Monroe, Virginia, Information Request

[NW Mailing List]

Monroe, Virginia was the away-from-home  terminal
for crews on Southern's Washington and  Danville
divisions.  Engine crews handling the  passenger
trains from Roanoke also laid over at Monroe.   In
1949, for example, Southern daily had 16 first  class
and 7 second  class trains arriving from Lynchburg
and beyond.  Southward from Potomac  Yard and
Washington, there were 14 first class and 2  second
class trains arriving.   This figure doesn't  include
extras and sections. Although the passenger train
conductors, flagmen, etc. ran from Salisbury to
Washington, the freight and engine crews  took
rest at Monroe before they returned to their  home
terminal. 
 
So what do you do with all that off-duty time at  the
outlying point .  PLAY POKER ! Monroe became  a
"Little Las Vegas".   N&W engineer  Waldron worked
the Roanoke-Monroe runs for 20-plus years.   When
Nos. 17 and 18 disappeared from the schedules  (about
1971), he had to requalify  Roanoke to  Crewe.  Seems
railroading had become a second occupation -  almost.
He had a reputation of scalping Southern  players.  One
of Southern's trainmen returned to Salisbury  busted.
When his wife asked him for grocery money, he  told
her that there wasn't any; that the trains he'd  been
assigned to were handling mostly empties and  non-
revenue cars.
 
The N&WHS '08 calendar has a photo made  at
Monroe showing No. 45 leaving  town.
                                                 Harry Bundy
 
 



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