Last Westward Extension of Roanoke Yard... When ?

[NW Mailing List]

Does anyone know the year Roanoke Yard was extended westward for the last time, to the present location of "WB," just east of Mason's Creek ?

I think this this was done sometime in the 1950s, and it involved a westward extension of approximately a mile and a half.

Originally, the term "WB" applied at a telegraph office located at the point where the Roanoke Belt Line intersected the east/west main line, in the vicinity of the present steel mill, at a location now known as the Radford Division Pull-In. That location was known as "West Belt Line Junction," and I have seen at least one period source (a Time Table Special Instruction)  intimating that "WB" stood for "West Belt." This was in that period of time (which seemingly began about 1911) when northward Punkin' Vine trains ran to West Roanoke by using the Roanoke Belt Line from "Q" Block and Train Order Office at South Roanoke, to the Receiving Yard at (old, original) WB.

At the time of this last westward extension, the Eastward and Westward Main Tracks were re-located, eight of the ten Empty Side Yard tracks, plus the Westbound Running Track were extended from old WB to the present west end of the Empty Side Yard (about 4000 ft east of Mason's Creek,) and two new Radford Division Pull-In tracks were also constructed over this territory. Also, a new and very long interlocking was constructed at this time at the new west end of the yard, and this new interlocking was also called "WB." (Yes, they re-cycled the name "WB.")  Is a 2,400 foot long interlocking long enough for you...?

And my suspicion is that the west end of the Receiving Yard may have been extended westward by several hundreds of feet during this construction work.

So, does anyone know when this last mile-and-a-half extension was made to the west end of Roanoke Yard ?

-- abram burnett,
      from the Autonomous Zone of the Great Turnip Nation