Blue Ridge

[NW Mailing List]

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 10:07 PM, Frank wrote:


>

> 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.



A few more details to add to Frank's good directions. From U.S. 460 headed
east from Roanoke, the road Frank mentions goes to the right. It is named
Healing Springs Road. Look for Va. 805 and a sign for Adams Construction
and/or Adams Asphalt as a landmark. Follow the road almost to the underpass
beneath the tracks.With leaves on the trees, you don't see the railroad
overpass, but there are clearance signs that let you know you are getting
close. The "road" to the station site starts in a wide spot on the left,
climbs steeply at the top, then crosses a spur track into the quarry. After
you cross that track into the crusher, you will see, as Frank says, where
the station sat squeezed in with the switches and sidings that serve the
stone quarry there. There is a signal just to the west, for westbounds, but
it is around a curve to the left and can't be seen when there are leaves on
the trees. There is a companion eastbound signal adjacent to the westbound
one; both are still N&W color-position signals unless they have been changed
out in the last couple of months.
Bruce in Blacksburg
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