As important as the train yard was to developing the southern West Virginia coal fields, it is still active, so it is nice to drive by and appreciate, but not a very good place to stop for long at all.

The Bluefield Train Yard runs parallel to Rt. 52 for a section.  If you have found your way to historic Bluefield via Rt. 460 and then Rt. 52 you must only stay on 52 west for a few hundred more yards.

The Bluefield Train yard is a nice sight to see, but not one will constitute a long stop on your trip.  Since the rail yard is still active you must view it from the road and or while passing by.

Plan on exploring the Princeton Rail Museum for about an hour.

Princeton is actually a stop you can reach before you get all the way

into Bluefield.  When you get off of interstate 77 at exit 9, you are in Princeton.  To get to the Railroad Museum, turn right onto Rt. 460 west (towards Bluefield) then take a right at the second light.  After less then 25 yards, take a left at the stop sign, this will put you onto Rt. 104.  Go straight through the stoplight (next to Allen’s supermarket) onto WV Rt. 20 (Thorn St). After 1.6 miles, turn right onto US Rt. 19/WV Rt. 20 and then a left to stay on US Rt. 19.  The Princeton Railroad Museum is 0.5 miles ahead.

The Railroad museum of Princeton has a lot of really neat “artifacts” from the coal mining era.  Plan to spend about an hour here, and relish the fact that you are still in a sizable city.

The museum within the Bramwell train depot will take up at least one hour of your time. The town of Bramwell can easily be another 45 minutes to an hour of time if you walk through and appreciate all of the architecture.

Bramwell is located north of Bluefield on US Rt. 52.  Travel along the National Coal Heritage Highway (US Rt. 52) for slightly less then 9 miles and then turn left onto county road 120 (toward Bramwell) and follow this road for almost 1 mile into the town of Bramwell.

It is easy to stop and spend an hour or two in the city of Bramwell; between the museum and bookshop in the restored depot, to the historic main street plan a little chunk of time to walk around.

Plan on spending about an hour examining the exhibits of the Memorial at Kimball.

The town of Kimball lies north along the National Coal Heritage scenic highway from Bluefield, WV.  Follow Rt. 52 North for just under 26 miles (about 45-50 minutes) from historic Bluefield.  The War Museum is one of the first things you will come to in town, followed closely by “the Caboose”.

If you can catch the museum open, then plan on spending about an hour to walk through it.  Also plan to spend a little time visiting places like the veterans visitors center and some other unique little places.

Coalwood is a nice historic town, but there is not a lot to do, so don’t plan on spending too much time past some exploring.

Coalwood is located just off of the National Coal Heritage scenic Highway.  From Bluefield, follow US Rt. 52 north for just over 35 miles (over 1hr), and then turn left onto WV Rt. 16.  Follow Rt. 16 for 4.7 miles and then turn right onto Coalwood Glux Rd (County Rd 2).  After 1 mile on Coalwood Glux Rd, turn left into Coalwood.

Besides the somewhat lengthy drive to Coalwood, be prepared to stop in and explore the bookstore and talk to some of the old locals that have been there since the time of Homer Hickam and the rocket boys.

Welch has a very nicely kept up historic district, with a museum(The History of our Mountains Museum). Plan to spend a few hours touring this small piece of Appalachia.

To get from Bluefield to Welch: Follow US Rt. 52 north for just over 32 miles until you can take a WV Rt. 16 west and then a right onto WV Rt. 16 north.  After that you will be in downtown historic Welch.