Wakefield, VA train order office

[NW Mailing List]

Thanks everyone for the info.  Attached is a postcard from 1911 showing the 
two-story tower on the Rural Retreat Depot.  The upstairs window is open, so the 
room must have been actively used.  Question:  what is the tall structure 
attached to the tower on the track side?

Frank Akers
www.theruralretreatdepot.com





________________________________
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Thu, January 24, 2013 7:46:42 AM
Subject: Re: Wakefield, VA train order office


On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 7:59 AM, Daniel wrote:


Two other stations that originally had second story towers were Wytheville and 
Christiansburg (Cambria). The designs were apparently fairly similar; the major 
difference being that the Wytheville station was built of brick and 
Christiansburg of timber. Both stations were built in the early 1870s. The 
towers were located at one end and centered along the length of the building, 
not offset like at Rural Retreat. 

> 

>The tower room may have served to give the station agent a view of the tracks. 

>However, the roof arrangement at Christiansburg (and presumably Wytheville) 

>hinders this theory. The back wall of the tower room doesn’t have enough free 

>area to fit a full height window and still clear the roof. It is possible that a 

>small “porthole” window could have been installed, but that would not have 

>matched the rest of the architecture and doesn’t seem likely.

> 

>I’ll mention that I have found no drawings or photographs of the 1873 Wytheville 

>station. 


The Christiansburg station is still standing in Cambria and it still has its 
tower. It was a passenger and freight station until the "new" passenger station 
(which also still stands) opened on September 3, 1906. The "Farmville" type 
station served both the N&W and the Virginia Anthracite Coal & Railway Co. (the 
"Huckleberry" later bought by the N&W to become the Blacksburg Branch). The 
original station then became exclusively the freight station serving 
Christiansburg and the surrounding area. From past discussions with Jim Dorsett, 
the space in the tower was an office for the freight agent. The station was 
"shortened" (after it went out of service to the N&W) in 1981 when a box car on 
the Hucklebery track (runs behind the passenger station) was run into the end of 
the wooden station by a set of wayward helper engines. Rather than repair the 
damage, part of the building was demolished and a new end installed. The station 
was obtained by Jim and Helen Dorsett (both now deceased), publishers of The 
Scale Cabinetmaker, and renovated and restored, staying off a demolition order 
that had been posted for the building. They ran their publishing business out of 
the front of the station and eventually converted the rear portion of the 
freight room into living quarters. Their daughter now lives there and operates 
the Cambria Toy Station in the building.

Photos of the station couldn't be found in a search of the VT archives or the 
N&W Historical Society archives. But there are several photos in a history of 
the station found at http://www.historiccambria.com/History.htm Clicking through 
other pages on that site results in more details and photos. There is also an 
explanation of why the back wall of the tower is the way it is. When the new 
passenger station was opened and this station became freight-only,  "The freight 
section was cut away from the passenger section and raised 25 inches, creating 
the existing short gable on the west end of the freight room. A problem with rot 
under the front section (waiting rooms) was solved by cutting 14 inches off the 
entire bottom of the passenger rooms."

Bruce in Blacksburg
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