Back When We Slept and Cooked on the Caboose

[NW Mailing List]

I omitted my last name.  Sorry, it's Gordon Hamilton

On 3/26/2022 3:26 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> As a youth I saw many a movie in the Colonial Theater.
>
> I also spent one night at N&W expense in the Matz Hotel when there was 
> a train crew sick-out (but not engineers) and I was appointed as 
> fireman (on a diesel locomotive!) on BL-2 (as I remember it) to set 
> out empties and pick up loads at Turkey Gap mine on the Bluestone Branch.
>
> I do not remember anything wrong with my one-night stay at the Matz.  
> Maybe I was just lucky, or maybe I just slept through and distractions.
>
> Gordon
>
> On 3/26/2022 9:30 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>> The end of the line . . .
>>
>> The Milner-Matz Hotel, formerly the Hotel Matz, ended up partially 
>> collapsing on February 27, 2009, after being vacant for a number of 
>> years. The attached photo shows demolition progress on April 3, 
>> 2009.  The remains of the Colonial Theater are left of center.
>>
>> The building on the extreme right side of the photo is the West 
>> Virginian Hotel.  The West Virginian was converted to apartments and 
>> is still standing.
>>
>> In its heyday the Matz hosted celebrities such as John L. Lewis and 
>> Boxer Jack Dempsey according to stories I heard from my father.
>>
>> W.E. Honeycutt
>>
>>
>>> On 03/25/2022 5:38 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>   By the late 1960s, may have even been earlier, my father was 
>>> pretty regular on Roanoke-Bluefield time freights, and he and some 
>>> others were pretty fed up with the West Virginian, so they banded 
>>> together and rented an apartment, just east (railroad east) at 910 
>>> Princeton Ave called “Mayor Manor” you could easily look out the 
>>> window and see the passenger station.
>>>
>>> I remember us taking the old stove and washing machine to Bluefield 
>>> in the pickup truck. I think it was four of them who shared the 
>>> place, sad to say I don’t remember who the others were, but you can 
>>> bet they were decent guys, as my father had no tolerance for ones 
>>> who wanted to drink or carouse. I suspect they may have gotten a 
>>> cheap car at some point as well.
>>>
>>> He kept the place until he retired in June 1981, and someone else 
>>> stepped in, we went and retrieved his clothes but left the other 
>>> things there, as we had no real need for them.
>>>
>>> In 2019, the Bluefield Train show was moved to the Quality Inn on 
>>> Route 460. The show had been held for years in another location, but 
>>> all the events were cancelled for some reason, and the show had to 
>>> be relocated to this Quality Inn. The Quality Inn was where the 
>>> railroad crews stayed at the time. Now, I cannot say I saw any 
>>> roaches there and the place was decently clean. More than a bit 
>>> overpriced in my mind. Since my wife and I were representing the 
>>> Society, we drove up on Friday to do the show and stayed Friday and 
>>> Saturday night. There was no restaurant in the place, and the 
>>> nearest place was a few miles down the road. Then on Saturday night, 
>>> the toilets stopped working. There was only one room with a working 
>>> toilet in the place on Sunday. You had to go to the desk, get the 
>>> room key, then return the key for the next person.
>>>
>>> When the toilet was not working on Saturday night, I called the desk 
>>> for someone from maintenance to come fix it. The maintenance person 
>>> had already left for the day, so they brought me a plunger wrapped 
>>> in a plastic bag. Overpriced? I’d say so. We’ll never stay there again.
>>>
>>> I’m told the crews also no longer stay there, but someplace over 
>>> nearer to Princeton.
>>>
>>> Best
>>> Ken Miller
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>

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