Structures in N&W's Lamberts Point Coal Piers

Wed Mar 15 18:40:31 EDT 2017

Jack -

Thanks for the complement, but please be patient with me.  I retired  three 
times from the railroads.  Although I was Asst Superintendent at  Lamberts 
Point from 1983 to 1988, I better not tell you that my "home road" is  
Southern Railway.  After I got out ot the Navy in 1969, I went to work as a  
civil engineer for Southern Railway at their headquarters building in DC.   We 
moved eleven times with SOU, N&W, and NS!  My wife of 43+ years and  I built 
our retirement home at Smith Mountain Lake (SML) in 2007.  My  wife is still 
a very active AKC dog breeder and we still have our house of 23  years 
eight miles north of Leesburg, Va.  I was the first transportation  officer 
transferred to the N&W from Southern after the merger June 1,  1982.

Although I've given most of my memorabilia to NWHS and SRHA, what's left is 
 in boxes in my garage at the Lake House.  When there, I am slowly  going 
through slides, prints, and VHS tapes, trying do digitize stuff.   It's a 
slow process!  It's complicated by pictures from nine years in the  Navy, 
family photos, and 18 years living and growing up in that now defunct  Panama 
Canal Zone.  We hope to get back to our retirement home at  SML this summer.  
My wife has a new litter of Clumber Spaniel puppies  she is in thee process 
of placing.  She is also a handler.

Thanks for the good wishes.

Bill Browder

In a message dated 3/15/2017 1:00:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Bill 

Thanks for the additional information about the coal loading.  I grew  up 
in South Norfolk in the 50's and 60's and saw these "coal jacks," as  we 
called them pass, through several times a day.  I knew there was a lot  of coal 
going somewhere in Norfolk to be loaded on ships, but it was not until  I 
became an adult that I learned of the Lambert's Point yard.

I look forward to seeing your pictures, once you return to your  retirement 
home.  Thanks,

Jack

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Mailing List via  NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tuesday,  March 14, 2017 5:29 PM
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Cc: NW  Mailing List
Subject: Structures in N&W's Lamberts Point  Yard  

The rotary dumps also had the capability to "blend" the coal between the  
two or four rotary dump units, besides changing the proportions by rolling  
cars from different tracks off the Barney Yard. The speeds of the  individual 
belts carrying the coal from under the rotary dumps thru the  loaders to 
the holds of the ship being loaded could also be adjusted.  The Japs 
absolutely loved that, and provided N&W with a huge selling  advantage over the 
Massey and C&O Piers on the other side of the Elizabeth  River.

I've got pictures at our Smith Mountain Lake (SML) retirement  home.  But 
we won't get back there until later this summer.  I also  recall having an 
olde VHS video that my young son made ala the TV show  Middle/ Goldbergs for 
school interviewing PierMaaster Bob Welch at the scales  and retarters. It 
included clips of the Barneys, rolling cars off the hill,  cars in the 
kickbacks, the belts and others.

Cheers.

Bill Browder

In a message dated 3/14/2017 11:43:26 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Thanks for your reply.  It never occurred to me that coal  could be 
frozen, but now I think about it, it makes perfect sense.  I  guess a hopper size 
mass of coal wouldn't go through the rotary very well.  LOL

____________________________________

From: NW-Mailing-List  <nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org> on behalf of NW 
Mailing List  <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2017  8:33 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Structure in  N&W's Lamberts Point Yard  

On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 8:16 PM,  
Jack
wrote:

Using Google Earth, I looked at N&W's Lamberts Point Coal Yard  in Norfolk. 
 When I zoomed in, I saw two long white structures that  coal hoppers pass 
through on the way to the coal rotaries.  Does  anyone know what these white 
structures are used for?   Thanks,

Thawing sheds.  Coal loaded in the winter in and leaving the mountains of 
Virginia and West  Virginia wasn't always bone dry and had the opportunity to 
have rain or snow  fall on top of it. The coal would then freeze solid, in 
addition to freezing  to the sides of the hopper. A trip through the thawing 
shed (which used, I  believe, infrared heaters) would warm the cars sides 
enough to melt the ice,  allowing the coal to fall out of the car when it was 
rotated to dump.

Bruce in  Blacksburg

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