A Pole at Tin Bridge on the Saltbville Branch, Six Decades Ago

Sat Sep 23 16:47:21 EDT 2023

Herb

They were hardly through trains, again from 1953. If course, I am only showing the N&W schedules here, which I think is a bit interesting to see how stops were planned.

The Tennessean, Train 45 westbound stopped at
Lynchburg
Bedford
Roanoke*
Christiansburg
Radford
Pulaski
Wytheville
Marion
Glade Spring
Abingdon*
Bristol*

*Scheduled stops
Everything but Roanoke and Abingdon were stop to discharge or receive passengers only.

Train 46 eastbound stopped at
Bristol*
Abingdon*
Glade Spring
Marion
Wytheville
Pulaski
Radford*
Christiansburg
Roanoke*
Bedford
Lynchburg

*Scheduled stops
Everything but Bristol, Abingdon, Radford, Roanoke and Lynchburg were stop to discharge or receive passengers only.

Now, just to show how it worked, scheduled time at Radford was the same time for arrival and departure. Roanoke was 15 minutes between arrival and departure.

The Pelican, Train 41 westbound stopped at
Lynchburg*
Bedford
Roanoke*
Salem
Christiansburg*
Radford*
Dublin
Pulaski
Wytheville
Rural Retreat
Marion
Chilhowie
Glade Spring
Emory
Abingdon
Bristol*

*Scheduled stops
Everything but Bristol, Abingdon, Radford, Christiansburg, Roanoke and Lynchburg were conditional stop to discharge or receive passengers only as necessary.

The Pelican, Train 42 eastbound stopped at
Bristol*
Glade Spring
Chilhowie
Abingdon*
Emory
Glade Spring
Marion
Rural Retreat
Wytheville
Pulaski
Dublin
Radford*
Christiansburg
Salem
Roanoke*
Bedford
Lynchburg*

*Scheduled stops
Everything but Bristol, Abingdon, Radford, Christiansburg, Roanoke and Lynchburg were conditional stops to discharge or receive passengers only if necessary.

The Birmingham Special, No. 18, eastbound stopped at 
Bristol*
Radford*
Christiansburg*
Roanoke*
Bedford
Lynchburg*

*Scheduled stops
Those were all scheduled stops, but frequently only momentary to pick up or put off passengers. Why were no stops scheduled between Bristol and Radford? Simple, the train departed Bristol at 3:05 am, Radford was 5:29 am. None of the stations were open in the middle of the night.

The Birmingham Special, Train 17 westbound stopped at
Lynchburg*
Bedford*
Roanoke*
Salem
Christiansburg
Radford*
Pulaski
Wytheville
Marion
Abingdon
Bristol*

*Scheduled stops
Everything but Bristol, Abingdon, Radford, Christiansburg, Roanoke and Lynchburg were were conditional stops to discharge or receive passengers only if necessary.

As far as emergency power usage, I don’t really know where they would have been off at. The Bristol line is very hilly, with lots of up and down grades. During the 1930s, K2s had to be frequently doubleheaded on the Bristol line because of its hilly territory. East of Roanoke, the only real grade was Blue Ridge. Again, I don’t know specifically, but perhaps the Southern power could manage east of Roanoke, if it was slower, but getting over the Bristol line was another thing, that would be hard pressed to keep any kind of schedule. The 50 miles to Lynchburg were not as tough. Just my thoughts.

Best
Ken Miller

> On Sep 23, 2023, at 2:07 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Ken
> Thanks for sharing this information. 
> Very helpful. I was a little surprised (?) at a couple of Abram’s photos that seem to show one of the Southern trains stopped & a passenger or two looking like they were getting ready to board. 
> I was thinking that all (or most all) Southern trains were “through trains”. 
> 
> Herb Edwards
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Sep 23, 2023, at 1:52 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Herb
>> 
>> The schedules varied over the years, you have to look at instructions for those specific time frames.
>> 
>> Since I happen to have Radford Division employee timetable No. 5, effective June 7, 1953, and public timetable No. 3, September 27, 1953 out for research for an Arrow article that I am writing for the next issue. This is the reference I will use.
>> 
>> Bear in mind, these are scheduled times. Odd number trains are westbound, even number trains are eastbound.
>> 
>> It shows that 9 & 10 Bristol line local, unnamed) were regulars stops for Glade Spring most likely to handle mail and express as not many riders were ever present, 41 (The Pelican) (8:50 am) stopped to discharge or receive revenue passengers. No. 42 (8:40 pm) stopped on flag signal to discharge or receive revenue passengers.
>> 
>> 45 (4:40 pm) stopped on flag signal to discharge or receive revenue passengers & 46 (11:04 am) stopped only to discharge or receive revenue passengers. The Birmingham Special, Nos. 17 (12:16 am) & 18 (3:43 am) did not stop at Glade Spring.
>> 
>> Regarding the N&W units, when one of the Southern units failed, they would typically pull a unit from a nearby terminal or train to get the passenger train over the road to the next place. I’ve got several photos showing such moves. It might have happened more often than one might think.
>> 
>> Best
>> Ken Miller
>> 
>>> On Sep 23, 2023, at 10:23 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Abram 
>>> Thanks for sharing all these photos from Glade Springs/Saltville. 
>>> I have a couple of questions:
>>> Was Glade Springs a regular stop on all the Southern passenger trains that passed through? 
>>> What might have been the reason that N&W would have attached a motor (ALCO 409) to the head end of a Southern consist? Was it very frequent or just maybe a one-shot occurrence due to issues with one of the Southern motors? 
>>> Thanks
>>> Herb Edwards
>>> Lynchburg 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>>> On Sep 23, 2023, at 9:55 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> With an old Illinois Central RR Telegrapher out in the West, I have been discussing railroad pole line wire practices, circuit assignments, and how "drop wires" (from the pole) were passed through the station walls and attached to the local equipment.
>>>> 
>>>> It strikes me that something I sent him yesterday may be of interest to the N&W Listers. It concerns three photographs taken in 1964 at Tin Bridge on the Saltville Branch. (And my thanks to List-member and Saltville native Capt. Gary Price for ID'ing the location for me several years ago.) That piece of correspondence trails and I will attach the photos to this List post.  (I always put details in my file names, so check there if you want date, direction &c,)
>>>> 
>>>> -- abram burnett
>>>> Our Turnips are Bottled-in-Bond
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Here are three photos I took from a caboose on the N&W Saltville Branch in 1964.
>>>> 
>>>> Recently I asked the 1957-hire Opr/DS, Tommy Duncan, why there were three wire pairs on the pole line between Glade Spring and Saltville. One pair was obviously for the Traim Dispatcher's Wire and the other was obviously the Msg Wire, but what was the third pair for?
>>>> 
>>>> Tommy never batted an eye. He said the third pair was a telegraph line looped off the Main Line WU wire at Glade Spring, down to Saltville and back, because the truly massive Olin Matheson Alkali Works there did a huge telegraph business. Who else would have known a detail like that besides Tommy?  He and one other are the last of the old time Radford Division Operators.
>>>> 
>>>> If you want to see all my Glade Spring/Saltville photos taken almost 60 years ago, go here:
>>>> 
>>>> https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1B3o5jOxMT_MH2HDMbvFGWMHbiDQF-1Tu?usp=sharing
>>>> 
>>>> -- 73 SW &
>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>> <ADB_N&W_9-7-1964_Saltville Br-_eastound to Saltville_from caboose_at Tin Bridge_neg #102141_edited_cropped 4x6.jpg>
>>>> <ADB_N&W_9-7-1964_Saltville Br-_eastbound to Saltville_from caboose_at Tin Bridge_neg #102145_edited_cropped 4x6.jpg>
>>>> <ADB_N&W_9-7-1964_Saltville Br-_eastbound toSaltville_from caboose_at Tin Bridge_neg #102140_edited_cropped 4x6.jpg>
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>>> 
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>> 
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