Back When We Slept and Cooked on the Caboose

Mon Mar 28 15:16:57 EDT 2022

This is such an interesting thread… I’m surprised the union didn’t do much it seems with the quality of lodging the company would provide!  

We have hotel committees that make random inspections to assure at least a safe and clean room for us.

Christopher J. Bunsey
Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 28, 2022, at 11:33 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> What follows is a bit off topic for the Mailing List, but it has some personal interest for me and a peripheral connetion to N&W history.  The erstwhile Jean Pocahontas Coal Co. near War, WV, which was served by the N&W's Dry Fork branch,  was named for my first cousin, Jean Hamilton (still living) whose Uncle was a coal operator.
> 
> Gordon Hamilton
> 
> On 3/27/2022 7:21 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
>> Thank you all for posting your memories! This has been a most interesting thread!
>> 
>> Rob Minton
>> 
>> On Sunday, March 27, 2022, 04:56:40 PM EDT, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Sorry for the error on my part.  What I should have said is the train number was BW-2 as I now remember it (BW for Bluefield - Wenonah??/Weyanoke??/Widemouth??  I'm uncertain what the "W" stood for because all three were names of  branches or spurs toward the outward end of the Bluestone branch where Turkey Gap Coal Co. had its operations.).
>> 
>> Gordon Hamilton
>> 
>> On 3/26/2022 10:10 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
>> 
>> It certainly wasn't a BL-2 if you were working for the N&W.
>> 
>> 
>> Roger Huber
>> Deer Creek Locomotive Works
>> 
>> 
>> On Saturday, March 26, 2022, 02:51:05 PM CDT, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> As a youth I saw many a movie in the Colonial Theater.
>> 
>> I also spent one night at N&W expense in the Matz Hotel when there was a 
>> train crew sick-out (but not engineers) and I was appointed as fireman 
>> (on a diesel locomotive!) on BL-2 (as I remember it) to set out empties 
>> and pick up loads at Turkey Gap mine on the Bluestone Branch.
>> 
>> I do not remember anything wrong with my one-night stay at the Matz.  
>> Maybe I was just lucky, or maybe I just slept through and distractions.
>> 
>> Gordon
>> 
>> On 3/26/2022 9:30 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>> > The end of the line . . .
>> >
>> > The Milner-Matz Hotel, formerly the Hotel Matz, ended up partially collapsing on February 27, 2009, after being vacant for a number of years. The attached photo shows demolition progress on April 3, 2009.  The remains of the Colonial Theater are left of center.
>> >
>> > The building on the extreme right side of the photo is the West Virginian Hotel.  The West Virginian was converted to apartments and is still standing.
>> >
>> > In its heyday the Matz hosted celebrities such as John L. Lewis and Boxer Jack Dempsey according to stories I heard from my father.
>> >
>> > W.E. Honeycutt
>> >
>> >
>> >> On 03/25/2022 5:38 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>  
>> >> By the late 1960s, may have even been earlier, my father was pretty regular on Roanoke-Bluefield time freights, and he and some others were pretty fed up with the West Virginian, so they banded together and rented an apartment, just east (railroad east) at 910 Princeton Ave called “Mayor Manor” you could easily look out the window and see the passenger station.
>> >>
>> >> I remember us taking the old stove and washing machine to Bluefield in the pickup truck. I think it was four of them who shared the place, sad to say I don’t remember who the others were, but you can bet they were decent guys, as my father had no tolerance for ones who wanted to drink or carouse. I suspect they may have gotten a cheap car at some point as well.
>> >>
>> >> He kept the place until he retired in June 1981, and someone else stepped in, we went and retrieved his clothes but left the other things there, as we had no real need for them.
>> >>
>> >> In 2019, the Bluefield Train show was moved to the Quality Inn on Route 460. The show had been held for years in another location, but all the events were cancelled for some reason, and the show had to be relocated to this Quality Inn. The Quality Inn was where the railroad crews stayed at the time. Now, I cannot say I saw any roaches there and the place was decently clean. More than a bit overpriced in my mind. Since my wife and I were representing the Society, we drove up on Friday to do the show and stayed Friday and Saturday night. There was no restaurant in the place, and the nearest place was a few miles down the road. Then on Saturday night, the toilets stopped working. There was only one room with a working toilet in the place on Sunday. You had to go to the desk, get the room key, then return the key for the next person.
>> >>
>> >> When the toilet was not working on Saturday night, I called the desk for someone from maintenance to come fix it. The maintenance person had already left for the day, so they brought me a plunger wrapped in a plastic bag. Overpriced? I’d say so. We’ll never stay there again.
>> >>
>> >> I’m told the crews also no longer stay there, but someplace over nearer to Princeton.
>> >>
>> >> Best
>> >> Ken Miller
>> >> ________________________________________
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