Mainline hopper movements

[NW Mailing List]

Maybe less pie and more nap – (2) edits below:

Grant Carpenter

On 11/28/2025 1:36 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> Hello Jim,
>
> There were six to ten crews assigned to the Elkhorn Pool out of 
> Bluefield. They rotated first-in, first-out with eight hours of rest. 
> They handled full-length mainline trains, that was 80 loads eastbound 
> upgrade, which required a 2100 and a pusher.
>
> Specifically, the Elkhorn run to North Fork left Bluefield running 
> forward with empties behind and a cab on the rear. A clarification 
> from earlier where I stated this job would turn on the table at Eckman 
> and pickup east loads there for the return trip to Bluefield: Farm 
> became the turning point when the Eckman table was taken out of 
> service. If so, this crew continued west, possibly picking up 
> _east_ loads along the WB main, turned, filled out tonnage at some 
> point, met a pusher, and started back to Bluefield.
>
> Depending on the date, they called the operator or the dispatcher to 
> unlock the switch at the branch junction with the WB main. Extra 
> movements would have to register on, so the box should have been near 
> that switch.
>
> If you are still referring to the Elkhorn crew, it was a 
> trailing-point move to back empties into the Elk Ridge Storage track, 
> yes, formally formerly the oven track, then into the North Fork 
> Storage track, formally formerly the main track before a new main 
> track was laid next to it. They would not have delivered Algoma – that 
> was first on the mine run's agenda.
>
> Grant Carpenter
>
> On 11/27/2025 7:10 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>> Hope everyone is full of turkey and pie and got at least one nap this 
>> afternoon,
>> Had I been and engineer in Bluefield assigned to the Elkhorn pool 
>> (were crew assigned to the pools?), and drew the North Fork run, what 
>> class loco would I have had under me (a 2000?).  Would I be running 
>> forward or reverse?  Would the empties be in front of me or behind 
>> me?  Would there be a cab, and if so, where?
>> When I get to North Fork, do I need to sign the book showing I am 
>> occupying the branch, and if so, where was the book kept (in the 
>> station?)?  After being cleared for the branch, and depending upon 
>> the loco's facing, I would start to either push or pull those empties 
>> around the hill where the Elk Ridge coke ovens used to be and head up 
>> the holler to make my first drop off at Algoma?
>> Can I pack any more questions into one short message, time will tell,
>> Jim Cochran
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