Virginian Railway Electrification/Riding the N&W Steam Clips

Tue Apr 5 10:33:19 EDT 2016

Patrick:

The PRR electrification occurred in stages, and different portions  
addressed different issues.
- Penn Station, no steam locomotives allowed
- Philadelphia commuter service, traffic density.

I think it's generally correct - hopefully not an oversimplification - to  
say that PRR's NYC-DC-Harrisburg electrification project addressed the fact 
that  the traffic density was simply too great to be handled by steam  
locomotives.  To keep the system fluid, it took the much greater  acceleration 
capability of electrically-propelled MU cars and  electrically-hauled 
passenger and freight trains.

A Google search would probably bring out numerous articles on the subject;  
also, "When The Steam Railroads Electrified" by Bill Middleton is a good  
source.

Dave Phelps

In a message dated 4/5/2016 10:21:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

I'll go  on a little bit of a tangent here and share an observation which I 
have found  puzzling over the years.  

One day it occurred to me that while many, if not most, railroads used  
electrification when they had mountains to climb (N&W, VGN, GN,  CMSt&P, BA&P), 
the PRR relegated its electrification to its flatlands  and continued to 
use steam to climb its mountains.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments?

Patrick Whalen

On Monday, April 4, 2016, NW Mailing  List <_nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ 
(mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org) >  wrote:

I  believe in this year’s or last year’s Virginian calendar that there is 
a  photo of a Virginian electric at the end of the Roanoke Yard just before 
the  JK tower. 
Have  a good day. 
George  Weber 

From: NW-Mailing-List  [mailto:_nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org_ 
(javascript:_e({},'cvml','nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org');) ] On Behalf Of NW  
Mailing List
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2016 11:20 PM
To:  NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Virginian Railway  Electrification/Riding the N&W Steam  Clips

The Virginian  yard in Roanoke had wires until N&W abandoned the 
electrification after  the 1959 merger. So wires in the 50'd would be  correct.

Jim  Nichols

On  Sunday, April 3, 2016 6:18 PM, NW Mailing List 
<_nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ (javascript:_e({},'cvml','nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org');) > wrote:

Does anyone know  how far east the the Virginian line was electrified?  I'm 
doing some  research for a painting and want to show a scene showing a 
Virginian EL-2B  at the base of Mill Mountain in Roanoke along with the station 
there.   But I need to know if such a scene really would have existed in the 
 1950's.  Did the Virginian yard there have overhead wires?  I know  at 
some point they were removed. 

The painting is going to be my  submission this year for the American 
Society of Railway Artists, and I have  to have it believable so it won't get too 
much criticism! 

BTW, I've  enjoyed viewing the clips from "Riding the N & W". I'm anxious 
to  purchase a copy.

Tracy Foutz
Cairo, GA (formerly of Roanoke and  will be back again) 

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