House Car Run

[NW Mailing List]

Abe/Ray

The House Car Run was not getting a helper. It was a double-header leaving Roanoke. As discussed, the photo was made at Bonsack, not Boaz. Like much of Link’s stuff, it was staged for photo purposes, not actual operation. Not downplaying his work, but it was carefully planned and executed, people posed, even if not realistic. 

It frequently ran double-headed according to the Park Street air records of the day. Normally, I believe it ran double-headed as far as Lynchburg or Phoebe, then the lead engine would be cut off, turned at Phoebe, pick up empties there or at Kinney brought in from Crewe then run back to Roanoke. 

According to Norfolk Division Timetable No. 10, effective 12:01 a.m. Sunday, April 29, 1956, the tonnage ratings for a Y6 or Y5 east of Roanoke to Island or Crewe, with pusher, is 9200 tons on slow freight, 6800 tons on time freight. 

The rating for the Y6/Y5 without pusher is 4600 slow freight, 4100 time freight.

The ratings for a class A (which is what was normally assigned and depicted in the Link photo) without a pusher was 3600 tons in slow freight, 3200 in time freight. With a pusher raised those numbers to 3900 tons slow freight, and 3600 time freight.

Link’s liner notes were all written by Ben Dulaney, not Link himself. Delaney was probably writing to his understanding, not pure operational. This was written for a broad audience, not the folks who lived it.

In answer to Ray’s question of about loaded hoppers. Attached is the page from the freight train classification book, as updated to 1958. Here you can see the how the Phoebe Turn was to be made up, as well as the House Car Run.

Best
Ken Miller
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> On Mar 27, 2023, at 12:14 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> The latest post of Herr Garner, Grand Duke of Newport, Va, raises two questions for me: 
> 
> (1)  Why would the House Car Run be getting a helper eastbound up Blue Ridge?  That says to me that the train was a "tonnage train" and not some piddly little  handful-of-cars local.  (I do not have handy a Time Table showing tonnages for a Y6 or Y5 east out of Roanoke.)  And why would the engine have an A-Tank ?
> 
> (2)  Mr. Link's "liner notes" raise this question:  Why would the Head-End Brakeman be picked up at 16th St Yard Office, Roanoke?  Those crews reported to Shaffers Crossing.  Unless told otherwise when called, the Conductor reported to the Hump Yard Office and picked up his waybills;  the Flagman reported with the Conductor;   and the Head-End Brakeman reported to the Call Office and accompanied the engine crew in getting the engine off the Spark Track and down the Eastbound Running Track.  The engine would stop at the Hump Building and pick up the Conductor and Flagman.
> 
> The crew + engine stopped at 16th Street, "DO" Telegraph Office, to pick up their Clearance Card and any Train Orders.  The Head-End Brakeman should have been on the engine all the way from Shaffers Crossing motive power yard, down the Running Track to 16th St Yard Office.  
> 
> I think Mr. Link made a mistake in writing the liner notes.  Perhaps he intended to say this:  "The engine stopped at 16th Street and the Head End Brakeman went over to the Yard Office to get the Clearance Card and Train Orders."  That would make more sense, given the way things were done.  But it would have made even more sense if it were the Conductor who went to "DO" 16th Street as he was in charge of the train and the orders were addressed to "C&E," meaning Conductor and Engineman.  Almost invariably, the Conductor got the Orders.  And besides, it would ahve been the Conductor who went into "DO" 16th Street to enter his departing train on the Train Register.
> 
> To continue the description of what the House Car Run crew would have done:  After getting their Orders at "DO" 16th street, the Conductor and Flagman dropped off the engine somewhere around 15th Street, and found the caboose on their train.  And the Head-End Bakeman rode the engine to Park Street, reversed into the Eastbound Departure Yard, and coupled up.  (Norfolk Division trains were usually made up on Tracks 1 - 5 in the EB Departure Yard;  Shenandoah Division trains on Tracks 6-7-8.  Generally, but not always.)
> 
> The only man who may be able to answer for us this question about procedures is Mr. Tommy Duncan, who worked the Operator's job at "DO" 16th Street in the late 1950s anbd has an excellent recall of details.  I will ask him.
> 
> In the above, I am not meaning to nit-pick.  The liner notes just jump out at me as being out of synch with the way things were done.
> 
> -- abram burnett,
> 
> Contextualizing Turnips in a Non-Controversial Way 
>    ---  (this is a sophisticated description of a bootlegger)
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