12/27/13 Train derailment in Vivian, WV, and repair

On Dec. 27, 2013, a Norfolk Southern train with five locomotives and 111 cars derailed near the Elkhorn Inn in Vivian, WV. It was headed from Bellevue, Ohio to Linwood, North Carolina;12 of the derailed cars were takers containing asphalt tar, two carried soybean oil, one grain, and one railroad cross ties. One of asphalt tar takers ruptured, and spilled liquid tar into Elkhorn Creek. which solidified when it cooled in the creek, and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection personnel and Norfolk Southern Railway environmental people were called to the scene, as well as Kimball Fire Department personnel. Jimmy Gianato, Director of West Virginia Emergency Management, as well as Chief of the Kimball Volunteer Fire Department, was also called to the scene. About 700 feet of track was damaged in the derailment, and Norfolk Southern stopped all train traffic on the line until the next day; crews worked through the night to restore service on this very busy line. 
The derailment occurred a few hundred yards west of the Landgraff grade crossing. After the derailment a locomotive and several cars were moved east of the site. As a result of the derailment, the back of the train blocked the Vivian Bottom grade crossing for several hours until another unit was brought in to make a break in the train at the grade crossing so residents of Vivian could access their homes.
Dan took our new camera (yes- we Finally got a DSLR to take good train photos for our railfan guests!), and took the photos below, one of which was used by the Register-Herald  newspaper as their photograph for the story: http://www.register-herald.com/local/x1186898232/Train-derails-in-McDowell-County 

The good news: There were no injuries, no evacuations were needed or ordered, and containment booms were set in place in the creek almost imediately to prevent the asphalt tar from migrating down Elkhorn Creek; as a result, no ecologial damage was apparently done. This is very important to our area, as Elkhorn Creek has been called "the best wild trout stream in the USA", and is home to a pleathora of 24"-32" brown and rainbow trout, which bring Trout Unlimited members and fly-fishing guests here from across the nation. 
On December 28, as Dan took the repair photos, he saw several out-of-state fly fishermen fishing in Elkhorn Creek in Landgraff, near the Elkhorn Inn. :-)

The first 13 photos below were taken by Dan shortly after the derailment occurred:

 

Workers on the scene

Workers on the scene

Dan took the photos below the next day, Dec. 28, 2013, during the repair operation, and as Norfolk Southern got the trains running again. The follow-up article in the Register-Herald: 
http://www.register-herald.com/todaysfrontpage/x1186899194/Resident-living-near-tracks-recounts-Friday-s-derailment 

The Norfolk Southern trains up and running again!

Kimball Tunnel
Check out the frozen waterfall! Yes, it's COLD here now!

Fly-Fishin' Elkhorn Creek! (When Guests Become Friends, Part I)

This has been quite a week- in the very best way! As Inn-Keepers, it's a wonderful thing when guests truly become friends, and that is what these last few weeks have been about! I'll start with this weekend, when Tony "The Trout" Wheeler gave us a day's fly-fishing lesson on Elkhorn Creek - the great little trout stream right behind the Elkhorn Inn - and my next post will be on last weekend's "Dueling Dining-Car Chefs" event with James Porterfield, author of "From The Dining Car" and "Dining By Rail". 

Readers of this blog know that after 8 years of living at the Elkhorn Inn on one of The best trout streams in the USA, in April we finally found the time to take a great "Fly-Fishing 101" class with Bobby Bower of Pro River Outfitters www.profishwv.com at Glade Springs, and go fishing with him on Glade Creek-on-the-New (where Elisse caught her Very First Trout On A Dry Fly!). But what we REALLY needed to learn was how to fish 'our' creek, and Tony Wheeler, fly-fisherman extraordinaire and a frequent guest of the Inn, offered to teach us! The puppies & I ordered Dan & I fly rods, chest waders, and boots from Cabela's as a late DogMother's Day & early DogFather's Day prezzie, and Tony helped us set it all up and then spent a morning and afternoon with us in Elkhorn Creek, teaching us a TON of stuff! We now know just enough to be Really dangerous! LOL

T showed the patience of a saint with a couple of newbies, with the result that Dan got several great bites, and Elisse (me) actually hooked a number of fish (that, yes, got away!) The only problem with Tony is that he is a REALLY great fisherman, and can instinctively read the water like a book, and so when he casts, (unlike us, mere mortals that we are), he hooks a fish- almost all the time! I know (from the sound of his furiously gnashing teeth when a 20" trout escaped his clutches, and the fact that he almost grabbed the rod out of my hands several times) that it had to be Incredibly frustrating for him to have a couple of neophytes let fish after fish get away! For me (since we're doing catch-and-release & not my usual fishing-for-dinner), the catching & netting of a fish wasn't as important as just hooking them- & learning how to watch for them- because unlike with other fishing I've done (such as bang-the spinner on-the-salmon's-head fishing in Kodiak, AK, or drop-reel-&-puke for yellow fin off Mexico, or Dan's Special Ops Survival Course Army fishing), you really Don't feel these guys bite! Tony hooked us both up with a double-fly combination of a wet nymph and a floating grasshopper thingee that even "Ms. Eagle-Eye NOT" could see, and while HE saw the fish take the fly, I saw & felt nothing the first three times- but I Finally saw the bobbing grasshopper go down, and so then tried to hook the fish- and the 5th time I actually did it! All by myself! And then I fought it and watched its silver back break the water, thought I had it, and finally lost it! All by myself! LOL  It truly IS a magical sensation- and to do it in our very own creek was a rush!
In addition to being so sure-footed that he can literally run the rocky creek through thigh-high water (a feat which amazes me, as I am 4'9 1/2" tall and of the make-sure-one-foot-is-firmly-planted-before-you-lift-the-other-one school of creek-wading), T has eagle-eyes, topped with polarized glasses, and so can see trout where I see naught but churning water! He taught us the rudiments of reading the water and how to figure out the places where trout like to play, as well as the fly-fishing version of what is known in the military as "situational awareness" (as in "Gee, I wonder what's coming out of that pipe..."), and I even learned to tie that cool "figure-8" knot (spitting on it, as opposed to sticking it in my mouth), that now enables me to tie on a fly! By the end of the day Dan & I had truly got our fly-fishing feet wet (figuratively, not literally, as that is Not something one wants to do in the creek T fondly refers to as "the dirty little sister")!  I've now a list of things (Woolly Buggers, Copper John nymphs, leaders, tippets, nail clippers, polarized fishing glasses, and yes, gold-beaded, size 14, olive soft hackles...) to buy, so we can get back out there ASAP! T's knowledge of Things Trout is truly encyclopedic, and the flies he hand-ties are fairly amazing; like me, our other Inn guest was delighted by the variety and beauty of the flies and nymphs and other small creatures T's crafted from feathers & fur, beads & thread... I cherish the Black Woolly Bugger I tied at our dining table with T & his friends, & this time he bestowed upon us his hand-tied Copper Tony nymphs (with which I caught the fish that got away). While I desperately want to keep fishing with it, as it's definitely my Lucky Fly, part of me wants to frame it... Or pin it on the cool Col. Blake-esque fishing hat I intend to get myself!
(Being a Native NYC Girl, many folks assume that I'm the Green Acres' Eva Gabor of McDowell County, & I do like to have a bit of fun with that- as you can see from the glitter-encrusted
Nawlins sunglasses I am wearing as we fish. But I pride myself on having grown up fishing with both my Oklahoma-chicken farm-born WWII WAC soldier momma & Ukrainian-born theatre actress grandmother, having been an Aggie & FFA, having worked on Kibbutz in Israel packing live fish & shoveling turkey manure, and having been an Israeli Army soldier myself! So do not judge a person solely by her penchant for high-heeled shoes! LOL)

One of the things we learned  this weekend from Tony, who is a Chemical Engineer as well as native West Virginian with a passion for fishing and hunting and his home state, is the definitive answer as to why, despite all the coal mining, Elkhorn Creek isn't poisoned, and is, instead, one of the best trout streams in the USA: Our McDowell County Coal is only 1% sulphur; 60% is organic sulfur which doesn't create acid water! (By comparison, northern WV & PA coal is 4% sulphur & 40% organic, and so does create the polluting acid water). Elkhorn Creek, as we know, runs fast & cold, & couple all that with the fact that trout like poo, and now you know why we have a creek teeming with 24"-30" trout, & a county chock-full of otters, beavers, wild turkey, ducks, birds, deer, bears, etc!
I also (finally) learned what poison ivy looks like, a Very Good Thing, as Martha Stewart would say, as for the last 8 years, (even after winding up in Bellevue Hospital in NYC from a case of it so bad that I looked like the Elephant Woman and had to get early release from a FEMA deployment), I thought it was something else. Live & learn... and then get Tony Wheeler to teach you what poison ivy looks like...

Another thing I learned is the secret of rapid weight loss: wear Neoprene chest waders in the broiling West Virginia sunshine. While I (smartly) got Dan lightweight waders, I bought chocolate brown neoprene ones for myself- a fisherwoman's fashion statement if ever there was one, if you're into looking like a brown sausage or Really into rubber- knowing "intellectually" that they might be a tad, uh, Warm. But unlike the lightweight women's waders, these had 5-star reviews from Real Fisherwomen, & that swayed me. "A tad warm" was an understatement, but if I ever get to go icefishing in Minnesota or back to Barrow, Alaska, I'll be Well prepared. Hiking up rocky Elkhorn Creek thigh-high in water in the spring sunshine I think I lost 10 lbs. inside a day- all sweat... Which I then put back on drinking Beach Grog, a Tony-&-Company concoction that he and his friends have shared with us & guests of the Inn. A smoothly, sweetly deceptive, & stunningly powerful ambrosia of rums, fresh fruit, and Coca Cola, Beach Grog constantly acquires new converts at the Inn, whacking them over the head with a velvet hammer. Trust me, kids: this stuff puts 'Long Island Ice Tea' to shame... Tony also shared his pack of jerky with us at lunch, (we love & respect folks who travel Prepared: jerky, brie, rum...), and as I am definitely a Jerky Girl & this was Truly Great Jerky, I was happily transported to my weird, gas-station-store version of foodie nirvanah... At the end of a truly super Saturday, we peeled off our waders (mine now known as "Elisse's Sauna Suit"), Chef Dan made us all a wonderful dinner of grilled salmon with a sweet-spicy fruit jerk sauce and (my fave) stir-fried Bok Choy over sweet potatoes in the Vietnamese style, and we sat outside yakking and laughing and drinking Beach Grog until the wee hours...

Elisse in her neoprene sauna suit, & Dapper Dan the Fly-Fishing Man, fishing in Elkhorn Creek...

Still life with Beach Grog Fixin's...

(Tony LOVES this photo, as my fashionably brown neoprene butt is coated with Elkhorn Crick mud, acquired by going down the 75-degree bank on my backside. Everyone has a "comfort level", and this is mine: when in doubt, sit. LOL  (We won't even Talk about my itchy arms from scaling the Other 75-degree river bank thru the jungle brush ("Was that poison ivy? No? Oh, good..."), fly-rod in hand... while Mr. T watched in comfort from the bridge). Do note the obsessive-compulsive look of Total Fly-Fishing Concentration...

Thank you, Tony! We had a total blast! We love having you as both a guest of the Inn and our good friend (you Truly crossed the line to "friend" after getting to see me both in a bathing suit (uck) & with my hair frizzed from the damp, looking like I'd stuck my finger in a light socket!) We hope & trust you and your wonderful fly-fishin' friends will come back to the Inn to enjoy both the fishing and our hospitality- & that someday soon you'll deign to go fishing with us again!!!

Zippin' & Fly Fishin'! (and FEMA)

It's fun to play "tourist" at home!

This past week Dan and I had a rather amazing little getaway- right here in southern WV! We got to go Ziplining through the WV forests at TreeTops Canopy Tours , learn to fly fish for trout with Bobby Bower of ProFishWV, have a couple of Great gourmet Chef Burgess dinners at Glade's at Glade Springs, and I even got to treat myself to a wonderful facial and an Amazing massage at Glade Spring's Orange Spa! Dan is 63 & I'm 51, and yes, we went Zipping through the mountains 120' above the rivers hooked to a metal rope, and if we can do (and love every minute of) it, ANYONE can do it! You do NOT have to be in great shape, nor do you have to have any skills, physical ability, or strength- I am living proof of that! The feeling of "zipping" is a "rush" like Nothing I've ever done, and it is, in a word, AMAZING! The set up & equipment is new and state-of-the-art, and the smart and professional guides were GREAT- we heartily recommend Keith Kinsey, as he knows Everything about the trees (TreeTops is part of a project to save the Hemlock forest from going the way of the American Chestnut), mushrooms, and edible plants, and his love and enthusiasm for it all is infectious! We walked over rope bridges (whistling the theme song from Bridge Over the River Kwai !), and hiked a bit between our 10 zips, and it was a Magical afternoon in the spring sunshine! It went by WAY too fast (I badly wanted to do at least 3 more "zips"!), and we can't WAIT to do it again!

Elisse, Zipping!

Dan, Zipping!

Yes, I had a few "take a deep breath through your nose and out through your mouth" moments, but then I stepped off the platform & zipped! I REALLY DID IT- zoomed across the forest 120' above the water- and I am SO glad I did!!!!!! 

(And not to worry: before they take you up there into the tree tops and let you "zip", you practice on the ground first!)

Before we went "zipping" we had a lovely lunch of crab cakes & seafood chowder (made by a Louisiana chef who knows his way around a remoulade sauce!) at "Chetty's Pub" at ClassVI (where TreeTops is located), and after our grand Ziplining adventure we went back there & treated ourselves to Gin & Tonics overlooking the Gorge- and watched the eagles play!

The view from behind "Chetty's Pub" at Class VI- the "Best Seats in the House"!
Rhododendrons in the West Virginia Mountains

Eagles at play...

The next day we (finally!) learned to fly-fish, something I've been aching to do for Years- ever since those pricey LL Bean catalogs would turn up in my NYC mailbox and tantalize me with incredibly expensive trips... I did it once back in 1981 in Ireland, and it was pretty magical to see a trout leap into the air and take a fly (not mine, I hasten to add). I always thought the hand-tied flies, made with feathers and beads and such, were, well... Pretty, and I've secretly coveted one of those cool fly-bedecked hats like Col. Blake wore in M*A*S*H for years, and even considered buying some to turn into earrings... I found it fascinating to look closely at all the different kinds of flies and see the work that goes into creating 100s of different kinds of fake bugs in all their stages of life...

Plus, for the last 8 years we've lived on one of THE best trout streams- the Elkhorn Inn is right on Elkhorn Creek, famous for its 24"-32" trout- and many of our guests are Trout Unlimited members and avid fly fishermen- but although they taught me to hand-tie a fly at our dining table, not having the gear or the knowledge, we'd never done any fly fishing! But now we have! And we'll be able to  do it at home! YAY!
We booked a full day with Bobby Bower of www.profishwv.com at Glade Springs, (for a fraction of those LL Bean trips!) and had THE best day! After getting our WV fishing licenses, we spent the morning learning the rudiments of the sport on a lake at Glade Springs, practicing our casts & learning about the equipment, and the difference between "woolly buggers" and dry flies...

Bobby then drove us out- WAY out!- to Glade Creek-on-the-New, and dressed in our spiffy new waders & boots, we hiked out into the middle of the white water, and really did it! And Elisse caught her first brown trout on a dry fly!!!!

Dan & Bobby Bower, on Glade Creek-on-the-New

Though Dan didn't land himself a trout, he did get some good nibbles, and we truly had a GREAT day! We learned just enough to be dangerous- and got well and truly bitten by the fly fishing bug! So we now have to get all the cool stuff so we can do it at home on Elkhorn Creek! No, fly fishing isn't exactly an inexpensive sport, but we learned enough from Bobby to know that it doesn't have to be insanely expensive, either! And since we've already paid for our fishing licenses for the whole year, and we live right on a great trout stream, we now have high hopes that if we get the Stuff, maybe some of our Trout Unlimited guests will take us out behind the Inn and teach us some more!

Our days of playing tourist came after I spent a month working for FEMA on the disaster response operation following the March floods in southern WV. This was the first time I've worked for FEMA here at home in WV, and, as I discovered as a New Yorker while working in NYC after 9/11, when it's "your" disaster it's different- much more intense and much more personal...  I was working in Beaver, WV, about 1 1/2 hours from the Elkhorn Inn, and so when Dan wasn't busy with guests, he was able to come visit me, and on my few days off we were able to spend some "quality time" playing tourist in our own state- like we did 8 years ago when we first came to West Virginia while Dan was working on a FEMA operation- after which we decided to buy the flooded, slated-for-demolition building that Dan restored into our home and the Elkhorn Inn and stay in West Virginia! Back in 2002, Dan & I spent more than 5 months living in a room at the Sleep Inn in Beaver with Trapper, our old Yellow Lab, while he ran Logistics for the disaster response operation, and so being back in Beaver was kind of "deja vu all over again" for us! We got to have dinner at some of our favorite "old haunts" like Young Chow's (the best Chinese food in the region), Logan's Steak House, and Pasquale's, have drinks with Dick at Dick's Yacht Club, enjoy some Amazing gourmet dinners at Glade's (such as a whole, crispy Red Snapper with roasted red pepper sauce, followed by creme brulee and Frangelico!), and find some terrific new places like the excellent Aangan Indian Cuisine in Beckley that just opened. (Dan actually proposed to me in Oct. 2002 at the Texas Steak House in Beckley, after buying my diamond engagement ring at the Beckley WalMart!)  

As you may know, the March floods did quite a bit of damage to southern WV; roads and bridges were washed out, homes were damaged, and people were stranded; the five counties of Raleigh, Greenbrier, Fayette, Mercer, and Kanawha were designated for Individual Assistance in this declaration. I'm a Community Relations Field Specialist, and during this operation I was the Community Relations Reports Manager, and worked with a grand team of folks from my own Region- the first time I've worked "at home" in West Virginia! As you undoubtedly know, West Virginia also suffered a terrible loss in the recent mine disaster that killed 29 coal miners; the genuine expressions of concern and care that came from all over the USA were deeply appreciated.

As a West Virginian I say: thank you.