Railroad History of Logan County

*This article is from the 1952 Centennial Program Booklet published by the city of Logan.

By Wib G. Whited

The program of industry in Logan county was made at the completion of the railroad. In 1902 Major McKindrey, chief engineer for the Guyan Valley Division, cam to Logan by way of Dingess on the Norfolk & Western lines. He went from here to Hart’s Creek by horse and buggy were he me his engineering crew.

The residents of this section were anxious to have railroad – so anxious ere the farmers that they cut down rows of corn in order for the engineers to run the preliminary line.

In 1904 the first scheduled passenger train came into the Logan station, which was an old cheap delipidated wooden structure. There was only a single track from Logan to Barboursville and when a freight coal train happened along, the passenger train had to be side-tracked to all the freight to proceed.

When the first train arrived with passengers to Logan, the entire population turned out. The crowd gathered at the Peck Hotel, owned and operated by the J. E. Peck, Jr. At the time the station agent was Charley York, the C. & O. station agent in Logan.

In the meantime, the railroad bridge across the Guyan River was being built jointly with the United States Coal and Oil Company, now know as the Island Creek Coal Company. The bridge, close to where the power plant is now situated, was completed in 1905. By the time the company had their track from Holden to the end of the bridge.  The rails for the track were hauled on push-boats on the Guyandotte River and moved from the river by ox teams.

Merchants began opening stores along the railroad tracks for this was the chief walkway into and out of town. There were no county roads – people either walked along the tracks or followed the creek beds with horse teams. Some of the first doctors in the county had railroad bicycles and traveled along the tracks to visit their patients. When a freight train happened along, the bicycle was removed and as soon as the train passed travel was resumed.

In 1906 a passenger train was started at Ethel, leaving there at 6:30 a. m. and arriving in Huntington at 11:30 a. m., then in turn leaving Huntington at 5:25 p. m. and arriving at Ethel at 10:25 p. m. – maybe.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway has progressed all along the line. They now boast of completely mechanized road bed cleaning facilities to radar installation on its car ferry service. The have the finest freight-expediting equipment to the last word in streamlined passenger accommodations. With the railroad the county has progressed, which gives credence to the over-all policy of the railroad policy that a railroad never stands still – it must “grow” forward, for progress is its very life’s pulse.

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