Month: April 2015

Buffer stop

Bob LawrenceLeave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Back a long time ago, a Clinchfield Railroad spur peeled off the main line at Kingsport Yard and came down to this stop, which looks to be a Linden-made piece, next to Oakwood Market on West Sullivan Street.  I assume it provided ship-ins to the grocery store and ship-ins and -outs for Roberts-Johnson Lumber Company.  The lumber company burned down sometime in the ’70s, I think.  Willing to stand corrected on that.  I can’t find a reference for it.
It’s amazing, sometimes, to see just what survives over the years…

Mudlick Junction

Bob Lawrence2 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ladies and germs, welcome to Mudlick Junction, about halfway between Stonega and Andover, snuggled between Stonega Road and Roda Road.  The two lines on the left are, obviously, dead and I think originally went to the mines at Roda.  The line on the far right is live and runs up to strip mines north of Stonega.

According to Hanson’s placename book, “Roda” is short for “rhododendron” and you have the Post Office to thank for omitting the “h” that should have been in “Roda”.  Andover is named in honor of Andover College in New England, which was of some significance to the president of the Virginia Coal and Iron Company.  “Stonega”?  Hanson says it’s just “Stone  Gap” without the “p”.  Ahh, ha.

“Mudlick” isn’t a placename.  It might have been a small settlement once.  A “lick” refers to an outcropping of salt that attracted wild animals and, eventually, hunters.  Meat and salt, all in one.

Fremont

Bob Lawrence6 Comments

This is the original location of the Fremont train station in Dickenson County VA:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As the railroad went up to Moss mine, Fremont became a busy place…built in 1915.  Sometime later, a giant grabbed the depot and put it on the hill.  Up there is Fremont Avenue (Highway 83 which wends its way between Clintwood and Clinchco.  On the other side of the tracks, across a rather heavy-duty bridge over the McClure River, is Highway 63 which takes you to, surprise!, McClure.
The renovated depot, by the way, looks great and continues to well serve the people who travel in this area.

Industrial Locomotive

Bob Lawrence3 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I took this in 2012 on Old Mill Road in Glade Spring VA.  This old gentleman, obviously owned by a Dale Earnhardt fan, this is, I think, a GM DH-1 industrial locomotive from the 50s.  The hopper behind it is an old Southern Railway 91848 model.  The track here is a spur to a line that used to extend from a wye in Glade Spring up to Saltville.
On the back of the locomotive is painted “The Intimidator”.

 

Dante Turntable

Bob LawrenceLeave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I finally got back to Dante Yard to take a few pictures of the long-disused turntable.  I had to clamber (and believe me, I clambered) up a hillside on the far side of the turntable to try to get the whole thing in frame.  I didn’t quite, but I got most of it.
Using a turntable like this saved a lot of time when you needed to get a locomotive (all 100 tons or so of it) turned around.
And the motor that did all the work wasn’t that big:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Look at how rusty the tracks are:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I wonder if it was good to have the title of “the guy who runs the turntable”?