Virginia Creeper

[NW Mailing List]

Not familiar with that nickname, but this was before my time. Mixed 
service extended all the way into Lexington to the end of track during 
steam (excellent account by Louis Newton in /Rails Remembered, Vol. 3/) 
and freight service later with diesels. Steam runs turned on the B&O wye 
at East Lexington and backed into town. Diesels pulled into town with 2 
GP9's pulling the freight consist between 2 cabooses, ran around on the 
siding at the station and pulled out. Without passenger service, the 
station's passenger area served as the Greyhound bus station.

I've heard stories of the VMI Corp having to march across the East 
Lexington (US 11) Bridge and board at East Lexington for Corp trips due 
to concerns about the old timber trestle over the Maury River. I 
remember rumors later of concern about the trestle as an excuse to cut 
off the by now weekly service, but the GP9's et al continued on until 
the remnants of Hurricane Camille settled the matter in August of '69. 
Those "remnants" amounted to 25 to 28 inches of rain in Nelson County on 
the other side of the Blue Ridge, but I distinctly remember hearing of a 
total recorded on the Lexington, Rockbridge County side of nearly 32 
inches, all in about 6 hours. Service was such that a lone covered 
hopper was all that was stranded in Lexington and a box car in East 
Lexington.

Grant Carpenter
---
On 9/1/2014 8:38 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> The once a day combine that worked the C&O (partially N&W) Lexington 
> (Va.) Branch between Balcony Falls and East Lexington (up and back to 
> VMI plus) was also called the Virginia Creeper by its users in its 
> last year of service . . . I believe.
> Al Kresse
> > As I watch the N&W videos and see film taken from the combine as the 
> Va. Creeper went around tight curve after tight curve.  What was the 
> minimum radius on that branch?  What would that be in HO scale?    28"?
> >
> >
> > Mark Lindsey
> > Stuck in the 1930's
> >

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