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I have been interested in railroading since I can remember and according to my parents even before I was a year old. It must have been inherited as my maternal grandfather worked as a conductor on the former Virginian Railway. Unfortunately he died 15 years before I was born.<\/p>\n
I was born in Huntington, WV and from age 2 lived in the Kanawha Valley town of Nitro about 40 miles east of Huntington and 15 miles west of the capital city of Charleston. After graduating from Nitro High School in 1966 I lived with my paternal grandparents in Huntington while attending Marshall University. During this time until June of 1970 I did a majority of my photographing. I was drafted in the Army and served in Germany during the Vietnam War. After returning home in March of 1972, I completed my civil engineering degree at MU in 1973.<\/p>\n
My life long dream was to work for a major railroad and it came to fruition when I began working for Southern Railway in Valdosta, GA in September of 1973. I really did not want to move from WV but there was no work for me there. A year later I moved to the Atlanta area and have been here to this day. I retired on November 1, 2003 from Norfolk Southern Corp and have worked part time for STV\/Ralph Whitehead Associates, an engineering consulting firm in the rail section. Since July 2014, I have my own company called Kanawha Technical Services, Inc. It is named in honor of the county and the river that passed by the city of Nitro where I lived. As of January 1, 2017 I closed my company and have fully retired.<\/p>\n
In September, 1977 I met my sweetie and in January 1980 we were happily married and have been so ever since. We have four children three of which are married and we have now have six grandchildren.<\/p>\n
The purpose of this blog is to share with you pictures and memories of railroading in the southern West Virginia and other locations as it existed in the mid to late 1960’s. Railroads such as the Chesapeake and Ohio, Norfolk and Western and the New York Central, several shortlines plus a few pictures of western railroads will round things out as I continue to write more posts from time to time.<\/p>\n
All pictures on this blog site were taken by me unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n
If you enjoy this blog site and wish to make a donation I would be most grateful.<\/p>\n
Thanks for stopping by.<\/p>\n
Doug Bess<\/p>\n
Updated 02-06-2020<\/p>\n
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I am thankful to have been able to photograph the various railroads that existed in the time period of the 1960’s. All of those railroad names pictured on my website during that period have disappeared as a result of mergers or bankruptcies.<\/p>\n
The one thing that has not changed for an eternity is God. As much as I love my family and railroading, God is who I love most. It is He who created the universe. It is He who created the earth, sun, moon, stars, plants, sea and land animals simply by speaking them into existence. \u00a0It is He who created man with His own hands and in His own image.<\/p>\n
Life was perfect in the Garden of Eden. It stayed that way until Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because of their sin, they were evicted from the garden separated from God. Also because we are all descendants of Adam and Eve we have inherited sinful bodies with virtually no hope..<\/p>\n
However God provided a way for us to reach Him. Because of His love for us, God the Father sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for all sins past present and future for those who believe in Him. In the Bible, the Book of John, in Chapter 3 verse 16 says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son (Jesus) that whoever believes in him shall not parish but have everlasting life. If you have not repented of your sins and have not trusted Jesus to be the Lord of your life, I hope you will do so today.<\/p>\n
The above is a short statement of what God through Jesus Christ has done for us as believers. He has worked wonders in my life and in the life of my family. He can do the same for you if only trust and obey Him.<\/p>\n
Listed below are links to websites that I hope you will take time to visit.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.answersingenesis.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/arkencounter.com<\/a><\/p>\n