East End Tower, Roanoke, in 1895

[NW Mailing List]

Abe

I think you are on the money.  Below are stations East of the passenger 
station at Roanoke from various time periods.  Tinker creek Jct. showed 
up in 1963.  East Roanoke was listed as late as 1929. I have not seen 
any miles to Roanoke from either station. We would need miles to see if 
Tinker Creek Jct. was actually East of East Roanoke. The station numbers 
are from different time periods and do not indicate actual location.  
Just a guess on location.


	
	737 	
	Tinker Creek Jct. 	VA 	
740 	
	
	
	East Roanoke 	VA 	RO
754 	740 	
	252.3 	Roanoke	VA 	JN, MH


Not sure why there was a Tinker Creek Jct. at any time period.  I do 
remember in the late 50's there were two bridges over Rt. 460.  Heading 
east out of Roanoke the first bridge was for the Shenandoah line to 
Roanoke.  The next bridge perhaps 75 feet east on 460 carried a track to 
the East End of the Shops that ran behind American Bridge Works and the 
old scrap wharf.  Not sure if this track ever connected with the lines 
to the Norfolk Division at the East end of Roanoke Shops.  But if Tinker 
Creek Jct. is any indication, there was a connection.  No idea what it 
would have been used for other than American Bridge traffic.

Don't know anything about East Roanoke other that they had an operator 
and the call was RO.  If the building was actually a tower I would 
assume the operator could throw the switches from the building. I would 
guess the tower or building would be on the north side of the tracks at 
East Roanoke.

Like you too many guesses on this..  I think we have discussed JN at 
some time.

Jim Blackstock


On 3/5/2019 8:41 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>
> Railroad Telegrapher (the magazine of the Order of Railroad 
> Telegraphers) carries this information in the November 2, 1895 issue 
> (page 121.)
>
>
> > Chas. Graves, originally of MH... is now doing the owl act at East 
> End Tower, at Roanoke, Virginia.<
>
>
> NOTES:  MH was the Train Order telegraph office on the first floor of 
> the Roanoke depot. 'Doing the owl act' signifies working the night shift.
>
>
> Mr. Bundy & Mr. Blackstock - Do you take this to reference to 'East 
> End Tower at Roanoke"  to mean  'RO' office, which sat on the west 
> side of Tinker Creek, at the east end of double track?
>
>
> If it does refer to RO at Tinker Creek, we now have a contemporary 
> name for the facility, as it is specifically cited as East Roanoke 
> Tower by the N&W's correspondent to Railroad Telegrapher magazine.
>
>
> I suspect this is the same facility listed as E.End D.T. Roanoke Tower 
> in Statement of Block Signals in Use Upon the Road, September 1896.  
> My surmise is that this station was a Block and Train Order office 
> only, without any interlocking.  I also figure that this station only 
> blocked eastward trains (with Bonsack, the next station shown as 
> having block signals in the 1896 list,) and westward trains operated 
> under Rule 93 Yard Limits to Roanoke proper.  I would also guess that 
> the switch was hand operated and handled by the operator.
>
>
> The scraps of information are so few, and we must make such giant 
> assumptions in trying to piece together the larger picture.
>
>
> This still leaves me looking for an article on the installation of the 
> interlocking plant at Randolph Street... for which I have long searched.
>
>                     --  abram burnett
>
> Amalgamated Order of Turnip Workers, AFL-CIO
>
>
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