N&W articles in July 1954 Railroad magazine

[NW Mailing List]

Abram Burnett, Ken Miller, Frank Scheer and others:

While the issue in reference is not rare by any stretch of the
imagination, it is popular as it has several other articles which
were/are timely for historical references in addition to the 2 N&W
articles, the first one by H. Reid.

If anyone wants a complete copy, feel free to contact me off-list and
we'll go from there.

As an aside, this was the next-to-last pulp style issue which RR
Magazine published before going to a more standard sized 8.5 x 11
starting in September 1954.

I have several extra copies of the July 1954 issue for sale if interested.

Bob Cohen


>

> I first learned of Luetta several years ago when Ken Miller sent several

> photos of her in a station, taken in the early 1950s. She had been his

> neighbor, and survived until several years ago. Subsequently I learned an

> article had been published on her... but in what magazine?

>

> I could never nail down a good reference to the article until a week ago,

> when someone forwarded me an Ebay link to an 1954 Railroad Magazine up for

> auction, which magazine carried a feature article on N&W steam. In reading

> the ad, lo and behold, there was mention of another article in the same

> magazine dealing with an N&W station agent named Luetta McNeil. The

> mystery was solved, but I was too late and the magazine had been sold.

>

> A quick distress call to Keith Robins revealed that he had a copy of the

> magazine, and he generously scanned the pages for me. The article had been

> written by Ben Dulaney, who worked in the N&W's PR Department. One wonders

> why it was published in Railroad Magazine, rather than in the N&W's own

> Magazine ?

>

> Wirtz, Va, is a way station on the N&W's "Punkin' Vine" between Roanoke and

> Winston-Salem, 21 miles south of Roanoke. The 1950, 1954 and 1956 "List of

> Officers, Agents and Stations all show "Miss L.M. McNeil" as the Agent at

> Wirtz. She was gone by the time I spent several years braking on "the

> Punk" in the early 1960s but, curiously, I never knew any men to work at

> Wirtz... all the agents I remember there were women.

>

> The article is attached as a PDF. Hope you enjoy it. And thank you,

> Luetta, for leaving your mark on history.

>

> -- abram burnett