The sun had not yet risen as the distant whistle pierced the morning air with its shrill cry. Approaching from the westward tracks, the light of the engine’s headlamp glowed dimly in the mountain fog. The pounding of the steam in the pistons grew audible as the train neared the station platform, already alive with activity of waiting passengers and baggage wagons with loads to be transferred. The sign at the end of the platform read “Truckee, West Virginia.” This was the southern end of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad line which ran north through the West Virginia mountain country to its terminus at Pine Bluff on the Virginia River, a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles. Here at Truckee, railroad traffic transferred to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for travel eastbound or westbound. The morning coach was arriving from the west. Steam blasted from the cylinders and air rushed into the brake lines as metal squealed against metal and the train slowed to a stop. The clunking sound of car couplings knocking together was followed by a brief quiet as the train came to a final stop.