Boaz and Irving (dare I say Mutt and Jeff?)

[NW Mailing List]

Frank,

Thanks for the info.  I'll have to dig out my copy of Mercedes.  I know 
where Taylor's Mountain is and always thought, when driving 460, that there 
appeared to be a bit of a hump there.

Sam

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 1:45 AM
Subject: Re: Boaz and Irving (dare I say Mutt and Jeff?)



> Jimmy:  Thanks for the Railfan reference re Boaz.

>

> Sam:  If you have access to Ed King's A--Mercedes of Steam, go to p. 147, 

> which pictures Y6 2148, in reverse, pushing a WB mixed freight East of 

> Montvale.  I know the spot well: it is immediately off  the western slope 

> of Taylor's Mountain, a finger roughly perpendicular from the Blue Ridge 

> chain, playing out at Irving.  Westbound crews opting not to chance a 

> stall on the way to Buford's Gap just East of Blue Ridge would pick up 

> their pusher at Irving.  There was a mild WB 0.6 grade, half-mile-plus 

> climb from the Irving siding to the high point on the Taylor's Mountain 

> stretch, followed by an approximately 1.5 mile, 0.5 grade downhill run 

> which the head-end engine and pusher alike would exploit to the full 

> preparatory to hitting the roughly six-mile climb, starting about a mile 

> East of Montvale, to Buford's Gap.  For both head- end engine and pusher 

> to get full benefit of that downhill break, pushers had to connect at 

> Irving.  Precisely, I conclude, No. 2148's story in the photo.

>

> No. 2148 doubtless began working that day from Boaz; instead of returning 

> light to Boaz following the Blue Ridge climb, as many (probably most) Boaz 

> pushers did, No. 2148 continued all the way to Irving (some nine miles 

> ahead) to await there the call for a WB shove.  The Irving siding almost 

> certainly saw far less traffic (no coal drags) than Boaz.   But there it 

> was for WB over-Blue Ridge calls as needed.  I believe I have read an 

> account of even celebrity A-1218 in her working days stalling out WB to 

> Blue Ridge and needing help, having earlier passed up the prudent choice, 

> given her tonnage that day, at Irving.

>

> I might add:  When in the mid-'50s the N&W began aggregating EB 

> 200-or-more coal consists at Montvale (from Y+A head-end, Y pusher 

> 150-load (approximately) over-Blue Ridge runs, which picked up some 50 

> fill loads from an earlier Montvale Turn), what lay straight ahead, with 

> little head-start time?  Taylor's Mountain!  Not in the the same league 

> with the 1.2 Blue Ridge grade EB, but mighty pushing and hauling all the 

> same for the 2+1 team departing full stop from Montvale, to face little 

> get-up-momentum time for Taylor's Mountain.   Once over the western slope 

> of Taylor's Mountain, pushers would disconnect and run the short distance 

> to Irving.  At the crossover, depending upon traffic needs, the pushers 

> would hole up at the Irving siding or head WB light.

>

> For a piece on the Irving siding, see The Arrow, v.15, n.5.

>

> Frank Gibson

>

>

>

>

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