Where? < Ball's Hole > < Tie Yard Hill >

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Scribit Bruno in Blacksburgensis: 

>> As to Tie Yard Hill... I don't believe we ever got a full explanation as to why it was called that. Any insight would be appreciated. << 

I cannot be of much help, Bruce. I did ask the old timers about the name, and they told me there was once there a place there were timbers, cut off the mountain, were staged and cut into cross ties for railroad loading. It was gonr long, long before my time, and I never saw any evidence of it, nor did I ever know exactly where it had been located. I seem to recall that even the old timers like Bud Aliff and Percy "Preacher" Richardson (1926 men) didn't have specific memories/information. Who knows, it may have been long gone before their time, too. 

I also seem to recall that the name "Tie Yard Hill" was applied for the uphill westbound grade between the Roanoke River Bridge and Elliston, but in retrospect I am wondering if it may have referred to the eastbound climb out of Ball's Hole toward Singer. We spoke of "going up Tie Yard" on westbound trips, but not on eastbound trips. It's now been almost 53 years since I worked there. And I only worked on the Radford Divsiion for less than three years before being furloughed and moving on to the Punkin' Vine and the "Roanoke District" of the Shenandoah Valley (I bounced back and forth between those two a couple of times.) Employment was not steady for young brakeman back in those days, but we could often find work on another Division, which is exactly what I did. So you will have to pardon the gaps in my knowledge and memory. 

If I needed a definitive answer to this question, I would turn to Ken Miller and Harry Bundy, both much "older and wiser" than I. HA! 

-- abram burnett, 
obsolete and superannuated brakezman 

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