To my Southern friends

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Mon Oct 29 18:23:42 EDT 2007




NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote: Gary:

My resource material is at home and I'm on the road, so I can only give you an overview. Others will I'm sure fill in the details.

This line is of course the former Washington-Atlanta main line of the Southern Railway. In days gone by it was all double track but now mostly single track with passing sidings in the area you'll traverse. In addition to the trains via Greensboro and Charlotte, trains via Lynchburg, Roanoke, and Bristol used this line as far south as Lynchburg, where they switched to the N&W. Monroe, VA, north of Lynchburg, was the northern end of the division that began in Spencer and also the actual engine change location between N&W and Southern power for the trains via Bristol.

This line can lay claim to being truly "fabled in story and song," as it's the route chronicled in the song "Wreck of the Old 97". http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97song.html (Until I researched this web site I didn't know there were ten verses; I'd only heard verses three through six and ten before!) Reciting (or singing if you're up to it) the lyrics as you traverse the locations mentioned in the song might be entertaining for your patrons.

Dave Phelps

In a message dated 10/28/2007 12:37:25 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:
Gentlemen

This weekend I will be participating in the Spencer-Charlottesville Autumn Leaf Special, and I will be working the Northern Pacific dome car, BUT, I have never really been around this particular line. I was hoping that some of you would please email me a brief history of the line, along with some points of interest so I can help the passengers enjoy the trip even more.

email me at: nsheavyduty at yahoo.com

Thanks,

Gary Price
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To change your subscription go to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/



Gary, for what its worth, as the song (wreck of 97) says , the train was late and trying to make up time on 1903 track which took a different route north of Danville from the current track. The old route came into Danville west of present line and made a sharp turn north of the Dan river where it left the tressell just short of the river. I believe the station is close to original location. Ron Hash



---------------------------------
See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage.
________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To change your subscription go to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20071029/36c1dd38/attachment.html>


More information about the NW-Mailing-List mailing list