Barbeque

[nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org]

This car was rostered as NW 6 listed as a poling car, a term held over 
from the steam era when such things were done. It stayed on the roster 
for many years as the only example. I am not just when it left the 
roster, sometime in the mid to late 1980s, I believe. It was used in 
its last years as a rider car for the Roanoke Shop switcher crew as 
they had a lot of getting on and off to handle cars. It was much easier 
to get on and off of this car than a unit, and cheaper to have than a 
caboose. The baby trainmaster hood was added sometime in the 1960s, I 
believe, and in its last years, someone had decorated the top of the 
hood with 2 wooden hobby horses. You could frequently see this car 
stored east of the car shops along Campbell Avenue, especially 
weekends, when the crew was off.

I don't think I have ever seen photos of any of NW 1-5, and certainly 
never saw them myself

Ken Miller
On Feb 6, 2006, at 10:32 PM, nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org wrote:


>>  Not a BBQ car; that is the N&W locomotive potty hopper remote

>>  service car. The "W" used it in Roanoke to collect and incinerate

>>  the potty hopper bags from yard and road units tied down around

>>  Roanoke and unable to make it in to Shaffer's Crossing for

>>  emptying for one reason or another. The remaining "black ashe"

>>  was the primary constituent in their locomotive paint, often

>>  referred to as the color "Stove Black". Seriously, what else

>>  would the "W" do with all those white plastic bags full 'o........?

>>

>>  Another source has it as a homemade shoving platform constructed

>>  on a tender frame with a FM H16-44 short hood as a shelter for

>>  the crew. I shot it in Rowin' Oak back in the 1970's. The outdoor

>>  stove was always an interesting detail; probably gave off way too

>>  much heat to stand it inside that empty nose.

>>

>

> A friend in Roanoke who knows lots of retired N&W employees showed the 

> picture around and got the following explanation:

>

> My source, a retired N&W conductor, said it looked like a crew car 

> used on hump yards. He said that before the automation of retarders, 

> etc. on the hump yard, railworkers had to ride the cars down the hump 

> to brake the car.  At the bottom they needed a ride back up the hump 

> and this crew car provided warmth, the outside stove, and shelter, the 

> covered area on the right in the pic, in case of cold, severe, wet, 

> etc., weather.  He did find it curious that it was between two motors 

> however.

>

> Ross Hunter

> Orange, VA<7a8c.jpg>________________________________________

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