NW-Mailing-List Digest, Vol 230, Issue 66

[NW Mailing List]

David
Thanks for sharing this first hand experience of how hopper cars were distributed to the various mine loading facilities. So many details (“only 20 short loads at a time……”) knowledge of loads, grades, etc were kept in the minds of the ‘old salts’. “ Newbies” had a great deal to learn about all the nuances of the job. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 29, 2023, at 6:25 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>> 
>>    2. Hopper Management (NW Mailing List)
>> Does anyone know how hoppers were assigned to shifters? I am not
>> knowledgeable on the subject, so general information is fine. I am
>> specifically interested in how hoppers were sent around/to the Buchanan
>> branch? Any specific forms used?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> David Baker
> 
> I cannot speak to the Buchanan Branch, but I cannot imagine it was different from what we did (in 1978 and 1979) at Auville and Wilco’s yards.  During my brief tenure as the 2nd and 3rd shift yardmaster, Weller and Elkhorn crews would deliver empties to the yards as instructed by the car distributors office in Bluefield.  We would get telephone calls from the mines at the Wilcoe’s Yard office (Wilcoe and Auville were managed out of Wilcoe’s office at that time) with their desired number of mtys, if we had them, we gave them to them or spread them out as best we could.
> That could be problematic if you had a recently promoted management trainee making the call at 6:00 am.  Not only did we get mtys, we got short loads of dirty coal from mines such as Bishop on Dry Fork to deliver to Jenkin Jones on the Tug Fork to be processed and reloaded.  I got a request one morning for 60 short loads for Jenkin Jones, we had the cars in the yard, I instructed the 2nd Tug to bring the mtys   the 60 short loads and whatever Pageton was to get that day.
> The next morning the 1st shift General Yardmaster let me know that I should never do that again.  How was I to know that the 2nd Tug’s 3 SD units could only handle 20 short loads at a time up the mountain between Anawalt and Jenkin Jones.  They had to triple the hill.
> That never happened again under my watch, it’s still clear after 45 years.
> David Ray
>> 
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