Virginian Railway Electrification/Riding the N&W Steam Clips

Tue Apr 5 12:37:01 EDT 2016

With respect to the PRR situation: the early 20th Century focus on electrification kept PRR from
designing and building better steam.  The duplex idea came from Baldwin; the Texas type was
borrowed from C&O; the direct drive turbine was a goose chase.  But - on the good side, PRR 
was one of the few roads to save a collection of obsolete steam locos for future generations.

Jerome Crosson, NWHS in St. Peters NO. 

-----Original Message-----
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tue, Apr 5, 2016 10:54 am
Subject: Re: Virginian Railway Electrification/Riding the N&W Steam Clips

PRR investigated electrification west of Harrisburg but the capital costs were deemed too high at the time.  Traffic density has a lot to do with the overall ROI.  Line maintenance and declining diesel fuel cost killed the MILW and GN electrification.  If you look at the infrastructure on the old NH through CT you wonder why it has not collapsed on the track from lack of maintenance. 
Europe has a lot of electrification because of traffic density and lack of fossil fuel availability, especially in Switzerland. 

Sent from my iPhone
Jim S

On Apr 5, 2016, at 8:40, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

I'll go on a little bit of a tangent here and share an observation which I have found puzzling over the years.

One day it occurred to me that while many, if not most, railroads used electrification when they had mountains to climb (N&W, VGN, GN, CMSt&P, BA&P), the PRR relegated its electrification to its flatlands and continued to use steam to climb its mountains.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments?

Patrick Whalen

On Monday, April 4, 2016, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

I believe in this year’s or last year’s Virginian calendar that there is a photo of a Virginian electric at the end of the Roanoke Yard just before the JK tower.

Have a good day.
George Weber

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2016 11:20 PM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Virginian Railway Electrification/Riding the N&W Steam Clips

The Virginian yard in Roanoke had wires until N&W abandoned the electrification after the 1959 merger. So wires in the 50'd would be correct.

Jim Nichols

On Sunday, April 3, 2016 6:18 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

Does anyone know how far east the the Virginian line was electrified?  I'm doing some research for a painting and want to show a scene showing a Virginian EL-2B at the base of Mill Mountain in Roanoke along with the station there.  But I need to know if such a scene really would have existed in the 1950's.  Did the Virginian yard there have overhead wires?  I know at some point they were removed. 

The painting is going to be my submission this year for the American Society of Railway Artists, and I have to have it believable so it won't get too much criticism! 

BTW, I've enjoyed viewing the clips from "Riding the N & W". I'm anxious to purchase a copy.

Tracy Foutz
Cairo, GA (formerly of Roanoke and will be back again) 

________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To change your subscription go to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To change your subscription go to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To change your subscription go to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20160405/3b66135a/attachment.html>