Crosstie Lane in Parrott

[NW Mailing List]

On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 8:15 AM, Bud Jeffries wrote:

>

>

> The turntable could have been used to turn the headend power to reverse

> direction after leaving Radford to proceed on the Schooler Hill line.

>

> At New River there were multiple tracks so the engines could run around the

> train to the other end. It is also very possible that the locomotives could

> have left Radford running tender first to New River and then moving to the

> headend for the run toward the coalfields.

>

> I have nothing that says how this operation was worked, but whatever it

> was, it was awkward and very expensive to do. The elimination of Schooler

> Hill was the first major line relocation of the new N&W Railway after 1896.

>


Sounds like we need to put a "New River Ramble" on the calendar for the
fall,
when the leaves are off the trees, for a scouting of these locations.

It has been a couple of years since I've poked around downtown New River,
but
I seem to remember that it is a narrow hollow running up from the river. It
isn't
overly flat through there, either. Granted, it wouldn't have been that big,
but where
might the turntable have been located? Fitting more than a few tracks in
that area
would have been a challenge, also.

As to line relocations, I remember reading in an old annual report about the
relocation and double-tracking of the line between Christiansburg and
Walton.
If it is still there on the Christiansburg square, a piece of U rail is on
display
from the original V&T line. The rail was found in the '70s? when a new sewer
line was being run along Crab Creek. The relocation moved the line from
alongside the creek to its present location higher on the hillside (more
room
and less flooding, I guess).

Bruce in Blacksburg
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