Crossing Watch Box

Sun Sep 21 09:16:38 EDT 2025

Carl,
That sounded a lot like a volunteeration to me. When can we expect to see
it :^)?
Jim Cochran

On Sun, Sep 21, 2025 at 7:38 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> This is amazing stuff!!  I hope that someone might put together an article
> about these structures for 'The Arrow.'
>
> Carl Barna
> Emmaus, PA
> ------------------------------
> *From:* NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org> on behalf of
> NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, September 20, 2025 4:23 PM
> *To:* N&W Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *Cc:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *Subject:* Re: Crossing Watch Box
>
> Those are both great images, Ken. They deserve to have a watchbox keyword
> added to the record.
>
> That one appears to be taller than typical - probably due to the adjacent
> pedestrian bridge. I also see a small bridge connecting the pedestrian
> bridge with the box. Was the pedestrian bridge added at some point after
> your grandfather’s time?
>
> Matt Goodman
> Columbus, Ohio, US
>
> > On Sep 20, 2025, at 11:56 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nwhs.org%2Farchivesdb%2Fdetail.php%3FID%3D122404&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cf67d71e4e41844aa8db408ddf8a88603%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638940124881364229%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SeGCFzDFbj%2FdkaQlJKJbBbE2B7FJD39%2BiAm3RHoq7U8%3D&reserved=0
> <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://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nwhs.org%2Farchivesdb%2Fdetail.php%3FID%3D94624&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cf67d71e4e41844aa8db408ddf8a88603%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638940124881401420%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oHDHipmvIv%2BaY2dfAKXwcagb%2FTSRA5c1%2BCz4vrnS2yY%3D&reserved=0
> <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
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