From the crossovers at Big Sandy Junction (MP 513.9), where the line that becomes the Clinchfield line heads away south as the main line turns east, the double track line passes two bridges over streets, and crosses the through truss bridge over the Big Sandy River into West Virginia, where the speed limit rises to 65-50, past a spur on the north side to the Kenova Terminal on the south bank of the Ohio River, the former end of a B&O line up the river, a signal bridge, coal sidings on the north side, a grade crossing, the former location of the joint C&O/N&W Kenova station (MP 512.5), where the ex-N&W through truss Kenova Bridge crosses overhead (and over the Ohio River just to the north), crossovers at KV Cabin (MP 511.8), where a connector to the ex-N&W turns away south and a connector from the Kanawha River Transfer Ceredo Terminal, on the south bank of the river, trails in from the north, a road bridge overhead, a grade crossing, Kellogg, where the speed limit is 50 mph before rising to 70-50, detectors at MP 508.1, where the speed limit is 79-50, a road bridge overhead, Westmoreland, West Huntington, where a spur to a river terminal heads north and the speed limit falls to 60-50, a bridge over a street, crossovers and signal bridges (with a bridge over a street between the first signal bridge and the first crossover) at HO Cabin (MP 505.2).
A five-track yard starts on the north side, and a passenger siding on the south side starts at Huntington (HU Cabin, MP 504.6), where a connector from Huntington Coal Transportation on the river bank trails in from the north, and the line passes a bridge over a street, the old two-storey brick Huntington depot to the north, 10th Street Station (MP 504.2), the Amtrak modular building and platform on the south side of the line, where the speed limit is briefly 35 mph before reverting to 65-50, 16th Street Yard (four tracks on the north side of the line), the two tracks of the Collis P. Huntington Chapter, NRHS, South Yard on the south side of the line just east of the Amtrak platform, plus some cleared land north of a parallel street, with the two track trailing into the south side of the passenger track, eight tracks to the north at Huntington Terminal, crossovers at DK Cabin (MP 502.6), where the passenger siding on the south side ends, and there is a wye on the north side with a line from the Steel of West Virginia terminal and Ohio River Terminals on the river, the west end of the CSX Huntington Shops (a four-track paint shop and 16-track main shop building), on the north side of the line, and the east end of those shops.
There is a turn southeast past a road bridge overhead, a highway bridge overhead, a through-truss bridge over the Guyandotte River, a bridge over a street, Guyandotte (MP 501.0), where that former B&O line up the river now turns away on the north side and a third track starts on the south side, a large facility on the south side, and a turn east, where the speed limit rises to 70-50, with woods to the north, a plant to the north and housing to the south, a grade crossing, a bridge over a street, a signal bridge, a turn just north of due east, woods on both sides, a turn back east, and a pedestrian bridge overhead, followed by a turn south-southeast, where the speed limit falls to 50 mph on the curve and 55-50 thereafter, an angled grade crossing on the curve, the dual bridges of I-64 overhead, a bridge over a road, a side stream, and a highway, and a turn southeast, to the crossover, signal bridges and double-track west leg and single track east leg of the wye at Barboursville (MP 494.7), where the Logan subdivision trails in from the southwest and the main line turns east, reducing to two tracks once again.