Crosstie Lane in Parrott

[NW Mailing List]

On 6/5/08, Ron Davis wrote:

>

> Bruce,

>

> If it were not for the odd-shaped piece of land along Crosstie Lane, I'd

> strongly disagree with you. I'm still not totally convinced because there

> are almost no signs of a grade along that route. The only thing I can figure

> is that there was an extensive trestle over Back Creek in that area to carry

> the tracks from the hill where Belspring Rd comes down to the creek and

> Crosstie Lane.

>

> About a half-mile to the south of Back Creek, Belspring Rd and the existing

> rail line come tantalizingly close together as seen on a map. I've scouted

> this area too, but there is too much vertical distance between the road and

> the tracks to conclude that the connection was made there either.

>

> There is an interesting triangle in the property lines there, which

> seems to indicate where the original line came off the river.

>

> This is an interesting discussion and I'm glad it is continuing (much

better than "I didn't get my Arrow yet, where is it?"). Another piece of all
this is the helper operations on this line. Were the pushers stationed at
Parrott/Belspring (and what facilities were there?) or were they dispatched
from Radford as needed? Or did they just shuttle back and forth, pushing
empties west, then pushing loads east?  All intriging questions that may be
difficult to answer.

As I said, that triangle could indicate where the original main line went --
it could also be where there was a spur into the mines at Parrott. I just
don't know. I, too, wondered how to get over that change in elevation
between road and tracks along with several others during occasional
forays to that area. The only conclusion we could reach based on the present
terrain was that Crosstie Lane is the old roadbed. It may take some digging
in the archive or a visit to the Pulaski County courthouse to poke around in
old deed books to come up with an answer.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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