NW-Mailing-List Digest, Vol 198, Issue 19

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Wed Apr 14 10:49:23 EDT 2021


Does anyone recognize the railyard in the attached photo. I believe it was near the Navy yard at the time of the launching of the battleship Virginia about 1906-1907.
R.P.C. Sanderson, whose father had once owned a business selling Welsh coal around the world, knew more about coal than the average mechanical engineer working for the N&W (not to mention his early training had been in maritime engineering with Laird Bros. of Birkenhead, England). The N&W "loaned" him to the Navy to show them how to get the most out of Pocahontas coal. As a result, the Navy signed an exclusive contract for Pocahontas coal and in gratitude for his help, Pocahontas coal gave R.P.C. a gold watch. (N&W also loaned him to the Cunard Line for the same purpose.) The photo would be from just about the time he left the Seaboard Air Line Railroad to become the Superintendent of Motive Power for the startup Virginian.

Peter R. R. Getz
Rockwall, TX
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