15 years and counting.
The dwarf signal at the West End Saluda is dark, as it's been for the past 15 years as the grade sits silently in the North Carolina mountains.
When you say the word Saluda to some of the most senior members of Norfolk Southern crews and even those who have retired from the railroad, it still brings up images of the steepest grade on a standard gauge line in the United States at 4.24%.