Farmville Line Questions

[NW Mailing List]

Jeff:
One thing you gotta remember --
although the Farmville Belt Line
was Traffic Control territory, the
"old" line was single track, automatic
block, meaning that the turnouts to
the sidings were not interlocked, but
hand-thrown. The junctions of the "old"
line and the Belt Line at Pamplin and
Burkeville were interlocked.

From Norfolk Div. Time Table #7 eff.
07/24/1932, these were the sidings listed
on the "old" line:
Moran - 5626'
Rice  - 9289'
High Bridge - 5718'
Farmville - 2633' and 2433'
Tuggle- 5058'
Prospect - 8420'
Elam  - 4478'  

The east end of the siding at Prospect
was almost exactly at M.P. N-160 --
that's around the two degree curve east
of the burned Prospect depot.

There was an oddity on the "old" line
west of Farmville --there were 12 consecutive
"short miles" from MP N-150 (Farmville) to
MP N-162 west of Prospect. For example,
from M.P. N-160 to MP N-161 at Prospect, the
distance is only 4388.4 feet, so I guess that
puts a special significance on the mile posts.  

N&W practice was that all passenger trains
would use the "old" line.  All eastbound
freights and some westbound freights would
use the Belt Line.   In the late 50s, a
derailment on the Belt Line meant that all
trains would use the "old" line.  There was
a train order issued for two opposing time
freights to meet at Prospect.  When they got
to the meeting point, both trains were too
long to clear.             Harry Bundy
 

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