Roanoke Belt Line Right-of-Way Question

Mon Oct 28 17:36:28 EDT 2019

“I grew up not far from that area.  From the time my father told me of having looked for the ore pits on Yellow Mountain in his own youth in the 1920s and 19e0s, the Rorer fascinated me.  I looked for it never found a trace.”

Abram,

You have to look close but there are 6 pits shown on this topo; 3 N of the words ‘Chestnut Ridge’ and 3 S (see Green arrows). The Orange arrows indicate some portions of the R/W. Tanglewood Mall is the large pink footprint in the upper left corner with the Red Palace shown beside that (NE).  I used to explore to the west of Chestnut Ridge Campground (now Picnic Area). You can still find evidence of disturbed earth and walk some of the R/W in the campground itself.

John Garner

From: NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org] 
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2019 9:28 AM
To: N&W Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Subject: Re: Roanoke Belt Line Right-of-Way Question

Warren-Garner-Rorer & Associates, LLC :

Thank you, Stefanos, for posting that drawing of the Rorer & Pacific N.G. crossing the Roanoke & Southern.

I grew up not far from that area.  From the time my father told me of having looked for the ore pits on Yellow Mountain in his own youth in the 1920s and 19e0s, the Rorer fascinated me.  I looked for it never found a trace.

The spot where the Tanglefoot [sic] Mall now sprawls was, in my childhood, an absolutely beautiful field, level as a table top and covered with scruff grasses about a foot tall.  There was one pine tree about six feet tall growing near the middle.  I never saw the field under cultivation, but for some reason it did not revert to heavy vegetation and tree and brush cover.  In the northeast corner of the field, approximately in the spot now occupied by the Chinese restaurant, was a small, unpainted, dilapidated cabin.  Of course, the level where the Tanglehead Mall now sits has been raised  by twenty or more feet from its original elevation.  When viewed from the track, this field was the single most idyllically peaceful scenic memory of my childhood.  

Later I worked two years in train service on the Punkin' Vine, and every time I passed that area, looking for the Rorer was on my mind.  An old-head Conductor, Casey O. Young, a 1926 hire, showed me the spot where the Rorer had been located, based on information furnished by men of the generation before him.  But I could never see anything there, and I never dreamt that the Rorer had crossed the R&S alignment, from east to west.

So your drawing, fixing the crossing of rights-of-way about a hundred feet south of MP 8, is a delight to me, a delight of the first order.  Thank You !

Also quite heuristic was the information you posted yesterday that the Rorer's route to Murray Run was WEST of the Tower's Shopping Center.  I have been up and down Brandon Road thousands of times (60+ years ago,) many of those times on foot,  and the possibility that I was crossing the Rorer R-of-W never entered my mind.  I watched the Towers mall being built.  The first fast-food *burger joint* I ever saw, and possibly the first one in Roanoke,  was located on Brandon Road, at the foot of the hill below the Towers, on the spot now occupied by the Kroger gas station; if memory serves, the burgers cost twenty cents.  One day I walked over from my newspaper route, purchased a burger, and quickly developed a dislike for greasy fast food.

The small road now identified as *Brandon Lane* was then a dirt road and may have yielded some traces  of the Rorer Fast Line, had I looked.

Back in the 1960s, I also searched for any indications of the Rorer west of Wasena, along Ferdinand Avenue, through the West End section of Roanoke, and looping back eastward to its connection with the N&W around 12th Street.  Findings?  Nil.

My thanks to all for these posts on the Rorer.

Raymond Barnes, History of Roanoke, 1968, indicates that Ferdinand Rorer, after his financial ruination, left Roanoke and "was never heard from again" (or words to that effect.)  Hopefully, in the future, something will be found of old Ferd's subsequent life and ventures.  (I worked alongside Raymond Barnes, Esq., in the microfilm room of the Roanoke Library, in the early 1960s, when he was doing the research for that book. Boy, was he a piece of work !!! )

Keep up the good research on Rorer.  If anyone deigns to re-incarnate Rorer's Narrow Gauge Railroad, I shall assist by purchasing a few shares of stock.  And if you decide to operate the railroad by the Telegraph, I am your guy.

-- abramo burnardo

i # Turnips, ver. 2.0

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

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