June 1887 Shenandoah Valley Railroad --why, it seems just like yesterd...

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Jimmy,

Your comment about the Winston-Salem line mileposts on the Roanoke Belt Line intrigued me, so I checked a 1982 vintage Shenandoah Division/Roanoke Terminal track chart.  Sure enough, the MP R-4 is in Norwich, MP R-7 milepost is at Belt Line Jct. (near Franklin Road), and MP's R-8 thru R-126 continue on down the Winston-Salem Line to that city.

I wondered where MP R-1 thru R-3 might be, so I asked Louie Newton.  He had the impression that R-0 might be at the Roanoke passenger station, but he did not know why the mileposts were arranged that way.  So, checking the track charts farther, I found that the western end of the Belt line is shown as MP R-3.33/MP N-260.74.  Then, a little arithmetic shows that MP R-0 would correspond to MP N-257.41, which is the passenger station location.  So, it appears that Louie's impression is correct.  The Winston-Salem line milepost numbering begin at the Roanoke Passenger station, proceeded west to the Belt Line, proceeded on the Belt Line to Belt Line Jct., and then continued on to Winston-Salem.

Thanks for stimulating  this research that shed some light on this unusual arrangement.  Now if someone could explain why this roundabout numbering was done, it would be of interest to all.

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 10:32 PM
  Subject: Re: June 1887 Shenandoah Valley Railroad --why,it seems just like yesterd...


  Bruce,
         There are a lot of corrections that I need to address. It may take me some time, but I will get back to you. For example, the mileposts are only H's going north. MP H239 is at the 65 crossover signal, just north of the old Randolph St. Operator's building. MP's were at one time H going north and R coming south. That is no longer true. Your track charts are way way older than 1981.
         The Winston line MP's actually start at West Roanoke near the Material Yard and going around what is now called the "Belt Line" through Wasena Park.
  Jimmy Lisle



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