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Jim,<br>
<br>
The Bluefield pool job was referred to as just "Elkhorn" or "Elkhorn
man/job/run." Motive power was one 2100 with empties or running
light, with a cab and road crew of five. If there were two engines,
one was a Pocahontas Pool pusher with a two-man crew, and both were
dispatched facing in the same direction and running light to go pick
up east loads.<br>
<br>
In similar fashion, the Tug River Pool job out of Williamson was
referred to as "River," as well as the pusher pool. They were
dispatched with empties or east loads, and sported auxiliary
tenders.<br>
<br>
A clarification, terminals on the District where crews were based
and runs originated in the 1950s included Weller Yard, Auville Yard,
Eckman Yard and Wilcoe Yard. The terminal at Eckman closed in 1951
and Wilcoe closed for the latter half of the 1950s.<br>
<br>
These pool jobs could set off and pick up by trailing-point moves at
designated storage points listed earlier, but tipples were left to
the six-man mine runs. If needed, a pool run could, for example,
deliver a tipple, and then put in for extra pay.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/24/2025 6:09 AM, NW Mailing List
wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Grant,
<div>Should I forget to say it explicitly in any of my messages,
know that I am always grateful to you for sharing your
knowledge. OK, it is the start of a normal working day in the
mid 1950s in Bluefield. A "pool" run (was that how they were
referred to?) is assembled with a long string of empties
bookended by power. Was the power Ys? Were there 2? Was one
running in reverse? Since I assume most pool yards had two
switches off the main, what was the reason for using
locomotives with opposite facings?</div>
<div>Jim Cochran</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at
6:32 AM NW Mailing List <<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
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<div> Jim,<br>
<br>
That's right, there was a pool of road crews based in each
main terminal, Elkhorn Pool in Bluefield and Tug River Pool
in Williamson, that hauled empties (when available) to
storage points and returned with loads from storage points.
Mine runs only had to move empties and loads between tipples
and the nearest storage point. Those points on the main line
from Bluefield west to Iaeger included: Mullins Middle, Flat
Top Yard, Bluestone (River Track), Angle Branch, Morgan
Storage, North Fork Hollow/Elk Ridge Storage, Byrd Yard,
Eckman Yard, Vivian (Kimball Yard), Cirrus Storage, Huger
Middle, Superior #3 Outlet, Tug Storage, Farm Storage,
Caples Outlet, Davy Storage, Twin Branch Storage, Claren
Storage and Hull Middle (the limit of Elkhorn crews).
Branchline yards served by pool runs included Clift, Wilcoe
and Auville. <br>
<br>
As I mentioned earlier, operation limits, variations and
exceptions were typical; however, to your last point, I
agree it is a good idea to limit my posts to the specific
questions and limit details, so feel free to follow up.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter<br>
<br>
<div>On 11/22/2025 2:44 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Grant et al.
<div>Thank you so much for your responses, I will keep
asking as long as you keep answering :-)</div>
<div>From the Pokey's point of view, empties magically
appeared in huge strings at Bluefield and Williamson,
and needed to be distributed to every mining
operation. What I think I just put together from
Grant's response (please correct me on
anything/everything) is there was a distribution
hierarchy of runs to keep everyone supplied. Those
big "mainline" runs that I started with in my first
post, would start their runs "all empty" and set off
cuts at what I will call distribution points (yards)
while picking up loads from these large holding
facilities. The ones that come to my mind are Flat
Top, Cliff, Byrd, Eckman, Vivian/Kimball, and I get
foggier as I go West of my primary area of interest.
Mike you probably know the ones around Iaeger, so
please chime in. Is there a comprehensive list? The
mainline run would, at some point have set off all its
empties and picked up a full train of loads and head
back to its terminal of origin be it Bluefield or
Williamson. How am I doing so far? I am going to
keep my posts somewhat short so as to try to
concentrate on a limited aspect at a time to help keep
things straight, at least for me.</div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div>Jim Cochran</div>
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