Hinton, WV (HIN)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$426,166

Station Ridership

FY 2011

8,632

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Hinton station was built for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O, succeeded by CSXT) in 1905 as a division terminal. The station and tracks lie along the bank of a bend in the New River, and is the only railroad station in Hinton. In a quirk of engineering, the location of the station on a bend in the New River has eastbound trains pass southwest through the station and westbound trains pass northeast. The otherwise two-story station has a middle section that stands at three-stories, and is built entirely from red brick with a rock-face stone belt that runs at the window heads. The porch coverings are supported by heavy wooden brackets that feature a wood-fan pattern trim. Currently, the station is unoccupied, but for Amtrak services, opened and maintained by a caretaker.

The station building suffered a great deal of smoke damage when a fire tore through it in December, 2007. However, the building reopened only a short time later, having been stabilized and repaired. Currently, the station is undergoing a series of repairs and renovations being spearheaded by the town of Hinton at a cost of about $1.5 million. The most recent phase of this project was completed in 2006, which included replacing much of the aging exterior and constructing a new concrete platform. Much of the station’s slate roof, windows and outer woodwork have been replaced or repaired. The next phase will look to address some of the issues of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) facing the station, including ADA access from street-level parking to the station platform.

The Hinton depot itself is not on the National Register of Historic Places but is included in Historic Downtown Hinton, which was added to the Register in 1984.

The town of Hinton was originally laid out on the land of Avis Gwinn Hinton and her husband. John “Jack” Hinton, a prominent lawyer, in 1831. The small town saw only slight growth for the next 40 years. By the early 1870’s, the C&O completed its route through New River Gorge and eventually settled on Hinton as a division terminal, jumpstarting the growth of the town. Hinton was officially established in 1872, but was not chartered until 1880.

By 1905, when the station was built, Hinton was a booming railroad town. The rail traffic was primarily coal. It was an assembly point for shorter coal trains from area mines to be combined into longer trains that would be sent east to the port of Hampton Roads Va.

In 1871, Summers County, named after famed West Virginia politician and judge George W. Summers, was created from parts of the surrounding counties. Hinton was named the county seat when the C&O Railroad donated the land for the county court house.

As the division terminal for the C&O, Hinton’s population grew to more than 6,000, and featured multiple newspapers, a state of the art hospital, a luxury hotel, and a C&O operations facility that employed hundreds. This period of growth and prosperity was somewhat short lived; by the 1950’s, the town was in a state of decline. With the advent of diesel engines, the maintenance needs were much lower, and the repair facilities required fewer workers. Most of these railroad towns on the C&O went into decline after the C&O/Seaboard merger of 1980 that created CSX. Many yards and terminals were closed and removed, including Hinton. Only the large concrete coal dock and some rusting water tanks mark the location of the former steam locomotive engine terminal, west of the station.

Today, the town features a large historical district full of architectural wonders that hearken back to its past as a major rail hub in the late 19th century. The city views itself as a “living museum” of that time period. The town celebrates its annual Railroad Days at the end of October. The festival features food, live music, and the work of local artisans—including everything from quilts to birdhouses. The Hinton Rail Days are timed to coincide with the popular New River excursion trains that have run for many years from Huntington to Hinton to view the foliage in the New River Gorge.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing or help with baggage at the unstaffed Hinton station.

Hinton is served by tri-weekly train service.