WHO WERE THEY ? -- #84 -- Joseph H. Sands - S.V. RR, N&W

Tue Oct 23 22:41:01 EDT 2018

Mr. Sands also had a residence in Shenandoah VA after his retirement, which currently is in use as the funeral home. Stanley VA was originally nameds SANDS in his honor. 

Mason Cooper

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 2:27 PM
To: N&W Mailing List
Subject: WHO WERE THEY ? -- #84 -- Joseph H. Sands - S.V. RR, N&W

SANDS, JOSEPH H. (HOOK),  General Manager Norfolk & Western Rd in 1887.  Office Roanoke, Va.   Born  Washington, D. C, Jan. 1, 1851.  Entered railroad service March 9, 1874; to Jan. 21, 1877, clerk to superintendent transportation Pennsylvania Rd, Altoona, Penn.; Jan. 21, 1877 to Nov. 26, 1879, train master same road, Altoona yard;  Nov. 1879 to June 1, 1883, superintendent Shenandoah Valley Rd;  June 1, 1883 to March 31, 1885, general superintendent Shenandoah Valley and Norfolk & Western Rds;  March 31 to Nov. 1, 1885, general superintendent Norfolk  & Western Rd;  Nov. 1, 1885 to date, general manager same road.

NOTE:  Mr. Sands’ obituary, published in the Roanoke Times, 4-5-1927, adds a few other details.  Mr. Sands died on Sunday, April 3rd, 1927, in Phoenix, Arizona, “while on a trip in the west,” at the age of 76.  His funeral was held at St. Andrew’s, Roanoke, but there is no mention of place of burial.  (My guess is that he is buried in the St. Andrew’s Cemetery off Salem Turnpike in Roanoke.)  He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Mary Sands, and one brother, Preston Sands, of Washington, and a sister.  The obituary states that he continued as General Manager of the N&W “until April 15, 1897.”  From 1897 until April 30, 1899, he was General Manager of the South Carolina and the Georgia Railroads.  Between May 1, 1899 and October 31, 1900, he was Superintendent of the Charleston Division of the Southern Ry at Charleston, SC.  From November 1, 1900, until February 1, 1903, he was General Superintendent of the Eastern District of the Southern Ry at Salisbury, NC.  The obituary adds that, “In the last years of his life, Mr. Sands has lived in partial retirement” and he “resided on Wellington Avenue, South Roanoke.”  (These dates would give him a “partial retirement” of an enviable 24 years.)

Mr. Sands was apparently an excellent railroad man and a talented administrator.  He was Train Master at age 26, Superintendent at age 28, General Superintendent at age 34, and General Manager at age 34, as well.

>From all I have been able to gather, Mr. Sands was very highly thought of as a person and a railroad official, so much so that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division 401, Roanoke, named their lodge the Joseph H. Sands Lodge. 

I also believe that it was Sands who brought to the SV RR (and thence to the N&W)  the modern practice of “blocking trains” and other more-or-less up-to-date practices which were put in place during his early years on the property, as reflected in the rule books.  (More research needs to be done on this.)

It is also my opinion that Mr. Sands probably “got the short end of the stick” when his stellar career on the N&W ended with his resignation in 1897, at the young age of 46.  (Mr. Getz and I have corresponded privately on this topic.)

ATTACHMENTS:

- 1. A copy of Mr. Sand’s obituary (which I owe to the courtesy of the firm of Roanoke law firm Miller & Sandermann, LLC.)

- 2. A photo of the ceremonial ribbon of the Joseph H. Sands Lodge of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (which I intend to donate to the N&WHS Archives on my next trip southward.)

- 3. A photograph of Mr. Sands taken at Altoona, sometime prior to 1880. He is the man standing on the ground, with his left arm resting on the pilot bean of the engine. I believe the structure in the background is GD Telegraph Office and Block Station, near the (then) east end of Altoona Yard.  Note the old “Banner Box” type block signal and the curious little semaphore arm (for which I have no explanation whatsoever…)  The banner box signal was probably installed in 1875, when the PRR began “blocking trains.”

There also exists (somewhere) a very nice portrait of Mr. Sands in his later years.  I found it  years ago in the trade press of the era, but unfortunately do not have a copy of the image file on my computer.

-- abram burnett

===========================================
                  Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
===========================================

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20181023/5d15fdb2/attachment.html>