[N&W] N&W Mailing List - Reese Ohio ? Part II

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Here is Gary Rolih's reply:
---------------------------
 >
 >Ron:  I did a little checking at lunch... Reese, a little, dinky,
 >cross roads town today, started out as Reese's Station many years ago.
 >It is between Valley Crossing which is at the e/b end of Watkins Yard
 >and Lockbourne, not Duvalls, which comes after Lockbournein the e/b
 >mode. The grade from Portsmouth to Columbus runs gradually up hill
 >along the Scioto river with two major grades at the west end. One is
 >up Kingston Hill going from Chillicothe to Kingston. The second is a
 >short but nasty bump between Watkins Yard and Joyce Avenue Yard.
 >Reeses, as some of the N&W documentation calls it, sits at the east
 >end of this bump.  In the Scioto Valley RR days, where they stated in
 >"downtown" Columbus at the Reed Avenue yard- next to the very big
 >PRR/Panhandle Yard- Reeses was 12 miles from Reed Ave ( about N-695
 >from Norfolk.  Reeses then would have been a water stop before going
 >up to Joyce w/b.  In the 1920 N&W Water Diagrams, Reeses was listed as
 >a water stop, but not "important" or "emergency" which probably means
 >it was a stop for switchers or shifters.  Remember in the old days-
 >pre 1930- Watkins Yard didn't exist and there were MANY industrial
 >spurs w/b from Valley Crossing- the Hocking Valley/C&O crossing- and
 >much interchange work with the Hocking Valley since the direct route
 >C&O line from Limeville, KY was not yey built (1927 finish).  So a
 >local water tank was important.  Anythow the 1920 drawings say that
 >Reeses had one 50,000 gal wood and one 200,000 gal steel tank, a
 >Sheffield No. 7, 10" water column and a water softener.  The 50k tank
 >was dismantled in 1937, the water softener was abandoned in 1940 and
 >torn down in 1942.  Water came from Big Walnut Creek.  Joyce , listed
 >as important, got its water from Alum Creek compass east from Joyce
 >Ave. Yard, had two 50k wood tanks, two 200k steel tanks and could
 >supply 1.2 million gals per day of softened water. It had two 12"
 >Sheffield water columns.The next stop at Dorney, basically the top of
 >Kingston, was also an important stop.  It got its water from the
 >Scioto River and Scippo Creek which met there. It had three 200k steel
 >tanks and four 10" Sheffield water columns.  Dorney could supply 1.32
 >million gallons per day.  Both Joyce and Dorney had water pumps which
 >could deliver 750 gpm;  Reeses had a 75 gpm pump. With four water
 >columns, Dorney must have been designed with N&W as well as C&O
 >traffic in mind as well as probably watering the e/b and w/b passenger
 >trains which probably went through Joyce without stopping.
 >
 >
Thank you Gary.

I hope everyone enjoyed these replies as much as I.

Ron