<div dir="ltr">Grant,<div>More thanks than I can express for this information. Your response contains lots of goodies, so I am going over it several times to make sure I glean all I can, and am going to respond one piece at a time to make sure I cover as much as possible. Since Mike Rector, and perhaps others that are following along, have not properly committed themselves by fully memorizing the layout of North Fork branch in all its archeological incarnations :^), I will attach portions of track charts and possibly other diagrams stolen, uh, I mean borrowed from <b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><cite>North Fork – Norfolk & Western Branch Line</cite></b> by <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-style:italic">Alex Schust, Mason Cooper.</span> I would highly recommend picking up a copy from the commissary, a steal at $28.</div><div>So now for my first (of many) questions, refer to attached track chart snippet. Your message stated "Algoma was at the end of the spur with no tail track to pull past". The chart shows four tracks at the tipple, three of which went under the structure I believe for loading while the fourth was a bypass. The empties would have been stages "above" the tipple for gravity loading. The chart shows the "bypass" track extending a ways past the point where the loading tracks converge on the uphill side, with a short stub off a facing point turnout. So did the mine run push all the empties up past this extension for storage? What was the purpose of the stub spur? What additional features would have been needed for a "tail track" that could have allowed the run to pull the empties up instead of pushing them?</div><div>As always, more to come,</div><div>Jim Cochran</div><div> </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Nov 30, 2025 at 6:48 PM NW Mailing List <<a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
Jim,<br>
<br>
As if operations are not confusing enough, they varied and evolved
over the decade from the opening of the new Elkhorn Tunnel to the
end of steam. So by "headed West," that would be to the Eckman Yard
table, with or without loads, turn, then pick up loads and head
east, if in the same time period as when the mine run is still
dispatched from Eckman Yard.<br>
<br>
Regarding the North Fork Mine Run, I found this:<br>
<br>
Regarding your mines of interest, my info only goes back to
post-WWII. By then, the working tipples I heard about were at
Algoma, Gilliam, Rolfe, Ashland and Crumpler. <br>
<br>
The North Fork Hollow mine run was a daylight job out of Eckman
Yard. Dispatched facing upgrade, the regular power was the 2023 with
Cicero Sells as engineer, the senior man at Eckman. <br>
<br>
An Elkhorn job out of Bluefield would set off empties the night
before on the storage tracks Elk Ridge (60 cars) and North Fork (55
cars) adjacent to the branch line near North Fork Junction. The mine
run could bring more empties from Eckman Yard or Byrd Yard in
Northfork, as needed. <br>
<br>
The job was broken up into three round trips from the junction up
the branch: first to Algoma up the Buzzards Creek Branch, then to
Gilliam and Rolfe, then to Ashland and Crumpler.<br>
<br>
Algoma was at the end of the spur with no tail track to pull past,
so empties were pulled off the junction-end of the storage tracks
while backing out onto the main line, then shoved forward up the
branch main track, then up the spur. Loads came back to Byrd Yard. <br>
<br>
Gilliam and Rolfe were delivered by trailing point moves from the
main track, so empties were pulled up the branch on this trip. The
engine backed down with loads trailing to Elk Ridge and swapped the
loads for the remaining empties.<br>
<br>
Like Algoma, Ashland and Crumpler were stub-end, but the empties
were pulled up the branch to Jones Siding, run around there, then
shoved ahead. Ashland was delivered first, leaving the loads for
pick up on the way back down from Crumpler.<br>
<br>
Crumpler, aka Zenith, was steep with five, ten-car delivery tracks
that made it particularly tedious and dangerous. With no radios to
stop him, the rear brakeman rode the drawhead and jerked the angle
cock open to stop. The middle brakeman made the cut while the rear
brakeman set brakes, watching for the next cut to get on and stop
them. Tipplemen, called "droppers", would help set brakes. Every
load had brakes on and if they were set out on the main track, every
brake had to be put back on.<br>
<br>
Loads were usually blocked at the tipples and both east and west
loads were set out on Elk Ridge and North Fork storage tracks, the
main track, or in the yard upon returning to Eckman.<br>
<br>
The North Fork mine run became First Vivian out of Bluefield when
Eckman closed in 1951. "V1" would leave Bluefield with a 2000 in
reverse, a cab on the pilot, and usually ran light. Empties were
waiting on the Elk Ridge and North Fork storage tracks and Byrd Yard
as before, but west loads were set off in Eckman Yard and it
returned with east loads. If it was running close on time (16 hours)
or Bluefield was (usually) unable to take short trains, the east
loads were set off at Flat Top Yard and it ran light on to
Bluefield.<br>
<br>
Sometimes the daylight job put empties in at Algoma, but the loads
would store there until the night job could pull them. Occasionally,
North Fork/V1 would deliver Dan's Branch, but time-slipped.<br>
<br>
Non-coal work included an occasional boxcar to the company store at
Algoma. 84 would set off refrigerator cars of meat on the North Fork
Middle Track about 1am every Monday morning for the North Fork
Passenger Run to spot at the Wilson, Armour and Swift packing
plants. After the passenger run was cut off, V1 would get called
early at 4am (usually 8am) to spot the cars.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter<br>
<br>
<div>On 11/29/2025 6:25 PM, NW Mailing List
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">The Elkhorn pool run has filled both the Elk Ridge
Storage track and the North Fork Storage track, grabbed its cab
and headed West to turn and pick up loads. Now, a mine run gets
dispatched from Eckman bound for the North fork branch. What
class locomotive? Did it have a cab? Was it facing forward
(East)? When it arrived at North fork and signed onto the
branch, Would it pull all the empties from both storage tracks
at Elk Ridge or a lesser number prior to heading further up the
holler to Algoma?<br>
<div>Jim Cochran</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
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