Origin of Switchback

Thu Apr 22 08:18:48 EDT 2021

I was just down there Easter weekend shot pic of a west bound on the bridge . Weeds starting to grow now hope I can see something.

1950 track chart not really clears as to what was

Larry Evans

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2021 7:51 AM
To: 'NW Mailing List' <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Subject: RE: Origin of Switchback

Larry,

Angle finally closed in 1958 when it was down to four employees. But actual production went steadily downhill after 195 when employment dropped from 175 in 1954 to 36 in 1955, 18 in 1956, 10 in 1957 and 4 in 1958. The statistics are suspect because the production figures are inconsistent with the employment figures.

1954 – 248,000 tons – 175 employees

1955 – 267,800 tons – 36 employees

1956 – 221,700 tons – 18 employees

1957 – 177, 400 tons – 10 employees

1958 – 149, 478 tons – 4 employees

Regardless it closed in 1958 after working 154 days.

If you go to switchback to look around, look for signs of catenary concrete bases.

Alex Schust 

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2021 7:52 PM
To: 'NW Mailing List'
Cc: NW Mailing List
Subject: RE: Origin of Switchback

Thanks Alex 

The fog has lifted a little bit . I agree with your assumptions .The track in  the photo DS00125 is the track that you can see on Google and connects with part of the old main . Google also shows what looks like a track just off the west end of the bridge hard tell about the elevation and what it may have tied back into. What year did the Angle Mine close? Seems to me it was still there late 60s Early 70s when traveling  with my grandparents to Tazewell but may be wrong. Hard to believe we have never turn up maps for the entire Elkhorn Grade project.  Many Thanks again Alex for your research here.  I may run down there tomorrow or Friday look around a little.

Thanks

Larry Evans

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2021 4:43 PM
To: 'NW Mailing List' <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> >
Subject: RE: Origin of Switchback

It is confusing because there were two unrelated questions asked. 

Was there a siding for the power plant?. I have never found any indication that there was. The track between Ennis and Switchback and Switchback and the trestles was regraded and double tracked by June 30, 1900. Essentially leaving no room for a power plant construction siding in 1903, 1910 or 1927.  Additionally no siding is shown during the 1927 distribution plant construction and no siding was shown in a 1931 photo of the plant. A 1927 photo is attached. Look at the distance between the track, the hillside and the power plant. 

My best guess is the company used the Delta Mine siding to bring supplies in and haul the supplies to the power plant site by wagon or used the tramway from the Delta Mine to haul supplies to the power plant site. See attached drawing from Pocahontas Fuel Company. No date listed.

The second question relates to the photo DS00125. As noted in previous messages the power plant was shut down in 1914 and the distribution plant was built in 1927 and the distribution equipment was sold to Pocahontas Fuel Company in 1955. My assumption is that photo has nothing to do with the power plant. However I looked at the photo, but did not look at google maps. I now think that the photo shows a connection between the old main line and the new main line, but it still has nothing to do with the power plant construction. Why the shanty and the coal on the connection? I also think google maps shows one track of the old main line.

A question to be answered is where was the switch for the relocated Elkhorn Branch to the Angle Mine located. I always thought it was near the Maybeury bridge, but did they use the old main line for that? 

If you look at the Electric engine photos at Switchback, they appear to show the distribution plant and the mainline close to the same grade.  

Alex Schust

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:11 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Origin of Switchback

This is what I said and all the pics and Maps I have studied that’s what it appears to me. See Alex’s reply I am confused 

Larry Evans

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 21, 2021, at 9:14 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> > wrote:

I am under the impression that  Archives photo DS00125 shows a connection that was created to a portion of the old main line (at the higher elevation) during the 1950's re-alignment.  You can view what is left of this if you zoom in on the substation area on Google Maps.  Can anyone confirm or refute?

Jim Cochran

On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 12:15 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> > wrote:

The origin of Switchback goes back to at least 1892, and presumably to
the original construction of the Elkhorn Extension.  Before the
Construction of the Ohio Extension, the branch down into Maybeury
would have been a true switchback off a dead-end branch instead of
just another branch off of a mainline track.

Archives drawing HS-H10236, N&W RR drawing 869, shows the word
"Switchback" twice. It is applied to the track down to the bottomlands
at Maybeury, in the same font as the words "Elkhorn Extension" and the
names of various other branches, and also applied to the location
between the switch diverges from the Elkhorn Extension main back up
-hollow and down-hill to the mines.
https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=146991
A small excerpt of the full drawing is attached.

Archives photo DS00125 is the same photo from the 2Q2014 issue of the
Arrow that Chris Dalton mentioned, for those not inclined to dig out
their back issues.
https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=91333
My thinking is that the track probably only reached the substation
level and not all the way up to the power plant.

I presume the power plant was directly fed by a nearby mine for its
entire active lifetime?.

Joe Shaw
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