Durham division

[NW Mailing List]

Harry,

I need your help resolving my personal experience, which is that 
Lynchburg - Durham passenger trains No. 35 and 36 were discontinued 
sometime in August 1954, as opposed to your timetable info that it 
occurred in 1958.  Here is my experience: I was employed as a laborer in 
the steam locomotive shop in Durham the summers of 1952, 1953, and 
1954.  In the summer of 1954 instead of going directly to Durham I spent 
June and July as a short boom operator on the N&W's weed spray train 
(covered the entire N&W east of Williamson, WV, at 13 mph - our spraying 
speed), and finished out the summer back at Durham in August before 
returning to school.  On the day of the last revenue run of Train 34 I 
took pictures of the passenger train crew in front of Eng. No. 107 (the 
reserve engine for these trains), and the next day I took pictures of 
the passenger train crew in front of Eng. No. 112 (along with No. 113 
the regular engine for these trains) on their deadhead return to 
Lynchburg of the equipment that had arrived the previous day as revenue 
train No. 35.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate my notes on 
this event.

Because Trains 35 and 36 had made their last runs, when I finished work 
in late August (or less likely early September) those trains were no 
more and I had to ride to Lynchburg on a freight train.

Can you shed any light on this conflict with my personal experience and 
the ETT info?  Could it be that the mixed train that replaced the 
passenger trains were assigned Nos. 35 and 36 initially and were changed 
to Nos. 71 and 72 later?

Gordon Hamilton

On 9/21/2020 9:50 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
>
>
>
> Passenger trains, Nos. 35-36, last appeared in
> Norfolk Div. time table #4 effective Apr. 24, 1958. After
> that, they were replaced by mixed trains, (Nos. 71-72)
> and were not in service when Norfolk Div. time table #15
> effective Apr. 26, 1959 was issued.
>
> Recently, track charts show that the line from Lynchburg
> to a lumber company south of Roxboro was still in
> service.  From that point to Durham, service was
> discontinued after the Southern merger.
>
> The portion north of Roxboro remains in service primarily
> to serve two steam-generating plants -- Hyco, NC and
> Mayo.  Standard operating procedure was to route the
> loads over the former VGN to a point east of Brookneal,
> then the Durham District to the plants. Empty trains
> were routed via the Durham District to Lynchburg, then
> west on the Blue Ridge District.  This to avoid meets
> on the predominant east bound traffic traveling the ex-VGN
> But that doesn't work anymore.  Lynchburg Tunnel will
> not clear some of the jumbo hoppers even if empty, so the
> empty trains turn west at Vabrook and buck the eastbound
> traffic. Harry Bundy
>
>
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