Crossing Watch Box

[NW Mailing List]

Carl

The men who worked in the matchboxes or as watchmen in the day were typically folks who had gotten injured on the railroad and could not work their regular jobs as brakemen, conductors, engineers, etc. This would be the railroad’s effort to help the folks out.

My grandfather was one of them. He lost a leg in an accident at Austinville, Va about 1910, cut off below the knee. He was hired back in 1928 as a gate watchman at South Jefferson Street in Roanoke. He had to climb the straight up ladder to get into the watchbox as shown in this image.

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=122404

When he lost his leg at Ivanhoe, his total compensation from the railroad was a wooden peg leg and $500. 

Watch boxes were all over the place, I’d guess there might have been as many as 150-200 on the railroad. I was compiling a spreadsheet from the building lists, and have over a dozen just between Petersburg and Crewe. 

To add to the list, there was also one at Union Street in Salem, as well as the ones Jim Blackstock mentioned in Roanoke.

Some places the gates were originally moved by the operator, not remotely controlled. That changed over time.

Here is another view at North Jefferson Street in Roanoke

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=94624

Best
Ken Miller

> On Sep 20, 2025, at 10:20 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Boy, o' Boy --  I sure feel sorry for the poor guy who had to keep going up and down that ladder every time a train came along!
> 
> Carl Barna