N&W icons: the singularly N&W 440-volt line on poles

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Here in Staunton on the Former CSX North Mountain Sub the Code lines 
still have the "440 VOLTS" Signs on then and they are also still active

Nathan Simmons
Trainman51 at gmail.com



nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:

> I tend to think the top wire was ground...many high-tension power

> lines have similar arrangements.

>

> 440 was used on many railroads as voltage for operting signals and CTC

> equipment, the C&O was an example of this. In fact, many older C&O

> code lines have "440" stenciled below said wires.

>

> CG Tower

>

> On 7/31/06, nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

>>

>>

>>

>> Wrote Lloyd Lewis:

>>

>>

>>       My Dad, who was The Virginian Railway's last Supervisor of 

>> Telegraph &

>> Signals, told me this extra wire on the N&W's pole line above all the 

>> other

>> numerous lines and crossarms was the perch upon which rested a special

>> N&W-only 440-volt line....

>>

>> Doesn't add up for me, Lloyd.

>>

>> 1.)  Where's the other side of the circuit (the "neutral" or "return" 

>> wire)

>> ?

>>

>> 2.) 440 isn't enough juice to go very far.  I haven't done the 

>> calculations,

>> but I'll bet you'd see a 50% line drop in voltage over a hundred miles.

>>

>> 3.)  Other railroads, and mebbe even the N&W, were hanging 4,400 

>> volts on

>> poles and using it to light stations and drive AC signal systems, as 

>> early

>> as 1911-1913.

>>

>> 4.)  CTC code line is almost invariably shielded (insulated) because 

>> of its

>> critical importance.

>>

>> I hope one of the museums can get a couple of N&W poles, crossarms 

>> and wire,

>> and two of those distinctive angle brackets !

>>

>> -- abram burnett

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