Very Sad News :(

[NW Mailing List]

Well, when Richard Shell and I bought our signals about 1996-97, the  
local signal folks had the option of selling them off as a lot, not  
as individual signals. That option was taken away a couple of years  
later. We purchased a load of stuff, that was piled on the ground at  
Troutville, Virginia, an area about 30' x 80', and it was a bunch of  
stuff including cases, poles, relay boxes, etc. etc. Now keep in mind  
these things were cut down, not taken down with intent of reusing  
them, torched, broken and beaten, on already old worn out materials.  
It took us several weeks of our evenings, as both of us have real  
life jobs, and a number of flatbed truckloads of hauling to get all  
that we wanted to save out of there. We were out working under the  
light of a full moon at times. We decided that we had all that we  
needed, and all that remained was a bunch of broken cases, damaged  
parts beyond saving and pure junk, so that is what we did, we sold it  
for scrap and it was hauled away. All told, with what we kept and  
scrapped, we figured that it came to about 23 tons of materials. We  
mainly ran out of time to get the stuff off the property, we'd have  
liked to save a bit more, but our deadline was on us, and we were  
both exhausted.

I don't believe NS wants to deal with any individuals, only  
scrappers, it is just too much of a hassle for NS. Depending on the  
scrappers, you may be able to buy something from them, depending on  
where, and how you can handle it.

I suspect some parts may be occasionally saved by NS for keeping the  
remaining CPLs working as necessary, but for the most part, the stuff  
is beaten, bashed and a lot of work to bring back to life. All of the  
signal faceplates were bent up, some torn and ripped, brackets  
broken, ladders cut off, lamp fixtures broken, lens gone or  
destroyed.  Again, I warn you these things are very large, much  
larger than they appear to be, a faceplate is about 52 inches across,  
poles vary in height but you can easily figure 15 to 30 feet tall, a  
complete signal head weighs in at least a few hundred pounds  
depending on the number of lamps, poles might be as much as 500-600.  
Each individual lamp fixture weighs about 25 pounds! I'm glad I have  
one, but like a number of other things in my life, I'd never do it  
again.

Ken Miller

On Mar 30, 2009, at 8:50 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:


> I know I would!  Do we have a point person who could lead us to  

> getting a few?

>

>

>

> Christopher J. Bunsey

>

> EX TWA, Current CAL

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