At the top - Ringing the DS from Whitetop - Tommy Duncan Answers

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How can I get in touch with Tommy Duncan to talk about operations on the Radford Division back in the 1950s?  I need some help for my current series in The  Arrow.

Glenn Fisher

Cornwall PA

> On October 22, 2019 at 10:35 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Tommy Duncan, retired Radford Division Train Dispatcher, answered the question about how the Train Dispatcher in Roanoke got one of the Abingdon Branch stations on the wire [or vice versa,] since the ringing equipment apparently would not ring over that distance.  Here is the answer he sent me privately this morning:
> 
> 
>     **********
> 
>     I can remember back to about 1952, the NC Branch and the Abingdon Branch [message lines] were hooked directly to the Bristol Line dispatcher line.  On the message line for the Abingdon Branch, [the Operator at an Abingdon Branch station] would ring Abingdon, and Abingdon would cut him thru to the Bristol to Roanoke line, which was wire No. 7 and 8,  I think.  The NC Branch message line was connected directly to the Roanoke PBX operator; an Operator [on the NC Branch] would just ring a short or a long and the PBX Operator would connect you [to the Train Dispatcher.] The Potts Valley never had any communications when I went to work in 1957, as I can remember.
> 
>     **********  
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> 
>     So, it appears that the magneto ringers would work from the NC Branch to Roanoke, but those on the Abingdon Branch would not.
> 
> 
>     I first met Tommy Duncan 55 years ago.  About 5 o'clock one morning I was sleeping soundly on a caboose on the cab track at Radford.  He was working as the night Operator at CN Office, East Radford.  He came over to give me my wake up call to report for duty on the Bristol Line Local at 6 AM.  I was pleased to run into Tommy again two years ago this month, at the grand opening of the newly restored Rural Retreat depot.
> 
> 
>     -- abram burnett
> 
>     Fully Depreciated Old Brakezman
> 
> 
>     ===========================================
>                       Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
>     Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
>     ===========================================
> 


 

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