N&W Pass Ex 503 West, October- photo fuzz

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Abrahm:  The fuzz on the front of the locomotive is due to the use of a
1920-1930 vintage camera with an older design of focal plane shutter.
These would not be able to freeze the motion of horizontal features near
the camera due to the way the focal plane curtain was configured.

 

"Speed fuzz" is a feature of 1930's vintage negatives and was rarely
avoided as between-the-lens shutters were uncommon and very expensive
for the time, the Great Depression.  Fast between-the-lens shutters did
not exist.

 

Focal plane shutters are, of course, common fare in 35mm cameras and
freeze motion nearly perfectly.  There has been a lot of development
from 1920 to the 1950's when good 35 mm cameras became available.

 

Gary Rolih 

Cincinnnati

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 10:30 AM
To: N&W Mailing List
Subject: N&W Pass Ex 503 West, October

 

The November 1934 N&W Magazine carried a feature article on the
railroad's operation of passenger extras to get FDR from Monroe to
Salem, and then back to Petersburg, on the preceding October 19.

 

My only interest in this affair is that my grandfather was called off
the Brakeman's Extra List (which was making about two days a week in
1934) to work the train over its Radford Division lap (Roanoke to Salem
and return.)

 

Attached is a scan of the 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" photo carried in the Magazine
depicting Pass Extra 503 West arriving at Roanoke from the Norfolk
Division.  The train was probably still in motion as the shutter
snapped, as the front of the engine is a bit blurred, but you can
definitely make out the white classification signals (flags) in the
smokebox brackets.

 

Note that the train is a double-header.  Probably two E-Class Pacifics.

 

Is there any surviving record of the number of the second engine ?

 

The train was received at Monroe from the Southern.  Roosevelt went "by
motorcade" from Roanoke to the Veteran's Hospital at Salem for a
dedication of that facility, and the train was moved empty from Roanoke
to Salem.  FDR re-boarded the train at Salem and was taken to
Petersburg, where it was handed off to the Atlantic Coast Line.

 

Writers for railroad publications in 1934, unlike those of today (ahem
!,) undersood enough of the operation of the industry to make an
intelligent record of some of the interesting details:  "... the
locomotives were uncoupled and taken to the Roanoke Shops yard, where
they were turned on the turntable there, watered and coaled.  At the
same time a yard engine had pulled the remainder of the train up to the
Campbell Avenue Wye and turned it so that it would be handled in the
opposite direction.  The six cars were then pulled back to the passenger
station where they were inspected, iced, watered, etc....  The train was
now ready to be moved to Salem, where the presidential party would board
it.  One of the engines was coupled to the front of the train and the
other to the rear.  In this way the special was moved, deadhead, to
Salem where the locomotive on the rear was run around the train and
coupled as the lead engine.&n bsp; The entire operation of handling the
engine and train at Roanoke was done efficiently and swiftly; hardly
more than an hour was required for it all.  Promptly at five o'clock,
the time specified for the train to be in readiness at Salem, the
special was there, ready to move at once if necessary.  The special
train left Salem promptly at six o'clock and after a short stop at
Roanoke where the Radford Division engine crews gave way to engineers
and fireman from the Norfolk Division, the journey eastward was
resumed...."

 

The Magazine does list some of the crew members:  Conductor R. P. Phenix
and Brakeman J.E. Chrisman "made the entire trip," says the magazine.
Between Monroe and Roanoke, the engine crews were Enginemen J.H.
Richardson and R.T. Leonard and Firemen C.W. Davis and B.D. Mann.  From
Roanoke to Salem and return, it was Enginemen J.F. Taylor and A.W.
Clement and Firemen R.A. Cole and J.B. Austin.  From Roanoke to
Petersburg, Enginemen J.H. Amos and F.P. Stiff with Firemen M.G. Raikes
and A. Carter.  The Pullman Conductor was J.J. Fitzgibbon of Washington.
The Magazine does not record the names of the Radford Division train
crew, one of whom was my grandfather.

 

Wonder how much money the railroad lost hauling this Stalin-loving,
Socialist lout around for a day...?

 

-- abram burnett

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20060327/66b9de4d/attachment-0001.html