Freights: No Clearance Cards at West Roanoke or Bluefield?

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Writeth Senator Bundy:
I can't tell you why trains didn't get clearance cards at West Roanoke.  I may
be able to shed some light on Bluefield.  It was "RD", the interlocking at
the east end of the yard which controlled the crossovers, turnouts, etc.  

Yes, Harry, but I don't think "RD" was put in until 1949 (as I recall).  

So, where does that leave us?  Back in the same situation.  Prior to 1949, 
why were trains turned loose without a Clearance Card?

As to the significance of the office call "RD" ...  When I asked the 1940-ish 
hire telegraphers about the office call "RD," they related the following 
story.  

When Bluefield Yard was extended eastward to its present configuration, in 
the late 1940s, and a tower was built to interlock the east end, an senior 
telegrapher named Stafford bid in the advertisement of the daylight job.  
Stafford's "sine" on the wire had been "RD," the last two letters of his name.  Someone 
in management decided to honor him by naming the place after him.  Ergo, "RD."

Sounds a bit romantic, huh?  You bet.  So I'll give your explanation of "RD" 
as "Radford Division" a fifty-fifty handicap.  Perhaps Stafford's bidding in 
the daylight job was just coincidental.

-- abram burnett
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