Fw: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] Re: Tidewater in 1904 -- Roanoke

[NW Mailing List]

As additional incidental information, the 1924 N&W Annual Report states, "Campbell Avenue Station, Roanoke, Va, was improved and converted into a salvage warehouse."

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gordon Hamilton 
To: VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 8:30 PM
Subject: Re: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] Re: Tidewater in 1904 -- Roanoke


Richard Kimball
Ron Davis

Subject to any evidence to the contrary that may surface, I believe that the original route of the Roanoke and Southern into Roanoke was directly into downtown Roanoke rather than along the belt line to West Roanoke.  One basis is the July 1893 (one year after the R&S was completed) Sanborn insurance map of Roanoke which shows in convincing detail on the index sheet a line marked "Roanoke & Southern R.R." on the alignment of the present Winston-Salem line from about Walnut Ave. to Campbell Ave.  Sheet 2 of those Sanborn maps shows the R&S line coming alongside the building at 2nd St. and Campbell Ave. labeled "Freight Depot" and, at the north end, "Pass'gr Station and Offs."  There is a station track along the east side of the building, three stub tracks east of that, and a connecting track to the N&W on the alignment of the east leg of today's Campbell Ave. wye.  Incidentally, some of us remember this R&S station as being the "Salvage Warehouse" of the late 1950's.

The 1897 Annual Report lists 1.59 miles of main track on the Roanoke belt line, and the 1904 Annual Report states, "Track was laid on the remaining 2.34 miles of roadbed of the Roanoke Belt Line thus completing a connection from the main line west of Roanoke to the Winston-Salem district south of Roanoke, a total distance of 3.93 miles."

So, the Sanborn maps indicate that the R&S went directly into downtown Roanoke in 1893, and the annual reports confirm that the full belt line was not completed until 1904, as also reported in the newspaper articles that I posted on the Mailing List.

I don't know when the west leg of the Campbell Ave. wye was constructed, but prior to that it may have been more expedient for the N&W to run Winston-Salem freight trains out of the west yard and around the belt line to avoid a reversal of direction at the Campbell Ave. connection.  The milepost may have been changed then.  Maybe some old ETTs would show if, or when, the mileposts were changed.

Gordon Hamilton
 
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