June 1887 Shenandoah Valley Railroad --why, it seems just like yesterday....

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

June 2, 2005

Good morning, all:

I have put eight scanned pages of a June 1887 local
public timetable from the Shenandoah Valley Railroad
into my VRFE photo folder.  The original is slightly
smaller than these scans, which are arranged on a
single folded sheet with four on the front and four on
the back.  Of course, the one rotated view is vertical
in the original timetable.  If you want personal
copies of these, you may send me an email and I'll
attach the same files to a reply.  They will total
slightly more than one megabyte, so please make sure
your mailbox can accomodate that message size.

Something I would be interested in knowing is where
there were significant line relocations, if any, since
the original route was constructed a few years earlier
than this timetable.  Of particular interest are
right-of-way changes on the Hagerstown District north
of Shenandoah.

While the landscape is beginning to change from rural
to urban in the Valley, there are still many spots
where one can visualize a much earlier era of
railroading, when 90-pound rail was considered to
heavy and trains exceeding 20 cars were long.  Of
course for me, it's nice to see Boyce as a regular
instead of flag stop.

Also in the folder is a sub-folder that contains a
2003 photo of Boyce.  For those of you who may not be
able to visit Boyce, here's an opportunity for you to
see what you are missing.  For the rest of readers,
begin planning now to attend an October "train night."
 More details and the finalized date will be announced
before Labor Day.

Good morning,

Frank 

Dr. Frank R. Scheer, Curator
Railway Mail Service Library, Inc.
f_scheer at yahoo.com
(202) 268-2121 - weekday office
(540) 837-9090 - weekend afternoons 
in the former N&W station on VA rte 723 
117 East Main Street 
Boyce  VA  22620-9639
 
Visit at http://www.railwaymailservicelibrary.org