“The Forties,” at 15th Street, Roanoke

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I believe it was Herr Fischer who several weeks ago asked questions about “THE FORTIES” at Roanoke. I failed to respond in a timely manner. Here, at last, is the answer.

PROLEGOMENON: SOME NOMENCLATURE ISSUES. The hump classification yard extending from 24th St eastward to 15th Street, was always, in my time of experience at Roanoke (1940s-1979) referred to as “the Classification yard,” or by the 1940s-hire men as “the Retarder Yard.” The term “bowl” is a thoroughly alien neologism which came into use in the 1970s in the North (originally cooked up by the NYC men, I think,) and it seems to have spread to Roanoke in the last decade or two. Another term which showed up at the same time, completely out-of-context with the railroad legacy, is the expression “to build a train,” supplanting the traditional term “to make up” a train. Neologisms are reprehensible in railroad vocabulary. So be it. End of discussion.

THE DESCRIPTOR, “THE FORTIES.” Why was the east end of the classification yard referred to as “the Forties”? It was because the crews which worked there, doubling up trains, were named the 840, the 940 and the 1040 Crews.

And why were these crews so named? I asked my father that question, and he told me that in the early days of the Roanoke Hump, but one crew was employed at the east end of the Classification Yard. The regularly assigned engine was Engine 940, a Class W. The crew somehow assumed the name of its regular engine and became “the 940 Crew.” When it became necessary to add a second crew at the east end, it was named the “840 Crew,” but not because of the engine number. I do not know when Mallet engines came to be used on The Forties, but my guess is Mallets appeared when train lengths grew in the 1930s. Just a guess. As a child (early 1950s,) I recall seeing Class Z and Y3 engines working The Forties, and also over on the other side of the yard, at the Pull Up, at 16th Street. My first memories of the railroad recall only two crews working at 15th Street, the 840 and the 940.

Somewhere around 1958-1959, the Classification Yard was extended southward by cutting away an embankment, making the old Eastbound Main Line the new Track 50 in the Classification Yard, then adding six additional new tracks on the south side (Tracks 51-57.) This was done to accommodate the increased volume of Tidewater coal which had to be weighed and classified at Roanoke. Tracks 50-51 were the longest tracks in the Classification Yard and were perfect for receiving the vast number of coal hoppers which were shoved over time hump for classification. With the increase of coal business, and the addition of seven new tracks, a third crew was added at 15th Street, and this was named the “1040 Crew.”

The 840, 940 and 1040 Crews worked around the clock. The reporting times were staggered. As I recall, the 1040 reported on the hour. The 840 reported at 30 minutes past the hour. And the 940 reported at 45 minutes past the hour.

As to division of labor… Of course, all three crews could work wherever needed, but the general pattern of work was for the 940 to work the north side of the Classification yard, where the locals were switched up “in station order” and where the Hagerstown trains were made up. The 840 generally worked the middle of the yard, making up trains for the Norfolk Division and Punkin Vine. And the 1040 worked the coal side and assisted the 840, if necessary.

There were eight long tracks extending from the Classification Yard down to Park Street. This set of tracks was called “the Forwarding Yard.” The Eastbound Main Line, on which signal rules had been withdrawn, was also used for making up trains, but it was still called the “Eastbound Main.”

(The Eastbound Main Line had been degraded from main track to a yard track between the Radford Division Pull In [west of Peters Creek] and Park Street, around 1958-1959, when the construction of additional tracks extended the classification yard southwardly. At the same time, the Westbound Main Line between the Passenger Station and WB had received Rule 261 signaling, i.e. signaling for movement in either direction, to accommodate the passenger trains.)

East of 15th Street Yard Office, there was extensive set of crossovers extending for about 1200 feet eastwardly, the east end of the network of crossovers being right in front of 12th St Yard Office (which stood on the southeast corner of 12th St and Jackson Ave.) The purpose of the crossovers was to allow trains made up from either side of the Classification Yard to be pulled down any of the forwarding yard tracks.

The Forty crews doubled up tracks in the Classification Yard and pulled the completed trains down to Park Street, where the east car was spotted on “Ground Air.” Ground Air was the term for a system of pipework extending from a big stationary compressor (east of Park St Bridge, as I recall) to the east end of the Forwarding Yard. Each track in the Forwarding Yard had a valve connection to the underground pipework and a long air hose with glad hand connection, which could be run to the east end of the cars. Ground Air pressure was, as I recall 70 pounds. The cars would be charged and the brakes tested by the Car Inspectors by applying and releasing the air brakes, and correcting any excessive leakage by replacing air hose gaskets or tightening air brake piping fittings. If the Car Inspectors found problems (e.g. an inoperative air brake,) the defective car would be cut out. When the blue flag was removed and the road engine coupled up, the train was already charged and inspected. All the road crew had to do was make an application and release test, and a leakage test, and they were ready to go. The road crew signaled the Park Street Switchtender that the train was ready to depart by illuminating the headlight on bright. The Switchtender saw that signal and called Randolph Street Tower to announce the train was ready. When Randolph Street had established the route, the Switchtender high-balled the train with a yellow flag by day, or a yellow lantern by night, and the train departed. The east ends of all eight Departure Yard tracks were protected by split-point derails, which were handled by the Switchtender.

>From the east end of the Forwarding Yard (west of the Park Street Bridge) westward to 15th Street Yard Office, is only about 4000 feet. That distance was sufficient to accommodate most train lengths back when cars were small and before the Diesel-thingies came around. Once the Diesel-thingies showed up, train lengths doubled, very quickly wreaking havoc on terminal operations everywhere and making many passing sidings too short to be of any use. I clearly recall hauling 255 empties from Roanoke to Bluefield one day, and returning the next day with 254 loads. But cars back then were mostly 50 and 70 ton cars. (Coal trains made a three-track double at Bluefield.)

So, once the Diesel-thingies came around and cars increased to 100 ton capacity and 70, 80 and 89 feet in length, the rear ends of eastward, northward and southward trains always hung back west of 15th Street. It was the normal thing to assemble these very long trains in the “coal yard” (Tracks 50-57) if possible, so that the switching ladders were not blocked at 15th Street. But sometimes it was necessary to make up a train and leave the rear end in the Classification Yard, west of 15th St Yard Office. I recall working Norfolk Division coal trains on which the caboose hung back west of the 24th Street underpass, more than a mile and a half from the location of the engine. Train lengths had clearly outgrown the design-capacity of the yards and terminals. This was in the mid-1960s.

Cabooses were sometimes attached to eastward, northward and southward trains by one of the Forty Crews. But more often they were attached by one of the Hump Crews adding the caboose to the west end of the track of cars which would constitute the rear end of the train. (This was done because the Shenandoah Division and Norfolk Division Cab Tracks were at Shaffers Crossing, right beside the Hump.) The locations of the cab tracks of the various Divisions were moved over the years,

--abram burnett
derailed old brakesman