Operations along the Valley Line between Stuarts Draft and Hagerstown from 1979 and 1981

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    Seems like a no-brainer doesn't it? But, I would question    whether or not that was Kinzell's idea. Everyone on the Valley    wondered why they didn't have that connection in the first place.    That is probably why it never got done...the big wigs didn't think    of it before the working man did.  
Jimmy:
You're probably correct -- it wasn't "Crank's" idea, but he's the one who had to justify the expense of
re-building the connection.   Every September,  Mr. Fishwick would hold a conference on expenditures
for capital improvements.  At a time when money was going for 18%, a proposed project was supposed
to pay for itself in five years -- it certainly seems that considering terminal overtime, engine utilization,
per diem etc., the connection would have been a shoe-in.   Fishwick coined the term "Hard Savings" --
no guesses, no "if this happens, that happens",  he was kinda like Sgt.Joe Friday - "Just the facts, mam!"
when it came to spending N&W's money.  Today ?  Virginia's railroads are getting a lot of help from
the Commonwealth.

I certainly wasn't aware that Glasgow Turns had to double the hill.  At least it showed someone 
considered the tonnage ratings.  In the early 90's, the Mechanical Department had to showing how
it was using its assets.  The V.P.-Mechanical decided to show horsepower per trailing ton for
intermodal, merchandise, hopper trains, coal trains and guess who got to do the number-crunching ?
True, the Glasgow Turns no longer ran, but on those unit coal trains going up the Shenandoah Div.,
to Hagerstown,  it wasn't unusual to exceed the ratings by as much as 1800 tons.Taking into account
the load meter, I think it's known as "operating in the red".                     Harry Bundy 




 
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