Pocahontas Sleeper (was NW-Mailing-List Digest, Vol 176, Issue 42)

[NW Mailing List]

Sorry my mistake on train numbers.  41-42, the Pelican had N&W dining 
service Roanoke-Bristol.  17-18 the Birmingham Special was mostly head end 
mail and express and one or two coaches by 1966.  By 1966 45-46, the 
Tennessean was gone.

It's curious about the Powhatan Arrow's diner running Roanoke to Portsmouth. 
It was later reinstated to Cincinnati, but westbound the diner was set out 
at Claire yard and picked up there the next morning eastbound. This was an 
effort to cut expense charges by Cincinnati Union Terminal.

--Rick Morrison

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2019 8:53 AM
Subject: Re: Pocahontas Sleeper (was NW-Mailing-List Digest, Vol 176, Issue 
42)


> It makes sense that there were actually five. But that means there was 
> always a diner sitting in Roanoke (plus the spare heavyweight you 
> mention). I based my need of four on where they were at noon each day per 
> the 4/65 timetable:
> - in 4 between Bedford and Lynchburg
> - in 25 between Christiansburg and Pearlsburg
> - in 26 between Portsmouth and Ironton
> - in 46 between Rural Retreat and Wytheville
>
> 25/26’s diner only was on between Roanoke and Portsmouth (really didn’t 
> make sense to pull it off in Portsmouth as it would go back on the same 
> train the next morning. Meanwhile, with a 7:10pm departure WB from 
> Portsmouth and 8:45am EB from Cincinnati, they were giving up the late 
> dinner and breakfast business). So whatever diner was pulled of 4 the 
> previous morning would still be in Roanoke the next morning and could be 
> used on either 25 or 41 with the diner from 26 or 46 then being available 
> to go on 4 later that morning. So easy to establish a five-day rotation 
> such as:
> Day 1: 41/46 Roanoke-Bristol-Roanoke
> Day 2: 25 Roanoke-Portsmouth
> Day 3: 26 Portsmouth-Roanoke
> Day 4: 4/3 Roanoke-Crewe-Williamson
> Day 5: 3 Williamson-Roanoke
>
> In the 4/65 timetable, 17/18 did not have food service.
>
> -- 
> Larry Stone
> lstone19 at stonejongleux.com
>
>
>
>
>
>> On Aug 21, 2019, at 8:52 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
>> wrote:
>>
>> Actually in the mid 1960's there were 5 diner-lounges covering N&W's 
>> needs.  I spent a few days trainwatching in Roanoke summer 1966.  All the 
>> diners were Roanoke based for servicing and restocking.  For example this 
>> is how it worked on trains 3-4.  Eastbound, train 4's diner served 
>> breakfast Williamson-Roanoke.  In Roanoke the sleeper and diner were set 
>> out, and a replacement diner was attached in time to serve lunch between 
>> Roanoke-Crewe.  That diner returned from Crewe on train 3, running all 
>> the way to Williamson serving dinner in the evening and breakfast again 
>> the next morning on train 4.  The day I photographed the train eastbound, 
>> a lightweight diner was replaced at Roanoke with 1018, a heavyweight. 
>> I'm not sure how how the rotation worked with the Powhatan Arrow 
>> Roanoke-Cincinnati.  I did observe the same diner leave Roanoke to 
>> Bristol on 17 and return that evening on 18.  I don't think there was an 
>> effort to keep the 491-494 diners assigned to particular trains. 
>> Interesting to know if documents survived or if anyone can add to how 
>> this all worked in the time frame.
>>
>> There was one more heavyweight diner kept in Roanoke as a spare, number 
>> 1019.
>>
>> --Rick Morrison
>>
>>
>> The 4/65 schedule needed four diner-lounges - 2 on the Powhatan Arrow, 1 
>> on the Pocahontas, and 1 doing a Roanoke-Bristol round-trip on 41 and 46; 
>> the 10/70 schedule just needed 2, both on the Pocahontas).
>>
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