Roanoke Belt Line Right-of-Way Question

Mon Oct 28 22:32:47 EDT 2019

John:

Arrows don't line up with topo map, at least as it came through to my GMail.

Regards,

Dave Phelps

On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 10:04 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> “I grew up not far from that area.  From the time my father told me of
> having looked for the ore pits on Yellow Mountain in his own youth in the
> 1920s and 19e0s, the Rorer fascinated me.  I looked for it never found a
> trace.”
>
> Abram,
>
> You have to look close but there are 6 pits shown on this topo; 3 N of the
> words ‘Chestnut Ridge’ and 3 S (see Green arrows). The Orange arrows
> indicate some portions of the R/W. Tanglewood Mall is the large pink
> footprint in the upper left corner with the Red Palace shown beside that
> (NE).  I used to explore to the west of Chestnut Ridge Campground (now
> Picnic Area). You can still find evidence of disturbed earth and walk some
> of the R/W in the campground itself.
>
> John Garner
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]
> *Sent:* Friday, October 25, 2019 9:28 AM
> *To:* N&W Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *Subject:* Re: Roanoke Belt Line Right-of-Way Question
>
>
>
> Warren-Garner-Rorer & Associates, LLC :
>
>
>
> Thank you, Stefanos, for posting that drawing of the Rorer & Pacific N.G.
> crossing the Roanoke & Southern.
>
>
>
> I grew up not far from that area.  From the time my father told me of
> having looked for the ore pits on Yellow Mountain in his own youth in the
> 1920s and 19e0s, the Rorer fascinated me.  I looked for it never found a
> trace.
>
>
>
> The spot where the Tanglefoot [sic] Mall now sprawls was, in my childhood,
> an absolutely beautiful field, level as a table top and covered with scruff
> grasses about a foot tall.  There was one pine tree about six feet tall
> growing near the middle.  I never saw the field under cultivation, but for
> some reason it did not revert to heavy vegetation and tree and brush
> cover.  In the northeast corner of the field, approximately in the spot now
> occupied by the Chinese restaurant, was a small, unpainted, dilapidated
> cabin.  Of course, the level where the Tanglehead Mall now sits has been
> raised  by twenty or more feet from its original elevation.  When viewed
> from the track, this field was the single most idyllically peaceful scenic
> memory of my childhood.
>
>
>
> Later I worked two years in train service on the Punkin' Vine, and every
> time I passed that area, looking for the Rorer was on my mind.  An old-head
> Conductor, Casey O. Young, a 1926 hire, showed me the spot where the Rorer
> had been located, based on information furnished by men of the generation
> before him.  But I could never see anything there, and I never dreamt that
> the Rorer had crossed the R&S alignment, from east to west.
>
>
>
> So your drawing, fixing the crossing of rights-of-way about a hundred feet
> south of MP 8, is a delight to me, a delight of the first order.  Thank You
> !
>
>
>
> Also quite heuristic was the information you posted yesterday that the
> Rorer's route to Murray Run was WEST of the Tower's Shopping Center.  I
> have been up and down Brandon Road thousands of times (60+ years ago,) many
> of those times on foot,  and the possibility that I was crossing the Rorer
> R-of-W never entered my mind.  I watched the Towers mall being built.  The
> first fast-food *burger joint* I ever saw, and possibly the first one in
> Roanoke,  was located on Brandon Road, at the foot of the hill below the
> Towers, on the spot now occupied by the Kroger gas station; if memory
> serves, the burgers cost twenty cents.  One day I walked over from my
> newspaper route, purchased a burger, and quickly developed a dislike for
> greasy fast food.
>
>
>
> The small road now identified as *Brandon Lane* was then a dirt road and
> may have yielded some traces  of the Rorer Fast Line, had I looked.
>
>
>
> Back in the 1960s, I also searched for any indications of the Rorer west
> of Wasena, along Ferdinand Avenue, through the West End section of Roanoke,
> and looping back eastward to its connection with the N&W around 12th
> Street.  Findings?  Nil.
>
>
>
> My thanks to all for these posts on the Rorer.
>
>
>
> Raymond Barnes, History of Roanoke, 1968, indicates that Ferdinand Rorer,
> after his financial ruination, left Roanoke and "was never heard from
> again" (or words to that effect.)  Hopefully, in the future, something will
> be found of old Ferd's subsequent life and ventures.  (I worked alongside
> Raymond Barnes, Esq., in the microfilm room of the Roanoke Library, in the
> early 1960s, when he was doing the research for that book. Boy, was he a
> piece of work !!! )
>
>
>
> Keep up the good research on Rorer.  If anyone deigns to re-incarnate
> Rorer's Narrow Gauge Railroad, I shall assist by purchasing a few shares of
> stock.  And if you decide to operate the railroad by the Telegraph, I am
> your guy.
>
>
>
> -- abramo burnardo
>
>
>
> i # Turnips, ver. 2.0
>
>
> ===========================================
>                   Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
> Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
> ===========================================
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 832113 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0006.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.png
Type: image/png
Size: 476 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0007.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.png
Type: image/png
Size: 441 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0008.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image009.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1177 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0009.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image011.png
Type: image/png
Size: 438 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0010.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image012.png
Type: image/png
Size: 449 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20191028/c1a92b8f/attachment-0011.png>