Photographing the Old Railroad Town of Thurmond, West Virginia

Thurmond is an old, mostly abandoned railroad town on the New River in West Virginia.  The population of Thurmond was 5 in 2010. Surprisingly, Thurmond is an active Amtrak station.  Some say that Thurmond is also a ghost town.

What to Photograph At Thurmond?

Thurmond is a terrific destination for photographers.  Some of the more appealing photography opportunities are the joint railroad and passenger car bridge, the train station, leading lines with the railroad tracks, and the old town front.  There are active railway tracks at Thurmond so you may also get to photograph a train coming thru town.

The scenery in Thurmond is perfect for black and white or infrared photography.  Some people say that Thurmond is haunted and that you can see the ghosts in the old bank’s windows – so black and white is perfect.

The photographs in this blog were taken with a Canon 6d converted to 590nm infrared. SilverEfexPro from the Nik Collection or Topaz Labs B&W Effects are great tools to convert and process black and white images.  My images in this blog were processed using a combination of Silver Efex Pro and Luminosity Masks in Photoshop.

Where is Thurmond?

Thurmond is located down in the New River Gorge.  It is about 35 minutes from the New River Gorge Visitor Center down some windy roads. You’ll know you’ve arrived at Thurmond when you drive up to a unique combination commuter car and railroad bridge.

Written by Martin Belan
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