Walton Tower area

Tue Aug 7 14:43:50 EDT 2018

Ed - 

The term most often used on N&W was “pusher”.  As I recall, the engine crew’s jobs were advertised as “pusher” jobs.

On some roads, the term “helper” was used because sometimes they were on the front end ahead of the road engines.  

The N&W had some long pusher runs; on the Pokey the Elkhorn pushers usually pushed from Farm to Bluefield, and in some occasions such as time freight 84 pushed all the way from Wilmore.  On the Clinch Valley, pushers went all the way from Finney to Bluefield.

Ed King

From: NW Mailing List 
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2018 1:07 PM
To: NW Mailing List 
Subject: Re: Walton Tower area

A minor point and Ed King and other old hands please correct me if I'm wrong.....but I never recall the term Helper used by N&W men?  Relating to the N&W whether on Christiansburg Mountain or over Flat Top Mountain up to Bluefield "Pusher: not "Helper" was the term used. 

Ed Painter - Member #70, from Narrows, VA living in Cohutta, GA

On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 12:01 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

  Was the return of this pusher to Walton perhaps the main reason for the third track between Walton and Christiansburg?

  Concerning the helper siding and referencing The ARROW, Vol 34, No 1: 
  On page 29 - It looks like the track nearest to BH tower is the helper siding. Correct?
  On page 28 - Are the diesels sitting on that siding? What are the small buildings between the tower and the diesels?

  Thank you,

  Dave Willis
  blt 1962, c/n 4

  From: Norfolk Western Mailing List
  Sent: ‎Monday‎, ‎August‎ ‎6‎, ‎2018 ‎7‎:‎47‎ ‎PM
  To: Norfolk Western Mailing List

  From: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Monday, August 06, 2018 2:23 PM
  To: Norfolk Western Mailing List 
  Subject: Walton Tower area

  In the Volume 34, No 1 (Jan-Feb-Mar 2018) issue of The Arrow are a couple nice features on the Walton Tower (BH) area which makes mention of a helper siding, but no supporting information. 
  Where was the helper siding located?  The pusher siding was next to the tower on the Bristol Line side; its east switch was a smidgen east of the tower and its west switch came into the Bristol Line side of the wye track.
  Can someone provide a track layout sketch of the BH tower area?  The diagram of the CTC board in the ARROW works well.
  Of the three routes around the tower (Radford, Bluefield, Christiansburg) which were serviced by the pushers?  The pushers shoved tonnage trains from Pepper (usually, but I have seen pushers get behind trains east of the crossovers) to Christiansburg.
  What class of steam power was usually situated there?  In later years 2100-series engines served as pushers.
  In what direction was the helper employed?  East
  Was it used only for coal trains or did it include merchandise freights too?  If they were over tonnage, yes.  Usually a 92 would be filled out with coal loads to double tonnage.

  Ed King

  Thank you,
  Dave Willis
  blt 1962, c/n 4

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