contacting the roanoke chapter nrhs

Volume 32, Number 3 March 2000

The Official Newsletter of theRoanoke Chapter, National

Railway Historical Society, Inc.

Turntable Times is published monthly as the newsletter of the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Opinions and points ofview expressed herein are those of the staff members of the Turntable Times and not necessarily reflect those of the members, officers or directorsof the Chapter. Items of interest should be sent to Editor Kenny Kirkman, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, VA 24078-2128.

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDRoanoke, VA

Permit No. 89

Editor, Turntable TimesRoanoke Chapter NRHSP.O. Box 13222Roanoke, VA 24032-1322

It was a chilly day in late March when the EL-Cs 133 and 132 posed with an eastbound coaltrain at Kumis, Virginia. This photo of the rela-tively new electrics was used (in color) on thecover of the 1956 Annual Report. For moredetails see the cover photo section following.

Virginian Railway/ Norfolk and Western Photo

CHAPTER SOUVENIR SHOP 540-982-3595CHAPTER MAINTENANCE FACILITY 540-427-5126CHAPTER ARCHIVE FACILITY FAX 540-427-4501

PRESIDENT

Richard D. Shellemail: [email protected]

EDITOR

Kenney Kirkman590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, VA 24078-2128

HISTORIAN/ARCHIVIST

Kenneth L. Milleremail: [email protected]

UPCOMING MEETINGSMarch 16, 2000Regular Meeting, 7:30 pm

April 4, 2000Board Meeting, 7:30 pm

April 20, 2000Regular Meeting, 7:30 pm

May 2, 2000Board Meeting, 7:30 pm

May 18, 2000Regular Meeting, 7:30 pm

Contacting the Roanoke Chapter NRHS

Roadname Car Type Car No. Date Lettering StyleBaltimore and Ohio Covered Hopper 604332 1971 B&O Capitol DomeErie Lackawanna Coal Hopper 33305 --- EL DiamondReading Coal Hopper 404517 --- RDGReading Coal Hopper 404921 12/75 RDGNorfolk and Western Covered Hopper 176369 --- N&W “half-moon”Southern “Sand” Hopper 103712 --- SouthernMaryland and Pennsylvania Box Car WLO 505057 --- Ma & Pa Logo

Roadname Unit Type Unit No. RemarksCanadian Pacific SD-40-2 5546LLPX Leasing EMD 2011 Ex-Seaboard RailroadBNSF GE Dash-9 4742 New Orange/Green Paint SchemeSouthern Pacific SD-60 8581Union Pacific SD Tunnel Motor 4032 Ex-Southern PacificCanadian Pacific EMD 9565 Canadian Safety CabMontana Rail Link SD-45 ---- Blue and White Livery

EDITORKenney Kirkman

MIXED FREIGHTRobin Shavers

SMALL RAILSDave Meashey

SPLINTERSBill Arnold

HISTORIANKenneth L. Miller

All materials should besent directly to the Editor:Kenney Kirkman590 Murphy RoadCollinsville, VA 24078-2128

Volume 32, Number 3March 2000

1

The Virginian’s public relations efforts were virtually non-exis-tent, unlike larger roads like N&W who had an entire departmentfor such things. The Virginian never had an “official” photograph-er, i.e. one whose sole job was to shoot photos for the company.The closest thing was George Shands who was the power directorat the Narrows Power Plant. Shands was also a excellent photogra-pher and shot many photos for the company along with anotheremployee from Princeton named Belcher, who apparently shot anumber of claim and related photos.

In one of the examples of cooperation between railroads, thisphoto was made by the N&W photographers, apparently Shandswas not available for the session and the Virginian called on theN&W Photographic Laboratory to make a short ride to Kumis andshoot a few transparencies for them.

Virginian Railway, Photo by Norfolk and Western Railway

Cover Photo

Cards and FlowersIf you know of a Chapter Member who is sick, lost a loved one

or has a new birth in the family, please contact Elizabeth Leedy.Elizabeth is responsible for Chapter cards and flowers and can bereached at 389-5274.

Deadline for Turntable TimesThe deadline for the next issue of Turntable Times is Saturday,

March 18, 2000. Please send articles, information and allexchange newsletters to: Kenney Kirkman, Editor, TurntableTimes, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, Va. 24078-2128.

From The Head End

The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Societywill hold its next general meeting on Thursday, March 16, 2000at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held at the First PresbyterianChurch on the corner of McClanahan and Crystal Spring Avenuein Roanoke. Please remember that the chapter meeting will becancelled if inclement weather causes the closing of Roanokeschools on a scheduled chapter meeting date.

Meeting Notice

14

Turntable Times is publishedmonthly as the newsletter ofthe Roanoke Chapter, NationalRailway Historical Society, Inc.Opinions and points of viewexpressed herein are those ofthe staff members of theTurntable Times and not nec-essarily reflect those of themembers, officers or directorsof the Chapter.

a weekend, call him at 540-362-4057.The year 2000 promises to be an exciting

year for the train. We have laid out a con-siderable amount in human labor and capi-tol to make this operation happen. Helpmake this a banner season for our train!

Sightings from the Pastby Gary Ballard

Not since the beginnings of Conrail in1976 has there been so many freight

cars rolling through territory that wouldnot be considered “home territory”

As CSX and NS operate their portions ofConrail, freight cars with older road namesare making their way to Roanoke. Somecars are still in original livery, with nomarkings whatsoever of their new corpo-rate owners! Many of these are rare findsindeed. Here is a list of some that werespotted during February

Its Raining Locomotives!by Gary Ballard

The sightings of foreign motive powerrolling through Roanoke continues! NS

is repainting the recently acquired Conrailunits, so be on the lookout for black NSunits sporting those red lights on the fronthood—just part of the scene of differentunits passing through Roanoke recently.

While many units are being leased by NSsome are simply passing through on trainsthat will eventually get the units backhome. A short list of some of the unitsspotted locally during February.

13 2

Railcamp

We’re looking for a few good students!The Roanoke Chapter is looking for

applicants for a trip to Railcamp. TheRailcamp sponsored by the National ParkService and NRHS at Steamtown inScranton, PA. This year June 25-July 1.

Young people between grades 9 and 12who have an in interest in such a camp,modeled after the popular Spacecamp, willfeature railroad preservation, railroad oper-ations among others.

This event is limited to 24 participants.The Roanoke Chapter is willing to sponsor aparticipant at the camp and is looking fornominations from our membership. The can-didate does not have to be a member, cometo the March or April meeting for moredetails or contact Bill Arnold at 389-3217.

Small Rails - Februaryby Dave Meashey

The Roanoke Valley Model Engineershave been refurbishing several mod-

ules. One of the modules will eventuallyextend the yard by another four feet. Twoother modules will be used to replace theChristmas module. While refurbishingthese modules, experienced members havebeen using the improvements as a trainingtool. Newer members are given clinics ontrack laying, scenery construction, andscenery coloring. Foliage creation andplacement will be the next logical clinic.

Several new faces have begun to show upregularly at the work nights. This is a wel-come change. It is good to see the member-ship growing again. The club is also plan-ning to have regular Saturday operating ses-

sions, several Saturdays per month. It ishoped that seeing the trains running willencourage more people to join the club.

The Big Lick Big Train Operators are stillhibernating until the better weathermonths.

Mack Rail Motor Cars andLocomotives

by Dave Meashey

Recently I purchased a HartlandLocomotive Works large scale model of

a Mack model BR switching locomotive. Itreminded me of the book I had purchasedat the “Mack Shop,” a gift shop in the MackTrucks, Inc. World Headquarters officebuilding in Allentown, PA. At the time (mid-1970’s) I was a technical writer for Macktrucks. The book, History of Mack RailMotor Cars and Locomotives, was producedby the Lehigh Valley Chapter, NRHS. Ibelieve it is currently out of print. I have nointention of telling the whole story here,but it is interesting to read how a truckmanufacturer carved out a small market forrailcars and small industrial locomotives.

Mack finished its first railcar for theUintah Railway in 1905. The final railcarswere built in 1954. These last railcars,Model FCD, used the then standard Mackbus body. They were ordered by the NewYork, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, butnever saw much service there. Most ofthese last railcars ended up in the employof Sperry Rail Service.

Between 1905 and 1954, dozens of ModelAB and Model AC bus style railcars helpedkeep marginal profit branchlines in service.Class 1 railroads also tried the large “doo-dlebug” style AS and AQ railcars, which

Miller. One criteria is that no present boardmember can be awarded the honor.

This year’s honoree was our long timesecretary, Bonnie Molinary. Bonnie retiredfrom the board after last year, and couldthusly be honored. Bonnie had worked dili-gently over the years, not just on the secre-tary’s position and all that entailed, butoften handled the food service at eventsand many trips as well.

Congratulations Bonnie!

This Month in N&W Historyby Ken Miller

Hard to believe, but the Norfolk andWestern film “Operation Fast Freight”

is had its premiere in March of 1950.The film which depicts the story of time

freight 86 from Columbus to Norfolk andfollows N&W boxcar No. 50450 almostevery step of the way.

The film is a fascinating portrait of theN&W as it was at the time and the railroadindustry in general. The desire to handlecarload freight instead of simply unit trainsblocked was obvious in the film. Todayseems to be a radically different world.

Seventy years ago, March of 1930 it wasannounced that the N&W along with theB&O, C&O, CNO&TP (Southern), CCC&St. L(NYC), L&N and Pennsylvania would jointlybuild a new terminal in Cincinnati, Ohiofor a total cost of $41 million. The new sta-tion was scheduled to open January 1, 1934.

Mentioned in the March 1930 N&WMagazine was a commendation of BaggageClerk Z. M. Wolfe of Marion, Va, for hisbravery in rescuing a stalled car on thetracks in front of the oncoming train 42 thenight of January 14, 1930. Mr. Wolfe proba-

bly saved the lives of the two occupants ofthe car, after he finished hanging the mailbag, saw the car crash through the gatesonto the track. He ran over and unaided,pulled the car from the track! The car’soccupants had all but given up hope ofescaping as the train was so close on thecrossing.

Some things never change! One item ofconsiderable discussion in many of the1950 Magazines was the toll the the bigtractor trailers take on the highways andbridges and the hazards they produce onthe highways! And just think, they didn’teven have an interstate 81 in those days.

West Virginia Centralby Gary Ballard

The Roanoke Chapter has completed con-tract negotiations with the Durbin and

Greenbrier Valley Railroad (operator of theWVC) to operate in the year 2000.

The season should get underway some-time in April. An expanded schedule isplanned, with the passenger train going toTygart Junction (a new destination), trips toElkins will be continued while Belingtonremains the origination point for these trips.

Your mechanical committee is alwaysaccepting additional volunteers. The groupwill be making a trip to the train soon, tosee what needs to be done prior to thebeginning of the season.

The West Virginia Central is a majorundertaking by this Chapter. AlthoughD&GV crews are operating the train, ourmembers are encouraged to participate bysigning up as volunteers for car hosting, orsnack bar duty. Gary Ballard will take yourname if you desire to work on our cars for

3 12

Roanoke ChapterBanquet

The Roanoke Chapterheld it’s annual ban-

quet at the HotelRoanoke on Saturday,January 22, 2000 at 7:30 pm. Despiteadverse weather conditions, be it the firstsnowfall of the winter, some 60 Chaptermembers and guests were present.

The featured speaker for the January 22,2000 banquet was Lewis I. (Bud) Jeffries,author of the popular 1980 book; N&W:Giant of Steam. Bud presented a very infor-mative slide program featuring numeroussteam and diesel scenes in the Radford,Christiansburg and Roanoke areas amongother localities.

Numerous prizes were given out to thoseholding lucky numbers and three RoanokeChapter Members were recognized for 25years of continuous service. Those three

folks were: Karl Oehring, Wanda Troutman,and Kenney Kirkman.

Thank You Award

Since our January Meeting was cancelleddue to inclement weather, we post-

poned presenting our “Thank You Award”that had normally been presented at thebanquet.

The Award is presented annually to amember who has demonstrated consider-able effort and dedication to Chapter func-tions over the years. Past winners include(in no particular order) Bill Carson, JoeAusten, Grace Helmer,Dorothy and FloydKelch, Ellen Arnold, Elbert Miller, and Ken

used heavier coach style construction. Mackrailcars were never produced in large num-bers, but they were fairly tough, like the leg-endary highway trucks. A few units stillsurvive at museums and tourist railroads.

Mack locomotives were produced in evensmaller numbers. Customers could choosefrom two, three, and four axle models withweights starting at 12 tons and rising to 80tons. Apparently, the 80 ton four axlemodel was offered but never produced. Thelargest Mack locomotives actually builtwere the three axle 60 ton models. TodayMack locomotives are rare indeed.

The model BR Mack switching locomotivehad the “bulldog” hood on either end. Thisfeature has probably endeared it to model-ers. Other Mack locomotives were boxy

affairs.They werenot pretty,but theyseemed todo theirjobs well.As tradi-tional loco-motivebuildersbegan tofill theindustrialportion ofthe inter-nal com-bustionlocomotivemarket,Mack’sability tocompete

and still show a profit eroded. The railcarand locomotive division was never a bigshare of the truck manufacturer’s business.When the Model FCD railcars failed toattract any other customers, Mack Trucks,Inc. ended its rail division.

Mechanical Reportby Ken Miller

Despite the cold weather, work is pro-gressing nicely at our 9th Street

Maintenance Facility. Our track numberone, nearest the building, was a disasterarea. We had always been careful switchingthe track because we knew it was a hazard,but we did not realize how bad it was untilit was dug out and the lack of decent

K. L. Miller CollectionBuffalo Creek and Gauley Motor A looks almost like a model in this late 1950s scene in the

BC&G coal country. This Mack built unit survives to this day at the Strasburg Railroad inPennsylvania.

11 4

crossties was appalling! Out of 200+ tieswe only managed to salvage a tiny handful.The mud has been dug out and we are nowgetting fill material to allow for drainagebefore replacing the track.

The crew is hard at work on the down-stairs or shop portion of the building clean-ing out dirt and years of accumulation ofuseless materials. Plans for a rehabilitationof this area are underway. The need for aprotected work area is important. A newvolunteer project we have taken on is thecosmetic restoration of the train from theMill Mountain Zoo. The train will be refur-bished in the N&W paint scheme andneeds to be returned to the Zoo before theoperating season begins. Our crew will besanding, repairing and repainting the carsand the locomotive carbody beginning veryshortly.

The Yadkin River our 10-6 ex-SouthernSleeper left the siding on February 19thheading for its new home at Mid AmericaLocomotive and Car Repair at Evansville,Indiana. They expect to completely restorethe car and make it fully Amtrak compati-ble for charter service. The car simply didnot fit into our preservation and restora-tion efforts, so on the membershipapproval, the car was sold.

Our former open window coach 1829,former N&W 1829, Wabash 1829 and B&M“Oriole” should be leaving for its finalscrapping at any time. We have completelystripped the usable components from thecar, it is now ready for scrapping. This carwas badly damaged at Lynchburg, Va whenthe 611’s train, while standing, wasrammed by a freight train in September of1994.

A little later in the spring we will beginon the cosmetic and some mechanical workon the new GP30, number 522. We expectto have the 522 in new paint and letteringby mid to late summer.

As always we can use your help on any ofthese projects. Please feel free to come ondown on a Saturday or Sunday and meetup with the folks. We are usually there by11:00 am.

Splinters From The Board Bill Arnold

Reservations

Webster defines reservation as anarrangement to have something held

for oneís use: a promise, guarantee, orrecord of such engagement..... Severalrecent events (and others over the years)where reservations have been made bymembers and not cancelled by deadlinedate has put the Chapter in the position ofhaving to pay for unused reservations. Ex:At the recent annual banquet, five ìnoshowsî made the Chapter potentially liablefor over $130. Three additional membersdid not attend, but had paid at an earlierdate. By lowering our initial count slightlyand after-the-fact negotiations with thehotel, we were able to erase the deficit andwill be able to return the payments of thethree who had already paid. This will notalways be the case. Therefore:

Your Board has found it necessary to seta policy regarding the need for our mem-bers to honor their reservations to attendfunctions where the Chapter has commit-ted to a business and guaranteed mone-tarily that a certain number will attend.

We do not wish to discourage members

running gear work this winter. This willessentially complete the complete rebuild-ing of the 3985.

The 844 needs firebox work before it canoperate again. This is not related to theboiler-tube failure. In steam days, fireboxeson oil burners were changed every 15years. For the 844, 15 years would havebeen 1959! There is no schedule for com-pletion of necessary work on the 844.

The 3985 will operate this year. Possibletrips are the Cheyenne Frontier Days in mid-July and the Democratic NationalConvention in Los Angeles in late July. Otherrequests for trips are being evaluated. (FromCentral Coast Railway Club, Inc. newsletterThe Ferroequinologist, January 2000).

From The TransportationMuseum

The Virginia Museum of Transportation,Inc. will open an exhibit, StreamlinedSteam: A Story of Class on May 6 duringRailfair and Model Mania: 50 Years of the611.” This exhibit will be on displaythrough September 15.

The Museum is placing an all-call forphotographs, artifacts and other memora-bilia of the N&W Railway’s Class J locomo-tives, numbers 600-613. Also desired: pho-tographs, correspondence, sketches, shopnotes, etc form W.W. Reynolds, G.P.McGavock, C.H. Faris and F.C. Noel relatingto the Class J and Class K locomotives thatwere streamlined.

The deadline is March 15. Please contactCarolyn Payne or Darlene Richardson at540-342-5670 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

Arttrain To Visit Roanokeby Bill Arnold

Roanoke is fortunate to be on the sched-ule of Artrain 2000 May 11-14. The

theme is Artistry of Space . Artrain lastvisited Roanoke in 1992. This year’s trainwill feature four ìnewî cars and a caboose.The cars, reworked to provide a travelingart museum, were a 1949 New York Centralsleeper, a 1949 Pennsylvania twin dinerunit (kitchen car and diner car that come asa unit) and a 1947 NYC baggage/dormitory.The caboose will be replaced by a 1948Kansas City Southern round-end car inJune.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Our Chapterhas been asked to provide volunteers toassist in acting as car hosts for four-hourshifts during the visit. Thursday (11th) andFriday (12th) will be dedicated to schoolvisits (interaction with students-trainingand guidelines provided) and Saturday(13th) and Sunday (14th) will be open togeneral public (includes greeting visitors,answering questions-info and guidelinesprovided). This will be another greatopportunity to expose our Chapter to theRoanoke Valley. Other valley organizationswill also provide volunteers.

Kathy Overholser (343-1928) will chairthe securing of our volunteers with assis-tance from Bonnie Molinary (362-0273) andWanda Troutman (986-1056). Please giveKathy, Bonnie, or Wanda a call to indicateyour interest and availability. We need tohave our list together by mid-April.

More information will be provided in theApril issue. We will also attempt to secureanticipated train travel route and estimatedarrival time in Roanoke.

5 10

some prototype railroadiana too. For moreinformation phone 410-730-1036 or checkit out on the World Wide Web at www.GSMTS.com

Criteria for “Quiet Zones”submitted by Mr. Robin Shavers

In a continuing effort to improve trans-portation safety, U.S. Transportation

Secretary Rodney E. Slater recentlyannounced a proposed rule that wouldrequire trains to sound their horns at pub-lic highway-rail grade crossings except atselect crossings in communities that meetspecified criteria for quiet zones.

“President Clinton and Vice PresidentGore are committed to improving trans-portation safety and protecting the environ-ment,” Secretary Slater said. “This rule,when adopted, will help prevent crashesinvolving trains, motor vehicles and pedes-trians at highway-rail crossings and yetenable communities to maintain quiet inzones that need to be protected fromnoise.”

The rule proposed by the U.S.Department of Transportation’s FederalRailroad Administration was written inresponse to a law enacted by congress in1994 requiring train horns be soundedwhen a train approaches and enters a pub-lic highway-rail grade crossing unless cer-tain exceptions are met to establish a quietzone.

The proposed rule describes the safetymeasures that a community may employ toestablish a quiet zone and yet deter driversfrom taking risks at crossings. These mea-sures include the use of four quadrantgates, channelization devices or crossing

closures at highway-rail crossings or photoenforcement to deter violators. The rulealso proposes an upper volume limit fortrain horns.

“The proposed rule requires train hornsbecause they are effective safety devices towarn drivers and pedestrians of anapproaching train,” said Federal RailroadAdministration (FRA) AdministratorMolitoris. “At the same time, the rule pro-vides safety criteria for communities wish-ing to establish quiet zones while keepingcrossings safe.”

The regulation will become effective oneyear after a final rule is issued, providingcommunities time to establish quiet zones.

In 1998, there were 3,508 highway-railcrossing collisions resulting in 431 fatalitiesand 1,303 injuries. Studies have shown thatthere is a 62 percent greater probabilitythat highway-rail grade crossing incidentswill occur at crossings where train hornsare not sounded.

The proposal is on the Internet athttp://dms.dot.gov. Comments should besent by May 26, 2000 to the DOT CentralDocket Management Facility, DocketNumber FRA-1999-6439, 400 Seventh St.S.W. Washington, D.C.

The FRA will also hold public hearingsconcerning this rulemaking in seven statesand the District of Columbia this spring:there will be hearings in Ohio,Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Oregon,Indiana, California and Washington, D.C.

In addition to the proposed rule making,the FRA also issued a draft environmentimpact statement, (DEIS) for the proposedrule on the use of locomotive horns. Thedocket number for the DEIS is FRA-1999-6440.

from attending planned functions in whichyou have indicated a desire to participate.All we ask is that you make your advancereservations (so that we can get an initialcount) and honor your intention to attend(by paying or cancelling) by the deadlinedate established. Last minute reservationsmight be accepted on a space availablebasis. Of course, a minimum number arerequired for all functions. Our inability tomeet this minimum could cause completecancellation of event for lack of interestand subject the chapter to cancellationcharges.

Mixed Freight - Marchby Mr. Robin Shavers

I’m not ashamed to admit to it that I holda special fondness for the way many

things were done on the railroads manyyears ago, especially paint schemes, slogansand railroad names. I was elated when Iread that Union Pacific will return it’s longgone winged shield to it’s SD70M units andother safety cab locomotives when they aredue in for major overhauls. The UnionPacific Railroad has a strong heritage andpersonally I think that name will last nomatter how much merging will be done inthe foreseeable future. The return of thewinged shield is a tribute to that heritageand all of the Union Pacific employees, liv-ing and deceased, that have made this her-itage possible.

It has been a number of years since I’vereported on the Virginia Railway Express solet me update you. Ridership is up and hasbeen on the increase since 1997 when aCSX freight derailed in Alexandria andsnarled VRE operations for weeks. The pub-

lic responded by going to work via alterna-tive modes. At that time ridership wasabout 8,000 trips per day. That dipped toabout 5,000. VRE is very apologetic to thepublic and really put out the effort to undowhat the CSX derailment had done.

VRE recently received 13 new doubledecker cars from Kawasaki HeavyIndustries. The cars seat 145. I should usethe word bilevel instead of double decker. Ibelieve there is a difference. The carswhich cost $1.45 million each will replacesome of the older era cars. The older carsare to be sold to commuter railroads inVermont and California.

Moving from commuter transportation totransportation preservation, the NorthCarolina Transportation Museum reports1999 as their best year on record for atten-dance. A total of 114,759 patrons for 1999versus the former 102,832 record for 1997.

We often read and hear about museumsoverhauling and rebuilding their steamlocomotives. Though they do not need it asoften, diesels of museum ownership needoverhauling and rebuilding too. NorthCarolina Transportation Museum formerSouthern Railway 1963 built GP30 No.2061 had it’s prime mover rebuilt at themuseum site December 7th thru 9th. It wasa joint effort by museum volunteers andcontractors. Volunteer help really reducescost involved in such a project.

The Spring Great Scale Train Show will beheld the first weekend of April the 1st and2nd. The event will occur at Maryland StateFairgrounds in Timonium, Maryland start-ing at 9:00 a.m. til 5:00 Saturday and 10:00a.m. til 4:00 p.m. Sunday. 750 tables ofmodel railroad merchandise as well as

9 6

Follow-up on Union Pacific 844

Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 suffered afailure of several boiler tubes while on

display at RAILFAIR in Sacramento this pastJune. The failure was attributed to one ofthe boiler tubes shearing off just inside therear tube sheet. This was followed almostimmediately by the failure of several moreboiler tubes, allowing steam to escape intothe firebox and out the drafting holes intothe cab area.

A steam locomotive has two types oftubes in the boiler. These tubes run paral-lel, inside the boiler, and are open at therear to the firebox flames to heat the water.Flues, or large tubes, have the superheaterunits running inside them while the tubes,(small tubes) are clear. The 844 had 58 5´inch flues and 198 2¨ inch tubes. The tubesand flues terminate at vertical steel sheetsfront and back. The front sheet is part ofthe smoke box while the rear sheet isattached to the crown sheet as well as theboiler. These tube sheets are 19 feet aparton the 844.

The tubes and flues are subject to stress-es and strains from expansion and contrac-tion, pounding when the engine is run-ning, and can be chemically broken downby highly mineralized or oxygenated water.

The tubes and flues had been installedduring the overhaul of the 844 that wascompleted in 1998. They were ordered tothe standard ASTM specification for boilerflues and they met the spec when deliv-ered.

The UP Steam Team performed failureanalysis on the tubes and flues after the844 was towed back to the Cheyenneshops. The conclusion reached was that the

primary cause of failure was corrosion dueto the ineffective water treatment. Insteam days, railroads were very aware ofthe variations in the quality of water avail-able for locomotive use, especially in theWest. Chemical treatments were concoctedfor water at each filling location and thesewere introduced into water tanks or ten-ders in steam days. Today, the UP SteamTeam estimates that there are 60 placeswhere the locomotives operate wherewater may be taken. Before a trip, water isanalyzed at each location where tenderswill be filled and a treatment formula isdeveloped. When on the road, an auxiliarytender is in the consist giving a total watercapacity of over 50,000 gallons. Problemscan develop when treated water from twodifferent locations is mixed or when thecontaminant content of the water changessignificantly between the time it was ana-lyzed and the time that the tenders areactually filled.

The tubes and flues used in Challenger3985 were also examined. The small, or 2¨inch, boiler tubes were found to be nearlyas bad as those in the 844. As a result, the3985 was not used on the Denver Post tripto the Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration.This also validated the decision to not usethe 3985 on the June 26 convention trip toKeddie.

The UP Steam Team has instituted correc-tive action that includes some changes inthe flue installation techniques andchanges are being made to the water treat-ment program. All 48 of the 3985’s smallboiler tubes will be changed, but inspectionof the flues showed that they are in satis-factory condition. 3985 is receiving major

More information can be found on theFRA’s website at http://fra.dot.gov/horns.

Bananas, Reds and Amtrak

How many of you know that 80-year-oldCarl Lindner, who controls Chiquita

Brands bananas, as well as the CincinnatiReds baseball team, also controls the major-ity of Amtrak common stock, even thoughyou can’t get a banana daiquiri in anAmtrak bar car or buy a seat to Reds gamesfrom an Amtrak ticket agent? Lindnerstands to gain a powerful lot of moneyfrom taxpayers if Amtrak is to be restruc-tured financially as intended by Congress.

This curious yarn whereby a billionairecould wind up controlling a governmententerprise began three decades ago whenthe privately owned railroads convincedCongress they were losing hundreds of mil-lions annually competing with airlines,automobiles and buses. So taxpayers wentinto the rail passenger business. As therewasn’t a new railroad equipment lot some-where where Amtrak officials could go topick out shiny new models and drive themaway, Amtrak inherited 1,190 used passen-ger coaches, sleepers, diners, lounges andobservation cars from the freight railroads,a fleet whose average age was more than 20years with some cars as old as 34.Accommodating lawmakers voted freightrailroads a generous tax-credit for the trans-ferred junk. Four railroads said they could-n’t use tax credits, so Congress obligedthem by creating 9.4 million shares of com-mon stock with $10 per share par valueand called it an equity interest in Amtrak.Penn Central donated the most equipmentof the four railroads, so it would up with

53% of those shares.So what’s Amtrak’s connection to

Lindner? When Conrail was created frombankrupt Penn Central, the PC estateretained non-freight rail assets includingthe 53% of the supposedly worthlessAmtrak stock. Lindner’s AmericanPreferred Underwriters purchased thoseassets, the Amtrak common stock taggedalong and seemed to have no value. In1997 Congress passed the Amtrak Reformand Accountability Act, which among otherthings means retiring all common stock at“fair market value.” Amtrak is going tohave to deal with Lindner in some fashionand it probably won’t be cheap. (TrafficWorld via The 470 Club Newsletter,February, 2000).

Western Maryland ScenicRailroad News

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroadwill run just four days a week instead of

six in 2000 as part of a plan to cut costs andreduce its local public subsidy of $250,000 ayear. The 2000 schedule will include dailytrips Thursday through Sunday from May toOctober. In 1999, the train ran Tuesdaythrough Sunday. In 1998 the railroad cutcosts by relying less on its heavy-mainte-nance steam locomotive No. 734, and moreon diesel power. That trend will continue in2000, with steam power offered only onFriday, Saturday, and Sunday. More of theprofitable special trains will continue torun, incorporating murder mysteries, wine-and-cheese tastings, and an October Fallexcursion train from Hagerstown toCumberland and Oakland. (Baltimore Sunvia Potomac Rail News, February 2000).

An occasion columnappearing in theTurntable Times fea-turing material fromthe Roanoke ChapterArchive Facility.

HistorianKenneth L. Miller

An material of interest com-ments or corrections may besubmitted to RoanokeChapter NRHS Archives, attnKen Miller, P. O. Box 13222,Roanoke, VA 24032.

All material appearing in this sec-tion is copyrighted ©2000 byKenneth L. Miller and may not bereproduced without express writtenpermission from the author.

7 8

Virginian Railway PhotoInset: Roanoke Chapter

Archive Collection

Seldom covered by the rail-fan area, but an important

service nonetheless is the rail-road’s”navy.”

In 1956 the Virginian pur-chased a new 105 foot longdiesel tug boat. It was deliv-ered in 1957 and featured onthe company’s forty-eighthannual report in vivid color.During the session for thatphoto, where at least a dozendifferent shots were made. Ofthese most were color, only afew were black and white. Ofcourse, this session probablytook an hour or two, since thetug needed to be posed infront of the Virginian’s coalpiers, and setting up andshooting the 4x5 camera was not quite like cranking off a roll of36 exposures is today.

The road named the tug, W.R. Coe after William Rogers Coe,Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.

Just three years later, this scene would virtually disappear withthe merger with N&W, the coal was shifted to Lambert’s Point,the Virginian piers retired and the W.R. Coe sold. It is believed toexist in the Boston area today. If one of our readers has someinformation and/or a current photo, we’d love to publish it as afollow up.

The Railway’s navy had its beginnings much earlier as DrawingB-2894 at the right depicts a 24 foot gasoline powered launchfrom 1906. Normally the railroads used barges and car ferries andthese are fairly well known, but this little boat was apparently foruse as inspection of the pier areas as the detail drawing (not pic-tured) shows some fancy woodwork and detail trim for her. Herfinal fate is unknown.

9 6

Follow-up on Union Pacific 844

Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 suffered afailure of several boiler tubes while on

display at RAILFAIR in Sacramento this pastJune. The failure was attributed to one ofthe boiler tubes shearing off just inside therear tube sheet. This was followed almostimmediately by the failure of several moreboiler tubes, allowing steam to escape intothe firebox and out the drafting holes intothe cab area.

A steam locomotive has two types oftubes in the boiler. These tubes run paral-lel, inside the boiler, and are open at therear to the firebox flames to heat the water.Flues, or large tubes, have the superheaterunits running inside them while the tubes,(small tubes) are clear. The 844 had 58 5´inch flues and 198 2¨ inch tubes. The tubesand flues terminate at vertical steel sheetsfront and back. The front sheet is part ofthe smoke box while the rear sheet isattached to the crown sheet as well as theboiler. These tube sheets are 19 feet aparton the 844.

The tubes and flues are subject to stress-es and strains from expansion and contrac-tion, pounding when the engine is run-ning, and can be chemically broken downby highly mineralized or oxygenated water.

The tubes and flues had been installedduring the overhaul of the 844 that wascompleted in 1998. They were ordered tothe standard ASTM specification for boilerflues and they met the spec when deliv-ered.

The UP Steam Team performed failureanalysis on the tubes and flues after the844 was towed back to the Cheyenneshops. The conclusion reached was that the

primary cause of failure was corrosion dueto the ineffective water treatment. Insteam days, railroads were very aware ofthe variations in the quality of water avail-able for locomotive use, especially in theWest. Chemical treatments were concoctedfor water at each filling location and thesewere introduced into water tanks or ten-ders in steam days. Today, the UP SteamTeam estimates that there are 60 placeswhere the locomotives operate wherewater may be taken. Before a trip, water isanalyzed at each location where tenderswill be filled and a treatment formula isdeveloped. When on the road, an auxiliarytender is in the consist giving a total watercapacity of over 50,000 gallons. Problemscan develop when treated water from twodifferent locations is mixed or when thecontaminant content of the water changessignificantly between the time it was ana-lyzed and the time that the tenders areactually filled.

The tubes and flues used in Challenger3985 were also examined. The small, or 2¨inch, boiler tubes were found to be nearlyas bad as those in the 844. As a result, the3985 was not used on the Denver Post tripto the Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration.This also validated the decision to not usethe 3985 on the June 26 convention trip toKeddie.

The UP Steam Team has instituted correc-tive action that includes some changes inthe flue installation techniques andchanges are being made to the water treat-ment program. All 48 of the 3985’s smallboiler tubes will be changed, but inspectionof the flues showed that they are in satis-factory condition. 3985 is receiving major

More information can be found on theFRA’s website at http://fra.dot.gov/horns.

Bananas, Reds and Amtrak

How many of you know that 80-year-oldCarl Lindner, who controls Chiquita

Brands bananas, as well as the CincinnatiReds baseball team, also controls the major-ity of Amtrak common stock, even thoughyou can’t get a banana daiquiri in anAmtrak bar car or buy a seat to Reds gamesfrom an Amtrak ticket agent? Lindnerstands to gain a powerful lot of moneyfrom taxpayers if Amtrak is to be restruc-tured financially as intended by Congress.

This curious yarn whereby a billionairecould wind up controlling a governmententerprise began three decades ago whenthe privately owned railroads convincedCongress they were losing hundreds of mil-lions annually competing with airlines,automobiles and buses. So taxpayers wentinto the rail passenger business. As therewasn’t a new railroad equipment lot some-where where Amtrak officials could go topick out shiny new models and drive themaway, Amtrak inherited 1,190 used passen-ger coaches, sleepers, diners, lounges andobservation cars from the freight railroads,a fleet whose average age was more than 20years with some cars as old as 34.Accommodating lawmakers voted freightrailroads a generous tax-credit for the trans-ferred junk. Four railroads said they could-n’t use tax credits, so Congress obligedthem by creating 9.4 million shares of com-mon stock with $10 per share par valueand called it an equity interest in Amtrak.Penn Central donated the most equipmentof the four railroads, so it would up with

53% of those shares.So what’s Amtrak’s connection to

Lindner? When Conrail was created frombankrupt Penn Central, the PC estateretained non-freight rail assets includingthe 53% of the supposedly worthlessAmtrak stock. Lindner’s AmericanPreferred Underwriters purchased thoseassets, the Amtrak common stock taggedalong and seemed to have no value. In1997 Congress passed the Amtrak Reformand Accountability Act, which among otherthings means retiring all common stock at“fair market value.” Amtrak is going tohave to deal with Lindner in some fashionand it probably won’t be cheap. (TrafficWorld via The 470 Club Newsletter,February, 2000).

Western Maryland ScenicRailroad News

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroadwill run just four days a week instead of

six in 2000 as part of a plan to cut costs andreduce its local public subsidy of $250,000 ayear. The 2000 schedule will include dailytrips Thursday through Sunday from May toOctober. In 1999, the train ran Tuesdaythrough Sunday. In 1998 the railroad cutcosts by relying less on its heavy-mainte-nance steam locomotive No. 734, and moreon diesel power. That trend will continue in2000, with steam power offered only onFriday, Saturday, and Sunday. More of theprofitable special trains will continue torun, incorporating murder mysteries, wine-and-cheese tastings, and an October Fallexcursion train from Hagerstown toCumberland and Oakland. (Baltimore Sunvia Potomac Rail News, February 2000).

5 10

some prototype railroadiana too. For moreinformation phone 410-730-1036 or checkit out on the World Wide Web at www.GSMTS.com

Criteria for “Quiet Zones”submitted by Mr. Robin Shavers

In a continuing effort to improve trans-portation safety, U.S. Transportation

Secretary Rodney E. Slater recentlyannounced a proposed rule that wouldrequire trains to sound their horns at pub-lic highway-rail grade crossings except atselect crossings in communities that meetspecified criteria for quiet zones.

“President Clinton and Vice PresidentGore are committed to improving trans-portation safety and protecting the environ-ment,” Secretary Slater said. “This rule,when adopted, will help prevent crashesinvolving trains, motor vehicles and pedes-trians at highway-rail crossings and yetenable communities to maintain quiet inzones that need to be protected fromnoise.”

The rule proposed by the U.S.Department of Transportation’s FederalRailroad Administration was written inresponse to a law enacted by congress in1994 requiring train horns be soundedwhen a train approaches and enters a pub-lic highway-rail grade crossing unless cer-tain exceptions are met to establish a quietzone.

The proposed rule describes the safetymeasures that a community may employ toestablish a quiet zone and yet deter driversfrom taking risks at crossings. These mea-sures include the use of four quadrantgates, channelization devices or crossing

closures at highway-rail crossings or photoenforcement to deter violators. The rulealso proposes an upper volume limit fortrain horns.

“The proposed rule requires train hornsbecause they are effective safety devices towarn drivers and pedestrians of anapproaching train,” said Federal RailroadAdministration (FRA) AdministratorMolitoris. “At the same time, the rule pro-vides safety criteria for communities wish-ing to establish quiet zones while keepingcrossings safe.”

The regulation will become effective oneyear after a final rule is issued, providingcommunities time to establish quiet zones.

In 1998, there were 3,508 highway-railcrossing collisions resulting in 431 fatalitiesand 1,303 injuries. Studies have shown thatthere is a 62 percent greater probabilitythat highway-rail grade crossing incidentswill occur at crossings where train hornsare not sounded.

The proposal is on the Internet athttp://dms.dot.gov. Comments should besent by May 26, 2000 to the DOT CentralDocket Management Facility, DocketNumber FRA-1999-6439, 400 Seventh St.S.W. Washington, D.C.

The FRA will also hold public hearingsconcerning this rulemaking in seven statesand the District of Columbia this spring:there will be hearings in Ohio,Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Oregon,Indiana, California and Washington, D.C.

In addition to the proposed rule making,the FRA also issued a draft environmentimpact statement, (DEIS) for the proposedrule on the use of locomotive horns. Thedocket number for the DEIS is FRA-1999-6440.

from attending planned functions in whichyou have indicated a desire to participate.All we ask is that you make your advancereservations (so that we can get an initialcount) and honor your intention to attend(by paying or cancelling) by the deadlinedate established. Last minute reservationsmight be accepted on a space availablebasis. Of course, a minimum number arerequired for all functions. Our inability tomeet this minimum could cause completecancellation of event for lack of interestand subject the chapter to cancellationcharges.

Mixed Freight - Marchby Mr. Robin Shavers

I’m not ashamed to admit to it that I holda special fondness for the way many

things were done on the railroads manyyears ago, especially paint schemes, slogansand railroad names. I was elated when Iread that Union Pacific will return it’s longgone winged shield to it’s SD70M units andother safety cab locomotives when they aredue in for major overhauls. The UnionPacific Railroad has a strong heritage andpersonally I think that name will last nomatter how much merging will be done inthe foreseeable future. The return of thewinged shield is a tribute to that heritageand all of the Union Pacific employees, liv-ing and deceased, that have made this her-itage possible.

It has been a number of years since I’vereported on the Virginia Railway Express solet me update you. Ridership is up and hasbeen on the increase since 1997 when aCSX freight derailed in Alexandria andsnarled VRE operations for weeks. The pub-

lic responded by going to work via alterna-tive modes. At that time ridership wasabout 8,000 trips per day. That dipped toabout 5,000. VRE is very apologetic to thepublic and really put out the effort to undowhat the CSX derailment had done.

VRE recently received 13 new doubledecker cars from Kawasaki HeavyIndustries. The cars seat 145. I should usethe word bilevel instead of double decker. Ibelieve there is a difference. The carswhich cost $1.45 million each will replacesome of the older era cars. The older carsare to be sold to commuter railroads inVermont and California.

Moving from commuter transportation totransportation preservation, the NorthCarolina Transportation Museum reports1999 as their best year on record for atten-dance. A total of 114,759 patrons for 1999versus the former 102,832 record for 1997.

We often read and hear about museumsoverhauling and rebuilding their steamlocomotives. Though they do not need it asoften, diesels of museum ownership needoverhauling and rebuilding too. NorthCarolina Transportation Museum formerSouthern Railway 1963 built GP30 No.2061 had it’s prime mover rebuilt at themuseum site December 7th thru 9th. It wasa joint effort by museum volunteers andcontractors. Volunteer help really reducescost involved in such a project.

The Spring Great Scale Train Show will beheld the first weekend of April the 1st and2nd. The event will occur at Maryland StateFairgrounds in Timonium, Maryland start-ing at 9:00 a.m. til 5:00 Saturday and 10:00a.m. til 4:00 p.m. Sunday. 750 tables ofmodel railroad merchandise as well as

11 4

crossties was appalling! Out of 200+ tieswe only managed to salvage a tiny handful.The mud has been dug out and we are nowgetting fill material to allow for drainagebefore replacing the track.

The crew is hard at work on the down-stairs or shop portion of the building clean-ing out dirt and years of accumulation ofuseless materials. Plans for a rehabilitationof this area are underway. The need for aprotected work area is important. A newvolunteer project we have taken on is thecosmetic restoration of the train from theMill Mountain Zoo. The train will be refur-bished in the N&W paint scheme andneeds to be returned to the Zoo before theoperating season begins. Our crew will besanding, repairing and repainting the carsand the locomotive carbody beginning veryshortly.

The Yadkin River our 10-6 ex-SouthernSleeper left the siding on February 19thheading for its new home at Mid AmericaLocomotive and Car Repair at Evansville,Indiana. They expect to completely restorethe car and make it fully Amtrak compati-ble for charter service. The car simply didnot fit into our preservation and restora-tion efforts, so on the membershipapproval, the car was sold.

Our former open window coach 1829,former N&W 1829, Wabash 1829 and B&M“Oriole” should be leaving for its finalscrapping at any time. We have completelystripped the usable components from thecar, it is now ready for scrapping. This carwas badly damaged at Lynchburg, Va whenthe 611’s train, while standing, wasrammed by a freight train in September of1994.

A little later in the spring we will beginon the cosmetic and some mechanical workon the new GP30, number 522. We expectto have the 522 in new paint and letteringby mid to late summer.

As always we can use your help on any ofthese projects. Please feel free to come ondown on a Saturday or Sunday and meetup with the folks. We are usually there by11:00 am.

Splinters From The Board Bill Arnold

Reservations

Webster defines reservation as anarrangement to have something held

for oneís use: a promise, guarantee, orrecord of such engagement..... Severalrecent events (and others over the years)where reservations have been made bymembers and not cancelled by deadlinedate has put the Chapter in the position ofhaving to pay for unused reservations. Ex:At the recent annual banquet, five ìnoshowsî made the Chapter potentially liablefor over $130. Three additional membersdid not attend, but had paid at an earlierdate. By lowering our initial count slightlyand after-the-fact negotiations with thehotel, we were able to erase the deficit andwill be able to return the payments of thethree who had already paid. This will notalways be the case. Therefore:

Your Board has found it necessary to seta policy regarding the need for our mem-bers to honor their reservations to attendfunctions where the Chapter has commit-ted to a business and guaranteed mone-tarily that a certain number will attend.

We do not wish to discourage members

running gear work this winter. This willessentially complete the complete rebuild-ing of the 3985.

The 844 needs firebox work before it canoperate again. This is not related to theboiler-tube failure. In steam days, fireboxeson oil burners were changed every 15years. For the 844, 15 years would havebeen 1959! There is no schedule for com-pletion of necessary work on the 844.

The 3985 will operate this year. Possibletrips are the Cheyenne Frontier Days in mid-July and the Democratic NationalConvention in Los Angeles in late July. Otherrequests for trips are being evaluated. (FromCentral Coast Railway Club, Inc. newsletterThe Ferroequinologist, January 2000).

From The TransportationMuseum

The Virginia Museum of Transportation,Inc. will open an exhibit, StreamlinedSteam: A Story of Class on May 6 duringRailfair and Model Mania: 50 Years of the611.” This exhibit will be on displaythrough September 15.

The Museum is placing an all-call forphotographs, artifacts and other memora-bilia of the N&W Railway’s Class J locomo-tives, numbers 600-613. Also desired: pho-tographs, correspondence, sketches, shopnotes, etc form W.W. Reynolds, G.P.McGavock, C.H. Faris and F.C. Noel relatingto the Class J and Class K locomotives thatwere streamlined.

The deadline is March 15. Please contactCarolyn Payne or Darlene Richardson at540-342-5670 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

Arttrain To Visit Roanokeby Bill Arnold

Roanoke is fortunate to be on the sched-ule of Artrain 2000 May 11-14. The

theme is Artistry of Space . Artrain lastvisited Roanoke in 1992. This year’s trainwill feature four ìnewî cars and a caboose.The cars, reworked to provide a travelingart museum, were a 1949 New York Centralsleeper, a 1949 Pennsylvania twin dinerunit (kitchen car and diner car that come asa unit) and a 1947 NYC baggage/dormitory.The caboose will be replaced by a 1948Kansas City Southern round-end car inJune.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Our Chapterhas been asked to provide volunteers toassist in acting as car hosts for four-hourshifts during the visit. Thursday (11th) andFriday (12th) will be dedicated to schoolvisits (interaction with students-trainingand guidelines provided) and Saturday(13th) and Sunday (14th) will be open togeneral public (includes greeting visitors,answering questions-info and guidelinesprovided). This will be another greatopportunity to expose our Chapter to theRoanoke Valley. Other valley organizationswill also provide volunteers.

Kathy Overholser (343-1928) will chairthe securing of our volunteers with assis-tance from Bonnie Molinary (362-0273) andWanda Troutman (986-1056). Please giveKathy, Bonnie, or Wanda a call to indicateyour interest and availability. We need tohave our list together by mid-April.

More information will be provided in theApril issue. We will also attempt to secureanticipated train travel route and estimatedarrival time in Roanoke.

3 12

Roanoke ChapterBanquet

The Roanoke Chapterheld it’s annual ban-

quet at the HotelRoanoke on Saturday,January 22, 2000 at 7:30 pm. Despiteadverse weather conditions, be it the firstsnowfall of the winter, some 60 Chaptermembers and guests were present.

The featured speaker for the January 22,2000 banquet was Lewis I. (Bud) Jeffries,author of the popular 1980 book; N&W:Giant of Steam. Bud presented a very infor-mative slide program featuring numeroussteam and diesel scenes in the Radford,Christiansburg and Roanoke areas amongother localities.

Numerous prizes were given out to thoseholding lucky numbers and three RoanokeChapter Members were recognized for 25years of continuous service. Those three

folks were: Karl Oehring, Wanda Troutman,and Kenney Kirkman.

Thank You Award

Since our January Meeting was cancelleddue to inclement weather, we post-

poned presenting our “Thank You Award”that had normally been presented at thebanquet.

The Award is presented annually to amember who has demonstrated consider-able effort and dedication to Chapter func-tions over the years. Past winners include(in no particular order) Bill Carson, JoeAusten, Grace Helmer,Dorothy and FloydKelch, Ellen Arnold, Elbert Miller, and Ken

used heavier coach style construction. Mackrailcars were never produced in large num-bers, but they were fairly tough, like the leg-endary highway trucks. A few units stillsurvive at museums and tourist railroads.

Mack locomotives were produced in evensmaller numbers. Customers could choosefrom two, three, and four axle models withweights starting at 12 tons and rising to 80tons. Apparently, the 80 ton four axlemodel was offered but never produced. Thelargest Mack locomotives actually builtwere the three axle 60 ton models. TodayMack locomotives are rare indeed.

The model BR Mack switching locomotivehad the “bulldog” hood on either end. Thisfeature has probably endeared it to model-ers. Other Mack locomotives were boxy

affairs.They werenot pretty,but theyseemed todo theirjobs well.As tradi-tional loco-motivebuildersbegan tofill theindustrialportion ofthe inter-nal com-bustionlocomotivemarket,Mack’sability tocompete

and still show a profit eroded. The railcarand locomotive division was never a bigshare of the truck manufacturer’s business.When the Model FCD railcars failed toattract any other customers, Mack Trucks,Inc. ended its rail division.

Mechanical Reportby Ken Miller

Despite the cold weather, work is pro-gressing nicely at our 9th Street

Maintenance Facility. Our track numberone, nearest the building, was a disasterarea. We had always been careful switchingthe track because we knew it was a hazard,but we did not realize how bad it was untilit was dug out and the lack of decent

K. L. Miller CollectionBuffalo Creek and Gauley Motor A looks almost like a model in this late 1950s scene in the

BC&G coal country. This Mack built unit survives to this day at the Strasburg Railroad inPennsylvania.

13 2

Railcamp

We’re looking for a few good students!The Roanoke Chapter is looking for

applicants for a trip to Railcamp. TheRailcamp sponsored by the National ParkService and NRHS at Steamtown inScranton, PA. This year June 25-July 1.

Young people between grades 9 and 12who have an in interest in such a camp,modeled after the popular Spacecamp, willfeature railroad preservation, railroad oper-ations among others.

This event is limited to 24 participants.The Roanoke Chapter is willing to sponsor aparticipant at the camp and is looking fornominations from our membership. The can-didate does not have to be a member, cometo the March or April meeting for moredetails or contact Bill Arnold at 389-3217.

Small Rails - Februaryby Dave Meashey

The Roanoke Valley Model Engineershave been refurbishing several mod-

ules. One of the modules will eventuallyextend the yard by another four feet. Twoother modules will be used to replace theChristmas module. While refurbishingthese modules, experienced members havebeen using the improvements as a trainingtool. Newer members are given clinics ontrack laying, scenery construction, andscenery coloring. Foliage creation andplacement will be the next logical clinic.

Several new faces have begun to show upregularly at the work nights. This is a wel-come change. It is good to see the member-ship growing again. The club is also plan-ning to have regular Saturday operating ses-

sions, several Saturdays per month. It ishoped that seeing the trains running willencourage more people to join the club.

The Big Lick Big Train Operators are stillhibernating until the better weathermonths.

Mack Rail Motor Cars andLocomotives

by Dave Meashey

Recently I purchased a HartlandLocomotive Works large scale model of

a Mack model BR switching locomotive. Itreminded me of the book I had purchasedat the “Mack Shop,” a gift shop in the MackTrucks, Inc. World Headquarters officebuilding in Allentown, PA. At the time (mid-1970’s) I was a technical writer for Macktrucks. The book, History of Mack RailMotor Cars and Locomotives, was producedby the Lehigh Valley Chapter, NRHS. Ibelieve it is currently out of print. I have nointention of telling the whole story here,but it is interesting to read how a truckmanufacturer carved out a small market forrailcars and small industrial locomotives.

Mack finished its first railcar for theUintah Railway in 1905. The final railcarswere built in 1954. These last railcars,Model FCD, used the then standard Mackbus body. They were ordered by the NewYork, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, butnever saw much service there. Most ofthese last railcars ended up in the employof Sperry Rail Service.

Between 1905 and 1954, dozens of ModelAB and Model AC bus style railcars helpedkeep marginal profit branchlines in service.Class 1 railroads also tried the large “doo-dlebug” style AS and AQ railcars, which

Miller. One criteria is that no present boardmember can be awarded the honor.

This year’s honoree was our long timesecretary, Bonnie Molinary. Bonnie retiredfrom the board after last year, and couldthusly be honored. Bonnie had worked dili-gently over the years, not just on the secre-tary’s position and all that entailed, butoften handled the food service at eventsand many trips as well.

Congratulations Bonnie!

This Month in N&W Historyby Ken Miller

Hard to believe, but the Norfolk andWestern film “Operation Fast Freight”

is had its premiere in March of 1950.The film which depicts the story of time

freight 86 from Columbus to Norfolk andfollows N&W boxcar No. 50450 almostevery step of the way.

The film is a fascinating portrait of theN&W as it was at the time and the railroadindustry in general. The desire to handlecarload freight instead of simply unit trainsblocked was obvious in the film. Todayseems to be a radically different world.

Seventy years ago, March of 1930 it wasannounced that the N&W along with theB&O, C&O, CNO&TP (Southern), CCC&St. L(NYC), L&N and Pennsylvania would jointlybuild a new terminal in Cincinnati, Ohiofor a total cost of $41 million. The new sta-tion was scheduled to open January 1, 1934.

Mentioned in the March 1930 N&WMagazine was a commendation of BaggageClerk Z. M. Wolfe of Marion, Va, for hisbravery in rescuing a stalled car on thetracks in front of the oncoming train 42 thenight of January 14, 1930. Mr. Wolfe proba-

bly saved the lives of the two occupants ofthe car, after he finished hanging the mailbag, saw the car crash through the gatesonto the track. He ran over and unaided,pulled the car from the track! The car’soccupants had all but given up hope ofescaping as the train was so close on thecrossing.

Some things never change! One item ofconsiderable discussion in many of the1950 Magazines was the toll the the bigtractor trailers take on the highways andbridges and the hazards they produce onthe highways! And just think, they didn’teven have an interstate 81 in those days.

West Virginia Centralby Gary Ballard

The Roanoke Chapter has completed con-tract negotiations with the Durbin and

Greenbrier Valley Railroad (operator of theWVC) to operate in the year 2000.

The season should get underway some-time in April. An expanded schedule isplanned, with the passenger train going toTygart Junction (a new destination), trips toElkins will be continued while Belingtonremains the origination point for these trips.

Your mechanical committee is alwaysaccepting additional volunteers. The groupwill be making a trip to the train soon, tosee what needs to be done prior to thebeginning of the season.

The West Virginia Central is a majorundertaking by this Chapter. AlthoughD&GV crews are operating the train, ourmembers are encouraged to participate bysigning up as volunteers for car hosting, orsnack bar duty. Gary Ballard will take yourname if you desire to work on our cars for

Roadname Car Type Car No. Date Lettering StyleBaltimore and Ohio Covered Hopper 604332 1971 B&O Capitol DomeErie Lackawanna Coal Hopper 33305 --- EL DiamondReading Coal Hopper 404517 --- RDGReading Coal Hopper 404921 12/75 RDGNorfolk and Western Covered Hopper 176369 --- N&W “half-moon”Southern “Sand” Hopper 103712 --- SouthernMaryland and Pennsylvania Box Car WLO 505057 --- Ma & Pa Logo

Roadname Unit Type Unit No. RemarksCanadian Pacific SD-40-2 5546LLPX Leasing EMD 2011 Ex-Seaboard RailroadBNSF GE Dash-9 4742 New Orange/Green Paint SchemeSouthern Pacific SD-60 8581Union Pacific SD Tunnel Motor 4032 Ex-Southern PacificCanadian Pacific EMD 9565 Canadian Safety CabMontana Rail Link SD-45 ---- Blue and White Livery

EDITORKenney Kirkman

MIXED FREIGHTRobin Shavers

SMALL RAILSDave Meashey

SPLINTERSBill Arnold

HISTORIANKenneth L. Miller

All materials should besent directly to the Editor:Kenney Kirkman590 Murphy RoadCollinsville, VA 24078-2128

Volume 32, Number 3March 2000

1

The Virginian’s public relations efforts were virtually non-exis-tent, unlike larger roads like N&W who had an entire departmentfor such things. The Virginian never had an “official” photograph-er, i.e. one whose sole job was to shoot photos for the company.The closest thing was George Shands who was the power directorat the Narrows Power Plant. Shands was also a excellent photogra-pher and shot many photos for the company along with anotheremployee from Princeton named Belcher, who apparently shot anumber of claim and related photos.

In one of the examples of cooperation between railroads, thisphoto was made by the N&W photographers, apparently Shandswas not available for the session and the Virginian called on theN&W Photographic Laboratory to make a short ride to Kumis andshoot a few transparencies for them.

Virginian Railway, Photo by Norfolk and Western Railway

Cover Photo

Cards and FlowersIf you know of a Chapter Member who is sick, lost a loved one

or has a new birth in the family, please contact Elizabeth Leedy.Elizabeth is responsible for Chapter cards and flowers and can bereached at 389-5274.

Deadline for Turntable TimesThe deadline for the next issue of Turntable Times is Saturday,

March 18, 2000. Please send articles, information and allexchange newsletters to: Kenney Kirkman, Editor, TurntableTimes, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, Va. 24078-2128.

From The Head End

The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Societywill hold its next general meeting on Thursday, March 16, 2000at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held at the First PresbyterianChurch on the corner of McClanahan and Crystal Spring Avenuein Roanoke. Please remember that the chapter meeting will becancelled if inclement weather causes the closing of Roanokeschools on a scheduled chapter meeting date.

Meeting Notice

14

Turntable Times is publishedmonthly as the newsletter ofthe Roanoke Chapter, NationalRailway Historical Society, Inc.Opinions and points of viewexpressed herein are those ofthe staff members of theTurntable Times and not nec-essarily reflect those of themembers, officers or directorsof the Chapter.

a weekend, call him at 540-362-4057.The year 2000 promises to be an exciting

year for the train. We have laid out a con-siderable amount in human labor and capi-tol to make this operation happen. Helpmake this a banner season for our train!

Sightings from the Pastby Gary Ballard

Not since the beginnings of Conrail in1976 has there been so many freight

cars rolling through territory that wouldnot be considered “home territory”

As CSX and NS operate their portions ofConrail, freight cars with older road namesare making their way to Roanoke. Somecars are still in original livery, with nomarkings whatsoever of their new corpo-rate owners! Many of these are rare findsindeed. Here is a list of some that werespotted during February

Its Raining Locomotives!by Gary Ballard

The sightings of foreign motive powerrolling through Roanoke continues! NS

is repainting the recently acquired Conrailunits, so be on the lookout for black NSunits sporting those red lights on the fronthood—just part of the scene of differentunits passing through Roanoke recently.

While many units are being leased by NSsome are simply passing through on trainsthat will eventually get the units backhome. A short list of some of the unitsspotted locally during February.

Volume 32, Number 3 March 2000

The Official Newsletter of theRoanoke Chapter, National

Railway Historical Society, Inc.

Turntable Times is published monthly as the newsletter of the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Opinions and points ofview expressed herein are those of the staff members of the Turntable Times and not necessarily reflect those of the members, officers or directorsof the Chapter. Items of interest should be sent to Editor Kenny Kirkman, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, VA 24078-2128.

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDRoanoke, VA

Permit No. 89

Editor, Turntable TimesRoanoke Chapter NRHSP.O. Box 13222Roanoke, VA 24032-1322

It was a chilly day in late March when the EL-Cs 133 and 132 posed with an eastbound coaltrain at Kumis, Virginia. This photo of the rela-tively new electrics was used (in color) on thecover of the 1956 Annual Report. For moredetails see the cover photo section following.

Virginian Railway/ Norfolk and Western Photo

CHAPTER SOUVENIR SHOP 540-982-3595CHAPTER MAINTENANCE FACILITY 540-427-5126CHAPTER ARCHIVE FACILITY FAX 540-427-4501

PRESIDENT

Richard D. Shellemail: [email protected]

EDITOR

Kenney Kirkman590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, VA 24078-2128

HISTORIAN/ARCHIVIST

Kenneth L. Milleremail: [email protected]

UPCOMING MEETINGSMarch 16, 2000Regular Meeting, 7:30 pm

April 4, 2000Board Meeting, 7:30 pm

April 20, 2000Regular Meeting, 7:30 pm

May 2, 2000Board Meeting, 7:30 pm

May 18, 2000Regular Meeting, 7:30 pm

Contacting the Roanoke Chapter NRHS

contacting the roanoke chapter nrhs

Documents