Does Anybody Remember A Particular N&W Railroad Police Officer?

[NW Mailing List]

Herr Wilhhelm von King of the Grand Dutchy of Arlington asks about an N&W detective ("Cinder Dick," in railroad speak.)

The man whose name you seek was Joe Byrum, and I think his middle initial was E. He started on the VGN at Suffolk, and I think I heard him say he had been a town policeman beforehand. He was, indeed, a laid-back,  kind-hearted and good old country boy who spoke in that delightful South Side Virginia speech (which is as beautiful as the English spoken in Charleston, South Crolina,) and he had a heart of gold.

Attached are three photos of him. Two were taken on one of the big VGN "rectifiers" at Roanoke, the day the VGN pulled the switch on the juice in 1962.

The third photo shows Joe Byrum (right) and Glen G. "Moon" Mullens (left) in the South Roanoke Yard Office that same day. Moon hired in the 1930s (I think) as a Clerk at Roanoke, and was an Assistant Yard Master and Yard Master there for years. In the 1950s he was promoted to General Yard Master, which title was changed to Terminal Train Master in the 1960s. Several years before his retirement he was made Superintendent of the Shenandoah Division, and you may run across Train Orders bearing his initials "GGM". As far as I know, he always lived around Melrose Ave or Moorman Road in Roanoke. His father had worked on the Shop Track at West Roanoke. He had one brother, Ewell, who was a Norfolk Division (West End) Conductor who was injured at Crewe in the late 1960s (?) and a son, Eddie, was was a Yardmaster at Roanoke. I seem to recall that he also had a brother called Ert or Urt (whom I did not know) who may have been a Car Retarder Operator on the Shaffers Crossing Hump (which meant he
  would have come from the Brakeman/Conductor ranks.) Moon was "good people," never got excited, had a quick and grandfatherly smile, never held a grudge and took care of everyone insofar as possible. His big enjoyment in life was fishin' . Rest in Peace, Moon... you were a good one.

If you look at the file names associated with these images, you will note they end with the letters "KM." That indicates that I had trouble adjusting the black-and-white 35mm negative scans (because the negatives were badly over-exposed,) and none other than our own Mr. Ken Miller came to my rescue and helped out this poor floundering soul !

The abysmal character of these photos stems from the fact that I was using a cheap, starter-grade 35mm camera and that truly awful old Tri-X film. Plus, I had few skills at lensmanship.

Sometime I will write up for you an interesting story about Moon on the Hump in the 1940s...

     -- abram burnett
Certified Turnip Practitioner
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