[N&W] Re: Fuel or Water stops?

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

To reiterate, guys - the engines were not run haphazardly, but on regular
weekly cycles.  One Bristol-Monroe cycle did start with a fresh engine out
of Roanoke to Monroe, and then the engine went from Monroe through Roanoke
to Bristol.  Another trip in the cycle made the Norfolk-Cincinnati whole
thing - I don't remember it offhand.  Maybe someone will put Prince's print
of the cycle sheets onto a JPG file for everybody to see.  But this was NOT
a haphazard, FIFO operation.  These locomotives were designed and built to
turn high-mileage performances, and the weekly cycle was the only way it
could be accomplished.

As I said earlier, the Monroe-Bristol trips took coal and water at Vicker;
some of the "main line" trains took water there; some may have taken water
at Farm; some took water and coal at Prichard.  Sometimes water was taken at
Bluefield during the station stops - maybe Jim Nichols can tell about that.

A photo caption in Nichols' book, BTW, wonders why the photographer got two
Js in the same picture at Bristol, as though it was rare to see two of them
there at one time.

It only happened three times a day, every day.  Year after year.

EdKing