VGN Bridges Without Walkways ... UGH !

[NW Mailing List]

>>> I confess... I just posted this to the VGN List, so this is a re-post. If anyone tries to whip me for re-posting, I shall turn him in for Elder-Abuse ! <<<

What was the Virginian's policy on inspecting trains stretched out across bridges which had no walkways ? Most of the VGN bridges had no walkways at all, to my recollection. (Why would anyone design something like that, anyway ?)

My first encpunter with walking a train stretched out over a VGN bridge was one night around 1965 or 1966. I was the rear Brakeman on No. 92, which left Roanoke around 8 o'clock each night, ran the VGN between the Tinker Creek Connection and Albilene, then crossed back to the N&W side for the balance of the run to Crewe. I think the train finally terminated at Norfolk (maybe Portlock?)

So this particular night we went into emergency while the train was passing through Stony Mountain Tunnel, several miles west of Huddleston. The old Conductor never got off the caboose. He loaded me up with an air hose, a wrench, a hammer, a chisel and a roll of stout steel wire (which we used for wiring up cut levers.) Then he said something like, "Go find the problem and fix it. I'll be here when you get back." (Talk about a Conductor exercising effective supervision of his crew ... ??? )

I found the trouble just west of the tunnel, and it was a broken train line pipe. But before I got that far, I encountered a big 300 foot long bridge over Goose Creek... and it had narry a footwalk ! Had I not heard rushing water, I would have stepped right off the backwall and fallen about 40 feet. The dern path beside the track did not even have a baricade or a cable stretched across it, to prevent some lost soul (like me) from taking a step to his doom. It was pitch black and I had no idea what was ahead. I was obliged to throw all that $@%#^$ he had loaded up with, piece by piece, up on top of a hopper loaded with coal. Then throw it, piece by piece, onto the next car ahead. Then repeat that. The repeat it again and again, from car to car, until I got off the bridge, then throw it all down to the ground and start walking east again. I was just fortunate that all the cars on the bridge were loads of coal. All this on a chilly night with a stiff wind and in pitch darkness.

There is more to this story, but the remainder of the story is not the point here. Some day I will dig out my old time books and write up all the details, and post them.

If I were faced with that situation today, given the maturity of vision which comes with years, I would tell the Train Dispatcher to "Get Supervision out here -- Making this decision on a safety issue is beyond my pay grade."

But right now I want to ask the Virginian Historians, Savants, Cognoscendi, Bond Holders and Soothsayers how the Virginian employees were expected to deal with the issue of bridges-without-walkways. Speak up, please !!! And in case I break a leg the next time I am given a task like that, Attorney Bongiovanni will represent me in Court !

N&W Dudes, you ain't sinless in this regard, either ! I can recall a couple biggies on the Punkin' Vine which were likewise devoid of this basic safety feature...

-- abram burnett
Derailed Old Brakeman
( Now employed by Turbo-Turnips.com )