N&W in 1909--Big Stony

[NW Mailing List]

More information and a map of the loops can be found in Louis Newton's book-RAILS REMEMBERED VOL. 3, which may still be available in the Commissary.

David Lugar
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: 3N&W Mailing List 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:59 PM
  Subject: N&W in 1909--Big Stony


  This is a follow up to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph articles posted April 13 and May 5 on the Mailing List about the Big Stony RR, later the N&W's Potts Valley Branch.

  The first newspaper article described the loops near Waiteville, WV, as "...rivaling the far-famed loop of Cripple Creek, Colo."  I am attaching a portion of the USGS 1932 15" Waiteville topo map showing the loops.  Too bad we can't ride that line today!

  You can trace the loops on Google Earth by entering  "Waiteville, WV" in the "Fly to" field.  It takes a little practice to discern it but there is a subtle difference in the trees that reveals where the roadbed was once located.  It helps to be familiar with the course of the tracks on the topo map.

  More details about this N&W branch can be found in John Joseph's well-researched article in the July/August 2002 issue of The Arrow.  For one thing, the most recent newspaper article stated that the branch had only two bridges, whereas Joseph's article lists four large trestles on the loops alone, with heights varying from 46' to 109' and from lengths varying from 475' to 800'.  Pity the poor reporter of 1909 trying to write an article in his office based on secondhand info gleaned from primitive communications.

  Note on the topo map at Ray there is a peculiar railroad track that appears to go straight up Potts Mountain to the Virginia state line.  This is obviously the narrow gauge cable-operated line described in Joseph's article.  He states that the narrow gauge tracks extended on across the mountain and down the Virginia side of the mountain to Johns Creek Valley where narrow gauge Shay locomotives brought log cars to the base of the incline.  They were then hauled to the top by a steam hoisting station located at the top of the mountain and then lowered to Ray for transloading onto N&W cars there.  That operation would have been really interesting to have seen.

  Gordon Hamilton


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