Blue Ridge

[NW Mailing List]

Nathan:

To get to the ex-Blue Ridge station site, take US 460 east out of 
Roanoke toward Lynchburg, or the reverse from Lynchburg west.  At Blue 
Ridge, get on CR 805 south off  Rte 460 (should the road have been 
renumbered, just ask locals for "old 805" that goes to the NS 
bridge-overpass near the station site) and head in about .3 mi.  When in 
sight of the overpass, park along the roadside (little traveled).   Walk 
east up a rise to the still-active NS tracks, just a minute or two's 
walk.  The station site is east just several hundred feet from the 
overpass, between the mainline and a spur off the WB main that circled 
around the station on the north side.  When I last visited the site 
early in this decade the spur was still active for stone crusher 
service, within sight to the east;  a track still departed north from 
the station site (above-referenced curved track) to part of the 
limestone complex.  The station occupied a fairly tight squeeze between 
the WB main and the curved track.


There actually were two "photographer's bridges".  The most celebrated, 
at the eastern end of a .75-mi s-curve and about .4 mi. west of the 
station, was on  CR 616  about .3 mi south off Rte 460.  The bridge was 
dismantled decades ago and not replaced.  CR 616 ends near the bridge 
site,  but you'd have to make your way through lots of thicket to reach 
the track.  I actually have walked  west along the track from the 
station site to the bridge site, admittedly not so prudent.  But the 
trek evokes an epic story.


The second bridge sought by photographers in N&W's steam era still 
stands (to my knowledge) just east of Buford's Gap (last and first 
Appalachian challenges for EB and WB traffic, respectively; .7 mi east 
of the station site) just east of the Blue Ridge Stone Corporation's 
landmark crushed limestone "cone" on the south side of Rte 460.  Turn 
south off Rte 460 on a private road leading to the bridge, a hop and a 
skip away. The limestone "cone" will be in sight to your right.


At Blue Ridge trackside  you'll find a bounty of aging, rusting track 
hardware all over, dating back to the "glory days".  Also ankle-deep 
cinder residue from the bowels of N&W's legendary fleet.  Mute 
testimonials to a grand rail saga..


The area signal tower, long gone, was at Villamont, about two miles east 
of Blue Ridge, hard by the WB main.

Frank Gibson