Christiansburg N&W CPLs Going, Going, . . .

[NW Mailing List]

I've pretty much been told I could have one or more.  Have you ever looked at one laying on the ground and considered the size and weight involved?  And if you add the mast into the situation?  You'd need some sort of crane (or backhoe) with rigging (to load and unload) and a trailer to transport it on......... (if you didn't want to really mess-up your pickup truck).  I've been considering options for getting one (or more) from VA to GA.........as well as how to explain where in the yard I'd locate it to my wife (and have her agree)!   A standard N&W CPL is a bit larger than my N&W CPL dwarf that sets next to the garage door on the driveway!

Over the years I've fortunately shot many trains (and continue to shoot trains) at CPL locations on the Radford (now VA) and Pocahontas Divisions.  Several shots recently at the locations Bruce mentions. When a CPL is changed out the aesthetics, and unique N&W theme of your picture really suffers!  On the other hand I'm sure the maintainers and others in the signal dept. are very pleased and happy.  When the emotion clears in the end it's a business thing and upgrading the signaling system supports smooth train operations and cost reductions that positively affect our NS stock!  I'll still miss them when they're gone.

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



On Nov 18, 2014, at 8:00 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

> Those old signal heads are quite collectible, if NS will give you one.
> 
> J. Kelling
> 
> On Tue, Nov 18, 2014 at 5:04 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> Had a depressing lunch in Christiansburg today, to confirm what I thought I had seen in the dark last week -- signal work is going on in ernest to replace the iconic N&W signals at one of the best train-watching locations on the Radford Division. You will still be able to sit at the station in Cambria and see both eastbound and westbound signals, but it just won't be the same. Towers have been erected at the three signal locations close to the station. The cantilever with new signals has been mounted for the eastbound "Christiansburg" signals and will probably be installed this afternoon for the westbound signals at "Pelton." The cantilever with signals for the westbound "Christiansburg" signal is on the ground adjacent to that signal and will probably be installed later this week. Based on the orange conduit pipe and cable scraps in a dumpster on the site, quite a bit of wiring work has been done there, too. The "Christiansburg" signals protect the crossover from main 1 to main 2 (EB to WB) at 289.7, which is used to cross eastbound stack trains to run reverse main to and through Montgomery Tunnel. The "Pelton" signals at 290.5 protect the opposite crossover from main 2 to main 1 (WB to EB). The eastbound signals for "Pelton" (visible from the N. Franklin St. bridge) were converted to Darth Vaders several years ago. It was inevitable, but still sad.
> 
> Bruce in Blacksburg
> 
> Moderator:
>  http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2014/20141118.Christiansburg.01.jpg
>  http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2014/20141118.Christiansburg.02.jpg
> 
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> -- 
> JK
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