Directions on the Tug Fork Branch

[NW Mailing List]

Relative to the Buchanan Branch..........

I've had the pleasure of spending a lot of time railfanning on the Buchanan Branch over the last couple of years with my friend Chase Freeman from Grundy.  In learning about the history and operations of/on the Buchanan Branch I came to realize that originally, as is the standard practice Ed mentions earlier in this string of notes, eastbound was moving toward the junction with the mainline....... in the Buchanan Branch's case this was from Grundy to the mainline at Devon.  Westbound was going away from mainline at Devon toward Grundy.

Following the completion of Blair Tunnel and the opening of the Wyatt Cutoff in 1969 (the Cutoff connected the Buchanan Branch by way of Dismal and Grundy directly with the Clinch Valley line at Richlands) the overall eastbound and westbound directions on the Buchanan Branch were reversed. (per N&W Pocahontas Division ETT's prior to and after the Wyatt Cutoff was put into service). With the Cutoff in service eastbound coal/coke off the Buchanan Branch moved over the shorter route through Richlands and Bluefield while westbound coal/coke moved to the junction with the mainline at Devon and from there to Williamson.  Today due to operational challenges created by the severe eastbound grades on the Wyatt Cutoff virtually all loaded coal and coke trains from the Buchanan Branch move through Devon (eastbound and westbound).  Empties enter the Buchanan Branch at both Devon and Richlands. 

Relative to the most recent discussions all moves on the N&W were either eastbound or westbound, no northbound or southbound.  After the N&W merger with the Southern the combined railway had moves in all 4 directions (the Southern being a north-south railway).  I'm sure Ed will enlighten me is the Southern also had trackage designated east-west...but not to my knowledge they didn't.

Ed Painter born in Bluefield - from Narrows, VA - living in Dahlonega, GA  	

On Sep 24, 2014, at 10:31 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

> Not necessarily, Dave.  The timetable directions are set up to suit the operation, not the compass.  If you're headed westward on the Tug Fork Branch, you're going any way except west.
> 
> EdKing
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: NW Mailing List
> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 12:52 PM
> To: NW Mailing List
> Subject: Re: Directions on the Tug Fork Branch
> 
> True but they would still give some kind of direction closet to a compass
> ordinal.
> 
> Dave Luttrell
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 3:50 PM
> Subject: Re: Directions on the Tug Fork Branch
> 
> 
>> David,
>> 
>> In all the timetables I have studied they are either North/South or East/West.  The railroads didn't acknowledge NE/NW or SE/SW.
>> 
>> James Wall
>> Rural Hall, NC
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