CLIFFTOP, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Located in the heart of West Virginia’s rugged New River Gorge, the Mann’s Creek Railway once carried coal, lumber, and the hopes of the communities it connected.
Author Ron Lane, whose book West Virginia Narrow Gauge Mann’s Creek Railway has become a definitive account of the nine-mile rail line in the New River Gorge, has spent decades piecing together its story.
The Mann’s Creek Railway operated from 1886 to 1955, running from Sewell, a once-thriving coal town, up the Mann’s Creek canyon to the coal town of Clifftop and the lumber town of Landisburg.
The railway’s legacy lives on in present-day Babcock State Park, where remnants of its path now serve as hiking trails, including the Sewell Trail and the Narrow Gauge Trail.
Lane, a New York native now living in Indiana, first became intrigued by the region while researching railroad folk music. “I was trying to understand the facts behind the folk music,” Lane explained. “Some of the stanzas in the songs mentioned a station called Sewell. I looked around a map and found it was a ghost town at that point. I thought, ‘I wonder if you could ever get to that.’”
This curiosity sparked Lane’s first visit to West Virginia in the 1970s, where he began speaking with locals about the region’s history.
Sewell, Clifftop, Landisburg, and the New River Gorge would become the layout for Lane’s model railway which was constructed with extreme detail. The design also contains model figures named after the individuals he interviewed.
Among the first people Lane encountered was Gladys Tamplin, who became a vital source of information. Luckily, she was still living locally in the Fayetteville area.
“Gladys was the office manager down at Sewell and also ran the boarding house,” Lane said. “She was a niece of Lewis Herndon in Clifftop, who was the last superintendent there. She gave me incredible insight into how things operated back then.”
Lane conducted interviews with over 200 people, gathering personal stories, photographs, and artifacts. “Everybody wanted to talk,” Lane recalled. “We’d sit there for hours with a tape recorder, and they’d leaf through pictures and reminisce. They treated me like a long-lost son.”
Lane fondly remembers connecting with Bud Jones, a resident of Clifftop who provided him with a wealth of information and was his number one source for everything Clifftop. “Bud was a good Christian man,” Lane said. “We became close friends, and he loved telling me his life story.”
Bud’s father was a lifetime coal miner, and Bud followed him into the mines at age 12, also becoming a lifetime miner, according to Lane.
He spent many hours with Lane and Schnepf helping in their research, and gave Lane many of his lifelong mining tools and artifacts.
Bud was a mountain philosopher – he once told the authors “Intelligence is God-given; education is acquired.” Bud died Sept. 25, 1979. He was only 67.
Lane’s research also uncovered extraordinary accounts, such as the story of Sylvester Malay, who started working on the coke ovens in Sewell at the age of nine. He was paid three cents per door.
Malay later became superintendent of the ovens despite being unable to read or write. Lane described Malay as “the embodiment of the resilience of these communities.”
Malay was the number one source for Sewell information, according to Lane.
Sewell was home to the most coke ovens in the New River Gorge with approximately 193 ovens burning coal at one point.
Lane’s book, published in 1999 and co-authored with Ted Schnepf, combines technical details about the railway with the personal histories of the people who lived along its route.
“Ted was interested in the railroad, and I was more interested in the people,” Lane explained. “It worked out well—we complemented each other.” The book includes over 200 photographs, many depicting the Mann’s Creek Railway and its surrounding communities. “It was amazing how many photos we found,” Lane said. “Nobody thought to take pictures of these things back then, but what we uncovered helped bring the story to life.”
Lane also discovered Sewell’s origins as the first settlement in the New River Gorge. “It all started with Peter Bowyer, who built a cabin and started a ferry service here,” Lane explained. “That laid the groundwork for what Sewell would become, especially after the C&O Railway came through.”
The ferry served travelers along the Old State Road which ran from Lewisburg to Kanawha Falls crossing New River at Sewell.
The road was an effort in part by America’s first president, George Washington, in the late 1790s in an effort to expand west as the New River was not navigable by boat.
Lane made countless trips to the area over the years, including a final visit in 2018 to commemorate 50 years since his first exploration of Sewell. “We hiked the trail one last time,” Lane said. “Walking it now, you can still feel the history. It’s a reminder of the people who built these communities.”
A particularly memorable moment for Lane came in 1985 when he and his team presented their findings at the Sewell Community Reunion held at Camp Washington-Carver. Organized by Richard Cool, a key figure in preserving local history, the reunion drew over 500 people from 18 states.
“We usually only had 30 to 40 people at reunions, but this one was special,” Lane said. “We gave a complete slide presentation of everything we had, and we dedicated the book to the people who lived this story. It was an emotional day for everyone.”
Reflecting on the project, Lane expressed pride in preserving the legacy of the Mann’s Creek Railway. “This story isn’t just about a railway—it’s about the people who lived it. That’s who the book is dedicated to,” he said.
Today, Lane’s work ensures that the history of Mann’s Creek and the New River Gorge remains alive.
For those hiking the trails of Babcock State Park or exploring the ruins of Sewell, Lane’s book provides a vivid window into the past, offering a heartfelt tribute to the three communities and individuals who once called the area home.
Access to Sewell is still possible today via the Sewell Trail at Babcock State Park but the trail gets very tricky at the end of the state park boundary before dropping down the mountain into to Sewell as the this part of the trail is yet to be developed by the National Park Service.
Clifftop is still a community located near Babcock State Park off State Route 41. The original company store, community church, and schoolhouse still stand today along with some company houses.
Reporter’s Note: Historical photos from Lane’s research are courtesy of Ron Lane, author of the book. We thank Mr. Lane for taking the time to discuss and share his decades of work with us.
