Automatic train control - Shenandoah Division

[NW Mailing List]

 ATC and cab signals were installed on the Shenandoah in response to an ICC directive that railroads had to START such installations. N&W probably chose the Shenandoah because it was single track. As I recall, this was done in two sections, following two directives. After the second one, no more installations were required, so N&W did no more. BTW: ACL installed ATC on the Petersburg to Richmond line, so N&W engines that ran the Richmond connections had to have ATC equipment, which was not the same system as that on the Shenandoah.
Jim Nichols
    On Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 05:05:55 AM CDT, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:  
 
  Rick Morrison stated:

"No, [the 611 (or other J class locos) have never operated on the Shenandoah Valley line in revenue service] except for one occasion according to Louis Newton. He wrote that 603 ran Roanoke to Shenandoah once with special permission from the Division Superintendent. Permission was required because none of the J's where equipped with cab signals. I don't remember that he mentioned why a J made this trip. Five K2a's, 127-131 were equipped with cab signals for Shenandoah Division operation. 60 Roanoke based locomotives were so equipped. Steam operation officially ended on the division February 19, 1957. The crew for train 1 was called before midnight on the 19th, but the train actually departed Hagerstown at 1:15 am February 20th."

I'm sure this topic has been discussed in a book or ARROW article, but I don't have that information source handy. Why did the other N&W Divisions not use Automatic Train Control or cab signals --or, inversely, why were these systems installed on the Shenandoah Division? When were ATC and cab signals systems retired on the Shenandoah Division? Either an summary or a reference to an information source will be welcomed.

Thank you,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com
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