Norfolk Division Cab Tracks at Roanoke circa 1940 - Photo

[NW Mailing List]

Yes, N&W Photo, negative 22688, made late June 1936. 

N&W provided a number of images to AAR,  head of AAR publicity was Holcombe Parkes who had worked in N&W publicity and knew the work quality. In many cases, the N&W provided an additional negative they shot at the time, other times it was simply a print. In this case, it was likely a print, as can be seen from our Archives file of AAR photos.

Note this has crop marks, and note the circles in grease pencil to denote what needed to be touched out for AAR use, which apparently did not happen, you can also barely see the negative number at the lower right.


Somewhere I’ve got a file on the roundhouses at 12th Street and when they were torn down, which was probably not long before this photo was made.

On 12th Street Yard office, this is some conjecture on my part, but it was probably built by the railroad, as that was essentially a residential neighbor hood in the late teens, and it does not show on the Sanborn Map from 1919. In fact it seems to indicate it was a vacant lot. But this is an area of the maps that are on the edge, and not as detailed as we’d like.


On the cab track question, it seems likely to me that the cabs, as they came in were dropped at Shaffers Crossing, serviced and a yard job would take them back to the Norfolk Division cab track. Since cabs were assigned then, they would have to have gone in the order of outgoing crews, whoever was due to be called first.   

Glad to hear any other ideas!

For the answer, please fax over a dozen turnips!

Best
Ken Miller

> On May 21, 2021, at 2:25 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Attached is a photo of the N&W at Roanoke, taken from the old 10th St Bridge.  The lower corner of the negative is marked with the number **AAR-569-A.**  Only Mr. Miller would know whether or not the image originated with the N&W and was passed along to the AAR for advertising purposes.
>  
> The image was recently released from the John W. Barriger collection by the St Louis Mercantile Library.  The photo was taken from approximate coordinates 37.2760953, -79.9572788, looking westwardly.
>  
> It has been a lot of years since I worked at Roanoke, but I believe The Pull Up Yard (another name for what is now called Park Street Yard) had 8 tracks in it, in which case the westbound train moving right under the photographer's feet is on the Westbound Running Track.  The next track further to the left would have been the Eastbound Running Track.
>  
> By the time this photo was taken, the old Round House west of 10th St and Shenandoah Ave has been torn down, and the Pull Up Yard extended westwardly, covering ground previously occupied by the engine servicing facilities.  I think that extension of the Pull Up Yard was done about 1938.
>  
> At the extreme left edge of the photograph can be seen the front porch of a building, with automobiles sitting in front.  That is the 12th St Yard Office, which sat on the southeast corner of 12th St & Jackson Ave.  (12th St Office is another conundrum... did the railroad build it, or buy it, and when?)
>  
> But what REALLY blew my fuses about this photo is that it depicts the Norfolk Division Cab Track, about which I heard the 1920s-1930s men speak, but which I never saw nor understood.  You may see it by finding the Mallet engine headed eastwardly, and looking just above the first coal hopper behind that engine's tender. <N&W_Roanoke_from 10th St Bridge_AAR-569-A_1940s.jpg>
>  
> What I have never understood is how the cabooses were dropped onto eastbound trains, given the presence of the Eastbound Main Track at that point.  Were the cabooses dropped across the Main Track crossovers and onto trains made up in the Departure Yard?
>  
> My suspicion is that the cabooses were actually serviced in some other area, where coal, water, ice and supplies were available, and moved to these tracks before dispatchment of the outbound trains.  And my guess is that Punkin Vine and Shenandoah Valley cabooses were handled in the same manner off these inclined cab tracks.
>  
> Is there anyone left who knows the answers... ?
>  
> -- abram burnett
> Turnip Assets Private Equity Fund, LLC 
> <N&W_Roanoke_from 10th St Bridge_AAR-569-A_1940s_edited.jpg>________________________________________
> 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/20210521/186924ef/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2021-05-21-0001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 848766 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20210521/186924ef/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1919_Sanborn_p78_excerpt.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2036806 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20210521/186924ef/attachment-0003.jpg>