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

[NW Mailing List]

 Abram,
Thank you for the background information on Joe Byrum and the photos.  Although it's been nearly fifty years since my encounter with him, I'm almost certain that the person in the photos is the man I encountered at South Yard.  Here's the story about how I remember him so well.


In August 1974, while I was still on Summer Vacation before starting seventh grade, I was train watching at the east end of South Yard in Roanoke at the Virginian Passenger Depot.  It was fascinating watching the yard crew switch endless strings of loaded hopper cars.  I had done this many times before and the crew, as always, were friendly and answered all of my questions about what they were doing and why they doing it.
One day, an official looking gentleman in an N&W automobile arrived and approached me when I excitedly asked if he was a Supervisor.  He flatly told me, “No.”  He identified himself as a railroad police officer.  He asked what I was doing at the yard and I told him that I was train watching.  He replied that there was nothing wrong with that, except that I was on railroad property and I was technically trespassing.
I freely told the police officer my full name and address, which he took down.  He was never angry.  Nor did he “read me the riot act.”  Actually, he was a rather pleasant gentleman.  He told me that I could train watch as long as I remained off of railroad property.  The police officer said he wasn’t telling me this to prevent me from pursuing my interest.  He said he was telling me this for my own safety.  The yard crew may appear to make their job look easy, but it was very dangerous work around extremely heavy duty equipment.
I replied that I would talk to the yard crew about what and why they were doing so I could understand the finer points of yard operations.  He gestured towards the two bridges spanning South Yard at Walnut Avenue and Jefferson Street.  He mentioned that both of them provided perfect vantage points to observe operations.  He said he could tell that I was a “bright lad” and that if I watched switching moves on my own long enough, I would eventually figure out for myself the nature of yard operations.
The way we parted was a promise by me never to trespass on railroad property in the course of my train watching.  He offered to give me a ride home in his car.  He said he could put my bicycle in the trunk.  But I declined and said I would get home on my own.
I thought that was the end of things.  But later that day, I saw the same gentleman drive up in front of my house.  I thought he was there to inform my parents about my encounter with him at South Yard, just in case I had “forgotten” to tell them.  This was unnecessary, since I had told them just about everything.
To my surprise, the gentleman said “here, I have something for you.”  He pulled out a large document from a cardboard cylinder and when he unrolled it, I was shocked to see that it was the poster-size official color photo of SD-45 #1776 in Bicentennial colors.  I couldn’t believe my good fortune as I thanked him for the gesture.  The very next day I took it to a photo shop and had it framed.  I still have the picture after almost fifty years and will never forget the circumstances about how I got it.
Bill KingArlington, Virginia










 On Sunday, December 17, 2023, 08:54:21 PM EST, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:  
 
 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
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