Operations along the Valley Line between Stuarts Draft and Hagerstown fro...

[NW Mailing List]

Harry and others,
 
The coal interchanged at Glasgow, VA would be hauled to Roanoke and I don't 
 know where it went from there. The train was called the "Glasgow Turn".  
If  I remember correctly the locomotives would run light to Glasgow and pick 
up  their train. When they got to Lithia, Virginia they would split the 
train and  take the first half to Troutville and then the locomotives would run 
light back  to Lithia. They would pick up the second half of the train, run 
back to  Troutville and leave the rear cars on the main. The locomotives 
would then run  past the front cut of cars on the siding, couple up a then the 
fun began.  To reassemble their train they had to shove the first half of 
the  train upgrade to the second half. The locomotives sounded great as they 
shoved  against the loaded cars. This was a great train for chasing. You had 
two chances  to photograph it between Lithia and Troutville.
 
One night I was listing on the scanner. The brakeman was waiting at the  
rear cut of cars when the engineer spotted a baby bear along the tracks. He  
commented that his momma might be nearby and the brakeman answered that he 
was  already on top of the car! LOL
 
The crews were usually a great bunch of guys and as a young railfan I  
frequently got the opportunity to visit the cab, including a short ride at  
Troutville one night.
 
Thanks for the memories.
 
Richard D. Shell
Troutville, VA
 
 
In a message dated 3/27/2013 12:27:44 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:








 






Aside from I think it's four manifests HR-95, RH-88, RH-52 and HR-55(?)  
what other traffic was running. Was coal still running to Conrail or Chessie?  
What if any locals were there?


In the period around  1981, N&W was receiving unit coal trains at Glasgow 
from Chessie.   This coal
originated from a mine near Man, WV and was billed to CP&L at  Hyco and 
Mayo.
They're gone now because NS built a conveyor belt a little  over 5 mi. long 
from the mine to the
former VGN at Kopperston.  By  recollection, the Kopperston route saved 
about 300 one-way miles.

When  the unit trains were still in existence, the Superintendent, Hank   
Kinzell,  came up with
a time-saving idea -- build a connection in  Roanoke that would run from 
the overhead bridge at 
Orange Avenue past the  East End Shops to the  N&W main line to Norfolk 
near Furnace  Crossing.
This would have saved the train from going in to Shaffers  Crossing and 
having to swap power from
the west end to the east end. It  never came about, but you may want to 
incorporate that into  your
layout.                                                               Harry 
Bundy







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