Bedford "Bump" (was Re: Train order signal - Bedford, Virginia)

[NW Mailing List]

Bruce,

Good work! When I read Dave’s post I had the same reaction as you…. The Bedford Bypass (built somewhere around 1970) is too far south with too much grade.  But you have found the solution and addressed this enigma.

      Ray Smoot

From: NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org> On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2018 12:13 AM
To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Subject: Bedford "Bump" (was Re: Train order signal - Bedford, Virginia)

On Fri, Jul 27, 2018, at 9:36 PM, Dave wrote:

Harry's parenthetical note about the original main line alignment west of Bedford reminds me that when the NWHS 2004 Convention was in Roanoke, Bev Fitzpatrick drove the bus that took a group to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford.  Coming down the Rt. 460 bypass west of Bedford, he remarked that its alignment was partially on the old N&W alignment.

OK, the mention of "bypass" threw me as first, since the Bedford bypass is a little too far south of the tracks and the grades don't work for a rail line. So I looked at the USGS Historical Map site and found an 1890 map, that when overlaid on the current map showed a bow to the south in the N&W tracks approaching Thaxton. A check of the satellite view with Goggle maps and a 1978 topo map shows that there is still a trace of the original rail line, a portion of which is now covered by a portion of U.S. 460.

Bruce in Blacksburg

-----

Bruce Harper

2508 Manchester St.

Blacksburg, VA 24060

540-392-3597
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