St. Paul Virginia

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Clinchfield Railroad

St. Paul Virginia

Important Railroad Junction

Researched and Chronicled by Scott Jessee and Sandhi Kozsuch

St. Paul grew and thrived throughout the 1900s due to the mining of coal in the region and as a important junction of two railroads. Even today, you can see trains running through the middle of the town, but much of the coal has been depleted, as has the coal mining activities.

There were several early railroad construction projects in and around St. Paul, including the Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad (3Cs), Ohio River & Charleston, and the Lick Creek & Lake Erie Railroad.

The Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) was the first railroad to complete and operate its rails in 1890 running east to west. The N&W followed the Clinch River on a portion of its route westward from Roanoke VA to Norton VA.

The Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio Railway arrived in 1909 running north to south. A few years later, the CC&O was completed northward to Elkhorn City Kentucky, creating a coal and manifest freight route that ran from Kentucky to Spartanburg South Carolina.

St. Paul Virginia

The two railroads crossed at St. Paul, and interchanged coal and freight utilizing two yards on the edges of town. The N&W maintained a dispatcher in St. Paul for many years to coordinate the junction which saw as many twenty or more trains per day.

The CC&O became the Clinchfield Railroad in 1924, and was later merged into CSX in 1982. The Norfolk & Western is now part of Norfolk Southern Railway.

St. Paul Stats

  • Coordinates: 36°54′20″N 82°18′37″W
  • Elevation: 1.503 feet above sea level
  • Founded: 1911
  • Originally known as: Estanoa
  • Population: 863 (2020)
  • County: Split between Russell and Wise counties
  • St. Paul Highlights: St. Paul Railroad Museum, Clinch River, Clinch River Trails, Sugar Hill Trail, Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center
  • First Railroad: Norfolk & Western Railway in 1890
  • Second Railroad: Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio Railway in 1909 (Clinchfield Railroad)

Ron Flanary’s St. Paul Memories

Narrative and Photo by Ron Flanary

St. Paul VA - Ron Flanary Photo

On October 12, 1980, N&W 542 East is dropping downgrade into town with a coal train out of Norton, Va. Check out the diversity in the motive power. The original depot had burned and was replaced by a modular structure. At the time, the N&W operator still controlled the N&W/Clinchfield crossing, just around the curve ahead of this train. The second shot was taken on May 22, 1984. I was standing off the track (of course) and to the right to photograph a northbound empty hopper train on the former Clinchfield (left), and a Norton-bound cab hop on the former N&W. Sometimes you get lucky. I think the NS crew had stopped there for some reason.

Back in the day, St. Paul was an incredibly busy railroad junction. Whenever I was there (on LENOWISCO business usually) it seemed like a train passed on either NS or CSX every 20 minutes or so. You could have set up a folding chair at around this spot with a cooler of beer in the summer and just watch the trains roll. You had to be sure your cans were covered, otherwise the local gumshoes might take exception to the guzzling of adult beverages in public.

St. Paul VA - Ron Flanary Photo

Clinchfield.org Sources and Resources

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Clinchfield Railroad

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3Cs Websites

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