N&W Train No. 18

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Come on, Bill.  Your ACL trains were running on a pool table - few curves, 
no grades to speak of.  #18 between Bristol and Roanoke had to face grades 
up to 1.3% and a lot of restricted speed due to curvature (40MPH was the 
maximum going down Alleghany Mountain, for instance); the maximum speed 
limit was 65 MPH.  The highest point was just west of Rural Retreat, Va., at 
an elevation in the neighborhood of 2550 feet above sea level after starting 
out at Bristol at just over 1600 feet.  And Rural Retreat was just the 
highest of several summits to be conquered.  What was the highest elevation 
between South Rocky Mount and Florence?  Two hundred feet?  Three hundred?

Put ACL operating practices and motive power on the Bristol-Roanoke run and 
they'd take a lot more than 207 minutes to make the trip.  Whatever your 
feelings about the R-1 4-8-4, it wasn't designed to cope with that kind of 
gradients and curvature.  N&W's J was designed for them.

EdKing
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 8:09 PM
Subject: N&W Train No. 18



> Harry Bundy  calculates that N&W passenger train No. 18 ran the 151 miles

> between Bristol and Roanoke in  207 minutes.  The ACL had several name

> trains such as  Nos. 1 and 2, the East Coast Champion, that routinely ran 

> the

> 172 miles between South Rocky Mount, N.C. and Florence, S.C. in  160

> minutes, or two hours and 40 minutes.  You tell me who the speed merchant

> was in this  situation.  Bill Sellers

>

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