Interlocking tower locations- speaking of which...Saturday at Pamplin.......

[NW Mailing List]

Charlie:
 
On page 107 (bottom) of Bill McClure's "Facilities..." book, there is an  
undated picture of the Pamplin station taken looking west from a vantage 
point  just east of the two sets of signals.  No tower shows in the picture, 
which  includes the area you describe from the drawing.  
 
Bill's own picture on page 65 (bottom) from west of the station looking  
east, dated June, 1981, "unfortunately" has a train blocking the view of the  
north side of the tracks.  However, it appears that the ground level drops  
off quickly north of the tracks, and that there's a street underpass there 
(VA  Rt 47).   Construction of the underpass could conceivably have erased  
any evidence of a tower foundation (pure speculation, of course).  
_http://www.trails.com/topo.aspx?lat=37.26348&lon=-78.6825&s=50&size=s&style=drgsr_ 
(http://www.trails.com/topo.aspx?lat=37.26348&lon=-78.6825&s=50&size=s&style=dr
gsr)  is  interesting, as it does not show the underpass that's in Bill's 
picture.   However, it also does not show a building that would be a tower.  
As simple  as that interlocking appears always to have been, it may have 
just been  controlled from the station itself.  


Significance, if any, of all this - unknown.
 
Of course, these don't prove "never was", but they're additional pieces of  
evidence to consider.
 
Dave Phelps
 
 
In a message dated 6/27/2012 9:55:05 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:




-----Original  Message-----
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To:  NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tue, Jun 26, 2012  7:06 am
Subject: Re: Interlocking tower locations- speaking of  which...Saturday at 
Pamplin.........

 On our Saturday  convention tour, one stop was at Pamplin. In the 
beautifully restored station  was a drawing (sketch - painting, whatever) from the 
west end of the station  looking east. Bob Leslie pointed out to me what 
appears to be an interlocking  tower on the north side of the tracks slightly 
west of the station. Does  anyone know of any photos of this tower? Did the 
junction have a different  name? A photo in the VT imagebase collection (using 
Pamplin as a search; used  in the Saturday handout)  was quite possibly 
taken from the tower.  further thoughts, info appreciated.
Charlie  Long


Charlie:
The audit for Pamplin was made in March, 1917 and shows two buildings  
there -- a
combination freight/ passenger station and a toilet.  Apparently  Pamplin 
didn't have inside
plumbing.  This doesn't mean that there was never a tower  there.  The 
inventory of
station furniture included a telegrapher's desk, which seems to indicate  
the agent doubled
as an operator/leverman.  There was also a Seth Thomas clock (valued  at 
$10).  The
photo was made from the north side of the tracks and the format contained  
the eastward
main track only, making it impossible to see what was beyond the station  
on the north
side.  There was one eye-catcher -- a semaphore located west of the  depot 
for the eastward
main track.  Maybe this was pipe-connected to the station --- or  maybe 
there was indeed
an operator/leverman west of the depot.
 
The brick combination station there now was constructed in  1925.  The 
schedule pages from
1917 and 1930 Norfolk Div. timetables show only the name  Pamplin.   Harry 
Bundy  
                                                                            
                          Harry  Bundy 



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