Servicing Celanese and APCo

Wed Jun 8 11:44:09 EDT 2022

I believe my former Grandfather-in-law worked that stretch of track when 
he was a conductor on the old Virginian and N&W. His name was Harry 
Reed.  Not sure when he retired but I think he did make it to N&W era.  
When did the Celanese plant open? Was it before the N&W and Virginian 
merger?

Paul Mirick

On 6/8/2022 10:11 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> Back in the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s train 89 out of Roanoke 
> would deliver cars to Celco. These would consist of mainly box cars 
> and tank cars. The eastbound Bluefield - Radford shifter (formerly 
> known as the Short Run) would deliver coal, usually in 25 - 40 car cuts.
> Train 89 was called from the “slow freight” pool. This pool handled 
> all the hopper trains west. 89 was called out of Roanoke around 
> midnight by the sinister yardmaster Bayes. He’d call 89 then call 
> three to four hopper trains behind it. Crews hated 89 not only for the 
> all night work but mainly getting “run around” by those trains called 
> behind it, meaning staying in the Matz that much longer. 89 sometimes 
> worked Big Spring Mill at Elliston and would pick up the westbound set 
> off from train BR-2 at Walton middle track and usually set off local 
> cars for Radford. If there were any MofW cars that needed to be set 
> off or picked up at places like Eggelston, Cooke Siding or Pearisburg, 
> that would be done as well.  bu
> Then came Celco. First order of business was get the switch list from 
> the clerk in the shanty near the set off track switch next to the 
> mainline (I’m thinking he was the Narrows station clerk who came over 
> and listed the tracks). Cut the power off, reach in and grab anywhere 
> between 10-40 outbounds. We’d always have to make up the hoses and 
> knock off handbrakes on the entire cut. Double back to the main train, 
> grab the set off and shove back into one or two of the receiving 
> tracks. While it was fairly straightforward, this took a bit of time 
> to do, all the while one could hear the westbound hopper trains that 
> were called behind flying pass on the other side of the river. It 
> didn’t help your attitude about getting “run around“ if it was raining 
> or snowing.
>
>
> Chuck Akers
> Roanoke, VA
> 540-815-1275
>
>> On Jun 8, 2022, at 8:35 AM, NW Mailing List 
>> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> Don,
>> I would suspect that Celco traffic would be on a par with traffic to 
>> Dupont in Waynesboro, VA.
>> I didn't make many trips to Bluefield, but, I do remember on one trip 
>> back to Roanoke we made a straight set off and pick up at Celco.
>>
>> Jimmy Lisle
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
>>
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>> Date: 6/8/22 8:13 AM (GMT-05:00)
>> To: 'NW Mailing List' <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>> Subject: RE: Servicing Celanese and APCo
>>
>> Thanks Ron. Any idea how much traffic was generated per day? From the 
>> photos I’ve seen, by the number of cars spotted in plant, I suspect 
>> it was significant.
>>
>> Don
>>
>> *From:* NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org> *On Behalf 
>> Of *NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 07, 2022 6:08 PM
>> *To:* nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
>> *Cc:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>> *Subject:* Servicing Celanese and APCo
>>
>> Don,
>>
>> The Celanese plant itself has always had it's own internal fleet of 
>> switchers. Whether a local freight or a road freight served the plant 
>> externally I can't say, although I suspect the former.
>>
>> The original Celanese steam locomotive, a Porter 0-4-0F #1, is on 
>> display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.
>>
>> Ron
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
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>> Sent: Tue, Jun 7, 2022 1:32 am
>> Subject: NW-Mailing-List Digest, Vol 213, Issue 3
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>> 1. Servicing Celanese and APCo (NW Mailing List)
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>>
>> Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2022 14:53:44 -0700
>>
>> From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>>
>> To: "N&W Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>>
>> Subject: Servicing Celanese and APCo
>>
>> Message-ID: <mailman.316.1654562238.3402549.nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>> A question to the knowledgeable folks of the society. How was the 
>> Celanese
>>
>> plant at Narrows serviced, particularly in the 1970's? Did a local 
>> come out
>>
>> of Bluefield, Radford or Roanoke to do the days work there? Or were cars
>>
>> dropped and picked up by a through freight and a local switcher 
>> (employed by
>>
>> Celanese?) handle the work in plant? How much daily traffic was generated
>>
>> here?
>>
>> The same questions apply to the APCo power plant at Glyn Lyn, though I
>>
>> remember seeing a well-used blue switcher there. So I assume that was 
>> only a
>>
>> drop loads and pick up empties on the siding next to the main for the 
>> N&W.
>>
>> Don Trettel
>>
>> #3174
>>
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