N&W Train No. 18

nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Fri Dec 30 23:40:00 EST 2005


Come on, Bill. Your ACL trains were running on a pool table - few curves,
no grades to speak of. #18 between Bristol and Roanoke had to face grades
up to 1.3% and a lot of restricted speed due to curvature (40MPH was the
maximum going down Alleghany Mountain, for instance); the maximum speed
limit was 65 MPH. The highest point was just west of Rural Retreat, Va., at
an elevation in the neighborhood of 2550 feet above sea level after starting
out at Bristol at just over 1600 feet. And Rural Retreat was just the
highest of several summits to be conquered. What was the highest elevation
between South Rocky Mount and Florence? Two hundred feet? Three hundred?

Put ACL operating practices and motive power on the Bristol-Roanoke run and
they'd take a lot more than 207 minutes to make the trip. Whatever your
feelings about the R-1 4-8-4, it wasn't designed to cope with that kind of
gradients and curvature. N&W's J was designed for them.

EdKing
----- Original Message -----
From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 8:09 PM
Subject: N&W Train No. 18



> Harry Bundy calculates that N&W passenger train No. 18 ran the 151 miles

> between Bristol and Roanoke in 207 minutes. The ACL had several name

> trains such as Nos. 1 and 2, the East Coast Champion, that routinely ran

> the

> 172 miles between South Rocky Mount, N.C. and Florence, S.C. in 160

> minutes, or two hours and 40 minutes. You tell me who the speed merchant

> was in this situation. Bill Sellers

>

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