[N&W] RE: Consist of the Cavalier in its heyday

Tue May 25 22:50:48 EDT 2004

The Cavalier out of Cincinnati usually had K-2/K-2a's on the point, but J's 
could be found, too.  Depended on what was available and how much head end 
traffic there was.  Doubleheading was not unknown, either to balance power 
or to handle the train weight.

I'd have to research the time tables ( and don't have time to do that) but 
I am fairly sure that the sleeper was a later addition to the Cavalier 
consist after the cut backs in the later 1950's.  Otherwise the Cavalier 
was coaches and combine cars with predominantly mail carrying head end 
cars.  If it had a dining car, it would have been in the 1930's coming out 
of Cincinnati.

Gary Rolih, Cincinnati
________________________________________________________
You have to be more specific i.e. what day of the week and where in the 
route are you looking for.

For example #15 wasn't carrying sleepers west of Williamson in 1954.

The Cavalier was a very head end heavy train and should also include an M-1 
class full RPO car.

The number of mail storage and express cars varied a lot with cars destined 
for Cincinnati, Chicago, Norton, Roanoke and Bristol.

The diner only operated between Roanoke and Williamson.

Tell me more and I'll tell you more.

Stoney [Rick Stone]

-----Original Message-----
From: N&W Mailing List 
[<mailto:mailing-list at nwhs.org>mailto:mailing-list at nwhs<mailto:mailing-list@ 
nwhs.org>.org]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 5:34 PM
To: N&W Mailing List
Subject: RE: Consist of the Cavalier in its heyday

I agree with this answer, with the following additional info.  The
lounge-diner and sleeper did not go past Williamson in the latter half of
the 1950s (dunno about before, but I can probably look it up if you need it
and can't find it) and the head-end was sharply reduced after the terminus
was pulled back to Williamson in June 1958.  After that, through express
and mail had to go on the Pocahontas or the Arrow, and the Arrow picked up
Accommodation duties west of Williamson.

There is an excellent book called NORFOLK & WESTERN PASSENGER SERVICE
1945-1971, available from the Commissary here:
<http://nwhs.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/ecomm_prod_snaps/book_nw_pass.html?L+e 
c>http://nwhs.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/ecomm_prod_snaps/book_nw_pass.html?L+ 
<http://nwhs.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/ecomm_prod_snaps/book_nw_pass.html?L+e 
c>ec
omm+xuvu8453+1057582421
It has the complete rundown on all the trains, and when services were
dropped as traffic declined.  Also, the timetables themselves give good
information (such as the geographical extent of diner service, sleeper
service, and lounge service on all trains).  I have the first edition,
which was great; I can only assume the new edition is at least as good.

Just got done going through all this on my own layout.  I will have the
eastbound and westbound Arrow meet just outside of Welch just before 3:30
PM, the westbound Pocahontas go through Williamson (and drop the diner and
lounge cars) about 1 AM, with the eastbound section coming through (and
picking up the aforementioned diner and lounge) about 5 AM, and the
westbound Cavalier terminating in Williamson at 2:10 PM and beginning the
return trip eastbound from Williamson at 4:15 PM.

BTW, does anyone know how they got the westbound Arrow out of Welch at 3:26
PM and the eastbound out of Welch at 3:28 PM when there was only one
station track through downtown Welch?!?!  I can't believe they ran the
eastbound out earlier than timetable time, or that they could get one train
out, another in, get passengers and baggage off and on, and get out in only
two minutes.  Did No. 26 just always run late out of Welch?

Rich Weyand
_______________________________________________________________
The Cavalier ended in Mid-1957 on the Cincinnati line.
In all my dads movies, it had 7-10 baggage cars, including
an RPO, and usually a combine, or a combine and a coach.
Train could be much longer up to 15 cars total at times. He
was riding one Cavalier in WVa which was at least 15 cars.
Greg Scholl
PS Our video "Norfolk and Western Steam Freights" is
finished and will release sometime in 2004. We hope to do
a passenger version sometime in the future. Our first video on
Warren Scholl's films, "Riding the Narrow Gauge in the 1950's"
(on D&RGW) will release in fall of this year.
<http://www.gregschollvideo.com>http://www.gregschollvideo.<http://www.gregs 
chollvideo.com>com
_______________________________________________________________
Another way to get an idea of train consists such as sleepers and diner would
be to look through old timetables. Sometimes they are on ebay, or a friend
might have some. Also, this would tell about where the diners were operated. I
live in Lynchburg and I don't think they operated east of Roanoke on 15 and
16. I could be wrong! And as for sleepers, knowing where they were put on and
connected from could bring in the possibility of foreign road sleepers! I have
slides I made of some foreign road sleepers in Roanoke from about 1959.
Aubrey Wiley
_______________________________________________________________
Jarrell,
What was used for engines? I am trying to make this consist on my layout
for that period.
Bill Graham III
Twyman's Mill, Virginia (Madison County)

At 10:39 PM 7/6/2003 -0400, you wrote:
  >The consist would vary depending on the location and day. A typical
  >consist westbound out of Roanoke would typically be six or seven mail
  >and express cars, two passenger cars, a lounge-diner, and a sleeper.
  >
  >-----Original Message-----
  >From: N&W Mailing List 
[<mailto:mailing-list at nwhs.org>mailto:mailing-list at nwhs<mailto:mailing-list@ 
nwhs.org>.org]
  >Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 9:00 PM
  >To: N&W Mailing List
  >Subject: Consist of the Cavalier in its heyday
  >
  >Does anybody remember the usual consist for the Cavalier during the
  >1950's?
  >Please let me know for modeling purposes.