Western Union Pole Line

[NW Mailing List]

Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:53:20 -0500
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Former Subject: Re: Where Is It?

OK, here's an educated guess.  The N&W pole line is on the right of the track.  On the left is a Western Union pole line: short poles, single cross arm.  A Western Union pole line was on the right of way from Hagerstown to Roanoke. It was removed in 1955 or 1956.  I would vote for Shenandoah Division, north of Roanoke.

--Rick Morrison

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Hello, Rick:

Your perspective about the Western Union pole line on the Shenandoah prompts a couple of questions of my own:

1) Why wasn't WUTELCO wires on the N&W pole line as it was elsewhere?  I thought that the usual WUTELCO arrangement was that the company had its wires on the railroad's pole line at no charge in exchange for maintaining the pole line.  That maintenance was the pole itself, the cross-arms, and WUTELCO wires.  N&W Signal and Communications would have maintained the 440 volt power line, grounding, transformers, as well as the signal and communications wires and connections.  A duplicate pole line was essentially a doubled expense that could have been avoided though consolidating all wires along a single pole line.
2) Where did the WUTELCO wires go after 1956; onto the N&W pole line?  There were still active circuits for Morse and teletype during the 1950s, although the telegram era was fading fast.

Interestingly, I cannot find a Virginia State Corporation Commission order to close the Railway Express, Western Union, or N&W agencies at Boyce.  I believe all three closed effective January 1st, 1959, but cannot find supporting documentation.

Best wishes for an early Spring,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com
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