Legend tells of a “ghost train” at Babcock State Park

CLIFFTOP, WV (LOOTPRESS) – When visiting Babcock State Park in Clifftop one is not reminded of a train, but from 1886-1955 a narrow gauge railroad connected this part of Fayette County with the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) mainline at Sewell in the New River Gorge.

The Mann’s Creek Railway was in operation from 1886-1955. It hauled coal and lumber from Landisburg and Clifftop nine miles down the Mann’s Creek Gorge to Sewell.

The line ran right through present-day Babcock State Park.

Supplies for the Babcock Coal and Coke Company Store in Clifftop were delivered right under the store via the Mann’s Creek Railway.

This railway also transported passengers from Clifftop to Sewell and vice versa.

With this railway being built along a steep gorge in what many thought was an impossible task, natural events such as landslides and washouts were common along the railway.

Most accidents on this rail line usually resulted in equipment being destroyed, but in some cases, people died.

In one instance in the 1920s, a train on its way to Sewell from Clifftop was carrying freight along with a few passengers when it stopped due to track damage caused by a washout ahead.

While it was stopped, a landslide occurred where the train was and derailed the train over the hill. Multiple people, including a baby, were killed.

The railroad saw its last run in 1955, but legend has it that a ghost train can be heard in certain instances when visiting Babcock State Park.

A song titled “Ghost Train” by Barry Carlton talks of a rainy and windy night at a cabin at Babcock.

The song explains hearing three long whistles from a steam engine while at the cabin. The guest had no prior knowledge of the railroad that ran in front of the cabins.

But the guest at the “lonely state park cabin,” as the song recounts, was not alone and not going crazy as a park ranger confirmed what he was hearing as others have reported hearing the whistle before, too.

Do people actually hear the sounds of a ghost train at Babcock State Park? Or do people get mistaken by the rushing waters of Glade Creek or the wind howling through the hills?

The nearest railroad is over 7 miles away down the mountain at New River.