Dwight, N&W and The Mighty Mo

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

A.B.
Some observations on the "race track" Zuni to Suffolk.  It may or may  not
have application to your update.
 
Zuni - a.k.a. "Sin City".  West of the post office on U.S. 460, there  had 
been
two black & silver historical signs.  One was a bio  of Southhampton County 
and the
other had to do with the Nat Turner insurrection and William Mahone.   Last
trip west, I noticed only one of the signs remains.  What happened  ?  
 
Dwight - into the  1930's, perhaps longer than that, this station  had 
operators
24/7.  There were agent/operators at Disputanta, Waverly,   Wakefield, Ivor,
and Windsor, but they worked daylight shifts only.  After 4:00 PM and  on
week ends, the only O.S. (train report) a dispatcher would receive was  from
Dwight.  Unlike traffic control, the trains moved through  ABS territory with 
the
dispatcher depending on OS's  to plan, plot strategy, etc. From Poe to  
Suffolk,
was a 55-mile "dark hole".  Dwight was the only ray of light a  dispatcher
could look to.  After World War II, traffic control was extended east  from 
Poe to 
Disputanta, but by then, the Dwight operators were gone.  Enter the  bionic 
operator.
This guy was stationed near Wakefield.  He worked 24/7 without pay or  fringe 
benefits.
It was a hot box detector.  The dispatcher came to rely on the  detector to 
confirm
that a train was still moving and would announce to Portlock that No.  86, for
instance, was an hour away.
 
Windsor - just west of the station occurred the August, 1946 derailment of  
the
"Cannonball" and subsequent collision with an "A" powered coal train.   
Details
can be found in Ed King's Mercedes of  Steam.  I can't verify it, but have 
been
told that the Windsor station was built by the Norfolk &  Petersburg.  It 
lasted into
the 1980's.  Sadly, nobody came to the rescue and the station has been 
demolished.
 
Myrtle - now in the City of Suffolk, but then (1955-56) in  Nansemond County. 
 During
my high school senior year, there was a grade crossing accident at the  first 
crossing
west of Lake Cahoon.  About 11:30 PM, a car approached the crossing  out of 
control,
went airborne and struck the 62nd car in a hopper train.  The car  came to 
rest on
the eastward main track.  Ten minutes later, No. 26 approached the  crossing 
and
struck the automobile.  Only after the hopper train reached Petersburg  and 
was 
stopped for inspection did the crew realize that they had been involved in  a 
grade
crossing accident.  Years later, I'd find that the Virginia State  Highway 
Patrol made
an on-scene investigation.  In the interview with the engineer came  the much
dreaded question - "How fast ?"  The engineer replied that he didn't  know.  
The
patrolman surmised that the engineer had indeed had a tough night and being  a
compassionate  soul, didn't pursue it.  As the patrolman walked  away, the 
engineer
took his bandana and wiped his face, then gave a muted "Whew!" He didn't  know
the speed of No. 26 because the needle of the speed indicator was on the  peg.
 
                                                                 Harry Bundy
 
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