1940s Commuter Service

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Mon Feb 25 07:54:44 EST 2008


Imagine! K3's screaming down the tracks at 38 miles per hour! Wheres
my neck brace! LOL K3's were a good drag engine, but........


Mark Lindsey
Stuck in the 1930's




On Feb 24, 2008, at 2:51 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

In two of my interviews, it was mentioned that the K3's were used in
this commuter services. I referred to this on page 158 in my revised
edition. In my interview with the late Bill Ross, he mentioned that
there were five commuter trains daily to the arsenal from Roanoke and
return--three were in the morning, one in the afternoon and the last
in the evening. After hauling workers to the arsenal the train (or at
least the engine) was turned and then returned to Roanoke with workers
coming off shift. Also it was said that sometimes there were 12 to 14
cars on these trains.

I would like to research more for specifics about the operation to
include if some of the trains went to Radford to wait for the pickup
of the larger daylight shift getting off shift. At times during WWII
there were more than 30,000 people working there including the
construction crews. This commuter service provided a big need to haul
a lot of people to and from work in an area of relatively low
population density.

Bud Jeffries
----- Original Message -----
From: NW Mailing List
To: NW Mailing List
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: N&W in 1903 -- Strange Accident

As a follow-up to Gary Rolih's information about the N&W's 1903
commuter service on the Scioto Division, apparently the N&W was into
another commuter operation long before it inherited the Wabash's
Orland Park commuter service in the Chicago area.

According to an article and picture from the December 31, 1940,
Roanoke Times given to me by Harry Bundy, the N&W operated two
commuter trains between Roanoke and the "Radford powder plant," which
was the Radford Ordinance Works of the Hercules Powder Co. The 1940
N&W Annual Report mentions the construction of this plant and states
that it would employ 3,500 to 4,500 persons.

According to the newspaper article, the morning train for first shift
workers had been put into service a week earlier, and the afternoon
train for second shift workers had been put into service the day
before the article appeared. The afternoon train (and presumably the
morning train also) made intermediate stops at Salem, Elliston and
Shawsville.

This was no small operation. The article mentions ten coaches on the
"special" trains and states that 807 people rode the morning train.
Harry tells me that another article in the same paper showed the
congested parking lot at the Salem station caused by the commuters.
The coaches carried signs stating that they were for accommodation of
the employees of the powder plant only.

I had heard that the N&W hauled workers to the Radford powder plant
during World War II, but this is the only account of it that I
remember seeing. Inasmuch as the Radford powder plant made
propellants for the military, its looks as this country was gearing up
for hostilities because of the turmoil in Europe almost a year before
Pearl Harbor.

Gordon Hamilton
----- Original Message -----
From: NW Mailing List
To: 'NW Mailing List'
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:08 PM
Subject: RE: N&W in 1903 -- Strange Accident

Gordon: The N&W ran commuter trains in Portsmouth, basically
Sciotoville to Portsmouth based on old Scioto Valley Ry schedules.
In Cincinnati, the N&W ran commuter trains from Batavia to downtown
Cincinnati based on old Cincinnati & Eastern schedules that were
continued through the Ohio & Northwestern and Cincinnati, Portsmouth &
Virginia days. These lasted only until about 1920-1921.

Where the heck Hearon is, I couldn’t tell you.

Gary Rolih
Cincinnati


From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:34 AM
To: N&W Mailing 1List
Subject: N&W in 1903 -- Strange Accident

N. & W. PASSENGER TRAIN IN SMASH-UP
------
Portsmouth, O., Dec. 3. -- A Norfolk and Western passenger train
came in collision at Hearon today with a commuter train taking a
hundred people to work. Several passengers will die and many are
reported seriously injured.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
December 4, 1903

[Does anyone know where Hearon was? What "commuter train" did the N&W
operate? Finally, I did not see any follow-up articles in
theBluefield newspaper about this accident. Strange!]

Gordon Hamilton


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