N&W in 1911--Pumping station

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Sun Feb 13 22:43:56 EST 2011


Gordon:

I lived in Bluefield VA 1947-1953, and the station was not in the location
shown on the drawing you attached. It was definitely between the main line
and the Clinch Valley line. It could not have been where the drawing
shows because by then Virginia Avenue was in place approximately where the
dashed lines are in the drawing. The picture I remember also shows the
little-known electrification of the Clinch Valley line as far as Tip Top.

In the "Images of America" series book for Bluefield Virginia on page 58,
the station pictured on the bottom is the one I remember. Unfortunately
you can't tell from that picture exactly where it stood. The picture at the
top depicts the track arrangement shown in your drawing. I have seen a
picture of the station that places it where I remember, but I couldn't put my
hands on it in the short time available tonight. I'll look some more
tomorrow.

Incidentally, if you want to know what I looked like in the fourth grade
(cringe....) look on page 86 of that book; I'm the little guy with the big
ears in the front right as you look at the picture. Contrary to the
"perhaps" of the caption, that really was just the fourth grade, no doubling up. I
have fond memories of Mrs. Hardy, even if she did threaten to flunk me if
my penmanship didn't improve!

I'll keep digging. Maybe the N&WHS archives or the Virginia Tech
collection will show something.

Dave


In a message dated 2/13/2011 9:03:36 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Dave,

I placed the Bluefield, VA station on the south side of the track from
memory, but knowing the fallibility of my memory, I checked track drawings in
the Archives at this week's session and found a 1917 drawing of the
proposed station in the location where I remembered it, a pertinent portion of
which drawing is attached. It even shows the steps down to the pedestrian
underpass and steps up to the platform on the north side of the Clinch Valley
line and to both platforms on the main line, all somewhat as I remember it.
There is also a grade crossing of the tracks provided for use of baggage
and mail platform trucks. Incidentally the 1924 N&W Annual Report
indicates that a new station was built in Bluefield, VA that year.

Because the drawing referred to the proposed station, I consulted with
Louis Newton to see if the station were actually built in the location shown
on the drawing. Louis checked his notebook sketches from his days as road
foreman of engines on the Pocahontas Division, and his sketch of the actual
location of the station agreed with the location of the proposed station
shown on the drawing.

I believe that I recall that you lived in Bluefield, VA, so I would
appreciate any comments you may have that would indicate whether more research
needs to be done in order that information posted on the Mailing List be as
accurate as possible.

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message -----
From: _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)
To: _nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: N&W in 1911--Pumping station


Gordon:

I suspect you may have meant to say either that "In later years...station
was on the north side of the Clinch Valley track...." or that it was on the
"....south side of the main line track...".

Dave Phelps


In a message dated 2/12/2011 6:46:47 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
_nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org) writes:

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
June 21, 1911

THE GRAHAM DAILY NEWS
------
New Pumping Station
Workmen have begun the foundation for the addition to Norfolk and
Western pumping station here. The stone is being received from the quarry on
the premises of Mrs. A. C. Davidson at Nemours for the masonry work.
------
[In 1911 at the junction where the Clinch Valley line branched off the
main line there was a track (long since gone) between the Clinch Valley line
and the main line west of the junction that formed a wye with the main line
and the Clinch Valley line. The pumping station was inside the wye and
pumped water from the nearby Bluestone River to be piped to the N&W's
facilities in Bluefield, WV. In later years the Bluefield, VA, passenger station
was on the south side of the Clinch Valley track not far from where the
pumping station was located. But in 1911 the combined freight and passenger
station was located east of the junction at Spruce street. Nemours, WV
(where the stone for the pumping station was quarried) is located on the N&W
between Flat Top Yard and Bluestone Jct., and was the site of a large E. I.
du Pont de Nemours & Co. gunpowder plant, presumably located there to supply
the coalfields (or maybe the Hatfields and McCoys).]

Gordon Hamilton


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