Steam returned to coal train service on the Chesapeake & Ohio main line during most of the month of January, 1985. C&O 4-8-4 614 pulled coal trains between Huntington and Hinton, West Virginia, while sensors gathered data for Ross Rowland’s American Coal Enterprises, which was working on the design of a modern, highly efficient coal burner. The ACE-3000 never came into being, but it was a lot of fun seeing big steam haul long coal trains, such as this eastbound passing the yard at Handley, WV.
