Back When We Slept and Cooked on the Caboose

[NW Mailing List]

As of 1976 when I hired out on the Radford Division we were staying at the Hotel West Virginian on Federal Street, just up the hill from the yard. Then in 1979 or 1980 we moved to the elegant Milner Matz Hotel. It was a horrible place. 

As one entered the grand lobby, to the left was the hotel clerk was behind the original counter with the original patch cord switch board. Only two lines in and two out. Straight back was the hotel greasy spoon. Ate there once, got sick as a dog, never ate there again in the 15 years I came to Bluefield. 

On the mezzanine was a strip joint that was just plain nasty. The old heads loved it however us young bucks stayed away. The second and third floors were private apartments and an old folks home. I recall one night I had just checked in and an older lady came down off the elevator. She was bleeding and screaming. We asked what was wrong. She replied she was attacked by a rat and had bitten her all over her body. Needless to say we called the rescue squad, never saw her again after that. 

The fourth through the sixth floor was for the road crews. Infested with cockroaches and bed bugs. The windows leaked horribly, so if you had a room on the west side you always got a nice breeze in the room. I always carried a roll of duck tape.  
The rooms carpet was upgraded to a nice shade of pink or purple shag which collected the dirt, crater and anything else one had on their boots. 

The room phone was connected to the switchboard in the lobby, so if you wanted to call home, your girlfriend or anyone else you had to go through the hotel clerk. Sometimes she would listen in on your call. If you brought it to her attention, she’d cut your call off and not answer when you tried to get her to reconnect to whoever you had been talking to. 

Sometime in the mid 1990’s the greasy spoon caught fire. We were then relocated to a wore out Ramada Inn on East Cumberland Road. It was just a step above the Matz but away from the prying eyes of the Company and the ears of hotel clerks. 

I stayed on the Bristol line as much as possible with tolerable accommodations in Bristol. 

Chuck Akers
Roanoke, VA
540-815-1275

> On Mar 25, 2022, at 11:05 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
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> As I recall, The West Virginian had nine floors (+ or -).
> Arriving Bluefield on No. 3, I walked up the hill and
> registered.  The clerk assigned me to a room on the
> top floor.  I went to the elevator and pressed the UP
> button.  NOTHING.  So I walked up the stairway and
> found the elevator with the door braced open and the
> operator asleep.                   Harry Bundy
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