&E, and at the same time, the New River Company (a company half-owned by the C&O) bought the coal properties of the McKell Coal & Coke Company. Within a few years, the C&O had ripped up much of the KGJ&E tracks between Glen Jean and Mount Hope, but merged its own tracks with most of the short line's remaining sections.

The KG's mining and railroad repair shops in Kilsyth were gradually phased out of existence, primarily because the C&O maintained a complete railroad shop in Thurmond and the New River Company maintained a repair shop in Mount Hope. The KGJ&E Depot in Mount Hope was torn down sometime during the years of World War II. 

The KGJ&E was originally chartered on November 1, 1895, with Thomas G. McKell (1845-1904) named as its President. The company originally planned to build a rail line between Glen Jean to a point on the Kanawha River at Deepwater, following a route along the banks of White Oak and Lower Loup creeks. In 1895, following a legal dispute with the Glen Jean, Lower Loup and Deepwater Railroad (GJ,LL&D) involving a controversy over right-of-way, the company's plans to build along the proposed route were abandoned. Instead, the KGJ&E was actually built "a piece at a time" in a very different direction that originally planned.


T. G. McKell built the first segment of the KGJ&E in the year 1900, which consisted of a siding built from a connection with C&O Railway at Macdonald to a new mine opened by McKell Coal & Coke Company at Derry Hale. In 1903, the mainline of the KGJ&E, running from Glen Jean along the banks of Loup Creek to a McKell mine in Kilsyth was completed. At Glen Jean, the KGJ&E made a connection with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) and the GJ,LL&D Railroad. Upon the death of T. G. McKell, in 1904, the building of the line was undertaken by his son, William McKell. In 1907, the line was extended along Dun Loup Creek to serve the McKell mine located at Tamroy. A branch line of the KGJ&E was opened in 1910 that ran along Sugar Creek between Mount Hope and Pax where the short-line made a connection with the Virginian Railway (VGN). During the 1920’s, the KGJ&E constructed a short branch line along Mill Creek into the area known as Garden Ground.

Although coal was the short line railroad’s primary source of freight, the KGJ&E also delivered a sizeable amount of other types of freight to the towns, mines and company stores along its route. The KGJ&E grew to a respectable size for a short line railroad, owning five steam locomotives and 200 coal cars during it glory years. During the decade of the 1910's, the line's passenger trains typically consisted of a combination baggage-coach along with one or two coaches pulled by a small 2-6-2 type steam locomotive. Often times, a box car or other freight car was added to the normal consist of the KGJ&E passenger trains. One of the author's older relatives, "Cousin Roy," recalled riding the KGJ&E passenger trains on several occasions when the railroad had decided to place a coal car in with the regular passenger run. As this happened during the hot days of Summer, the passengers in the coach nearest the coal car soon found themselves covered from head to foot with coal dust blowing in through the open windows of the coach. "Cousin Roy" was typical of the people of the era, wearing his "best" clothes when taking a train trip, even on just a short trip along Loup Creek. Luckily, his uncle (the author's grandfather) operated a dry cleaning business in Mount Hope.

 

But even though the KGJ&E trains didn't offer the cleanest mode of transportation, the citizens of the era were very content to have them available and they made great use of them. While the number of riders remained high, the railroad management was always on the lookout for more economical operation of their passenger service. During the 1920's, the KGJ & E replaced its passenger trains with two gasoline powered motorcars to haul passengers and baggage. In addition to the two powered units, the railroad also bought an non-powered "trailer," which could be coupled to a motorized unit to provide additional space for passengers and baggage. These small motorcar (see photo, below) resembled the trolley cars then in common use in the larger cities, but they technically were not trolley cars, as they were not powered by an overhead "trolley" wire. Despite this fact, the local folks most often referred to the KG's motorcar as "the trolley".

 

The KGJ&E motorcars proved to be popular with the traveling public, as they were often filled to capacity during their trips through the area's coal camps. At times, the Conductor would have the motorcar stopped while in route, to allow him enough time to complete taking up the tickets from all of the passengers before reaching the next stop. In Mount Hope, passengers boarded and debarked from the trains at the KGJ&E Station, located in the heart of the town. The KG&E Station was nestled in the tiny area of land located between what is now Stadium Drive and Pax Avenue, just a few feet away from where those streets intersect with Main Street.

 

Almost all of the KGJ&E's aging fleet of steam locomotives saw a brief period of duty on the C&O, but one by one, they were replaced by the C&O's more modern and larger locomotives. Only one KGJ&E locomotive, engine #200 (shown in the photo at the top of this page) built in 1909, survived the scrap heap. The old steam locomotive was rescued at the last moment by a Kentucky short-line railroad, the Morehead & North Fork Railroad. From there, the ex-KGJ&E locomotive #200 was sold to a railroad in Pennsylvania, the Everett Railroad, in 1964. The Everett Railroad operated the ex-KGJ&E steam locomotive for a number of years, using it to haul passengers on a tourist railroad and occasionally using it to perform freight duties. As of this writing (1999), the author has been unable to locate any information regarding the locomotive's present location or operational status. Perhaps somewhere in Pennsylvania, the locomotive that began its life in Mount Hope over ninety years ago still survives.

 

Station Located in the center of town, at the present-day intersection of Main Street and Stadium Drive, the KGJ&E's Mount Hope Depot also served as shipping point for the Virginian Railway.  From the KG's Mount Hope Depot, passengers could make connections with the Virginian Railway at Pax or the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway at Glen Jean. The crew of one of the KG's passenger trains takes time to pose for the camera, in front of the McKell Coal & Coke Company Store in Kilsyth, circa the early-1900's. Locomotive #100 was a 2-6-2 "Prairie" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works during the early years of the 20th Century. Because the 2-6-2 type was never a very popular type, a total of only about 1,700 were built in the United States, all of which were built between 1901 and 1910.
KGJ&E's motorcar "B" at Mount Hope, WV The KGJ&E's motorcar "B", one of two owned by the railroad, poses in Mt. Hope during the 1920's, near the present-day intersection of Stadium Drive and Main Street. The building just visible on the right side of the photo, served as an Overland automobile dealership during the early years. In later years the building housed the New River Company's Mt. Hope Current Location  
Mt Hope Depot   2nd Life  

 

 

 

 

 

Source: www.wva-usa.com/history/mthope/kgje.php