Clinch Valley Question

[NW Mailing List]

When did railroads stop using those color flags?

Carl Barna
Emmaus, PA
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Sent: Friday, August 9, 2024 10:21 AM
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Subject: Clinch Valley Question

Unfortunately, I never made it down the Clinch Valley Fast Line.

Here is a question, should anyone be happily dispensing (free) answers today:

1. The Clinch Valley had Automatic Block Signals....

2. BUT, was Rule 261 ("TCS," in the N&W's vocabulary) in effect ?

3. Translation: Even with the presence of Automatic Block Signals to space out following train movements, and to prevent head-on collisions, was train movement still authorized by Time Table and Train Order ? (This was the situation on the Punkin Vine: ABS signaling, but the signals conveyed no authority to use the main track.)

What Raised This Question: There is a well-known photo taken at Pounding Mill, where two trains, both hauled by RS-11s, are meeting at a passing siding. One train is displaying White Classification Signals (meaning it is being operated as an Extra,) and the other train is displaying Green Classification Signals (meaning it is a train being run in sections.)

Classification Signals would make absolutely no sense on a railroad operated under Rule 261 or "TCS," so I believe the territory involved is still Time Table / Train Order territory, where the Automatic Block Signals are merely an added layer of protection.

In other words: Under What Rules Were Trains Operated on the Clinch Valley in early Diesel-days ???

I will attach the photograph, and hope some Ole Wise man will come out of his cave and coach a Young Pup like me !

-- abram burnett
Buy Now and Avoid the Tariff War on Turnips !
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