Roanoke District double track

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Robb and Harry,

You both raise Valid points, However I have to agree with Jimmy that the 
Original double track would Cure a lot of problems. Why?
First of all:
Stuarts Draft is MP 152.9 Pkin is 165.6 (Coming from a 2003 Track Chart) 
12.7 Miles
The original Double track ended in the 158-159 area only about 2-3 miles 
from Stuarts Draft, almost a 10 mile difference.

Second, Northbound trains stop on the "Hill" A lot more often then one 
thinks, Mostly due to train length of south bounds (I have seen 9300'). 
Along with that the traffic is not as sparse as it once was one any 
given day you can have 8 trains 9 and perhaps 10 Friday through Monday.

Third, Efficiency, Efficiency, Efficiency!

Also I would like to say that, I would tend the think that Being an 
engineer on the Roanoke District, Jimmy would know all too well the 
items listed above and what problems can arise. I may be Very Young in 
my Railroad career, and I may only work for, a Small one train a day, 20 
Mile outfit, and only work part time.
But what can say is what you least expect We Need a Larger Passing 
Siding...Why? Our business has vastly out grown what we are capable of 
and it keeps growing. Jimmy however has been out on the rail for quite 
some time and is a person that I have learned a lot of Railroading from, 
that being said on a personal note I will say that I greatly Value his 
opinions.

See you along the Rail Jimmy,

Nathan

Nathan Simmons
trainman51 at gmail.com



nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:

> Robb,

>     Nothing personal but, this sounds like the same mindset that took the

> double track out to begin with and how wrong it was for a couple of 

> reasons.

>     The grade is fairly steep up both sides of Lofton. Since the double

> track was taken out, northbound trains meeting southbounds at Pkin 

> sometimes

> have to stop on this steep grade. If they had left the track in they 

> could

> have continued over the mountain and met the southbound on a decending

> grade.

> Jimmy Lisle

>

>

> Jimmy,

>  Again, given the sparse traffic the line was seeing at the time, and 

> still saw up to a few years ago, was it really, truly an issue?  How 

> many northbounds actually had to stop on that grade (~%1.4) at Pkin? A 

> day... a week?  Given the 8061' siding at Buena Vista 20 miles 

> south... and the 6012' siding at Midvale 10 miles south.   It's reall 

> easy to call something short-sighted when you're not the one paying 

> for it (keep in mind, railroads were still regulated when N&W pulled 

> the double track and took sidings out of service on the line)

>

> Robb Fisher

>

>

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