Alemite at Randolph St in 1923

[NW Mailing List]

One of the things I have long sought, but so far without fruition, is the
date for the construction of the original interlocking and tower at
Randolph Street, Roanoke, and a technical article on the subject.


Indeed, it seems that photographs of the original Randolph Street Tower are
almost non-existent.  Here is one I found in the March 1924, issue of
Railway Signaling, in a one-column article touting the virtues of
lubricating switches with Alemite.  No further N&W details were given, only
the photograph.


If I have my geographical bearings correct, that photograph looks from the
Shenandoah Division tracks, towards the depot.  The dining car commissary
would be to the right, and the board fence at left shields from our view
the RMW (Roanoke Machine Works, a.k.a. "East End Shops") complex.


One of my great desires in life was always to use a pneumatic Alemite gun
and play at lubricating grease fittings.  If anyone has such a tool, please
invite me to try it out.


Photo by K. Miller.  Man in white gloves has been identified as Section
Foreman H. Bundy;  aristocratic man in black hat identified as J.
Blackstock.  That poor kid bucking the Alemite gun is identified as young
Jerome Sandermann, who later became a successful attorney in Roanoke and
practiced law under the name Jeff Sanders.


>From this photo we can determine one thing:  that the "old" Randolph St was
an electro-pneumatic interlocking plant, not a manual one.  Which probably
means we can confine our search for its history to sometime after about1905.


No lo contendre, ex parte,

     -- abram burnett


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