July-Aug-Sept 2012 - Roanoke Chapter National Railway Historical ...

sessions to work on the Virginian portion ofthe archives, he writes a periodic newsletteron“Taking 20 with the Brethern,” and he is adriving force behind restoring the Virginianstation in Roanoke. The Golden Arrow ispresented for writers of the best article inThe Arrow magazine during the prior year.Louis Newton has been writing a series ofarticles continuing his “Rails Remembered”series of books on his experiences with therailroads. Congratulations to both. (RonDavis)Blue Ridge Live Steamers - In one of themany storms during recent months, ourfriends, the Blue Ridge Live Steamers inBurnt Chimney, suffered a tremendousamount of damage with a large amount oftrack damaged or destroyed by flooding,trees down and wash outs. Fortunately, mastertrack builder James Hughes is up to thentask and steadily working (with help) onrebuilding the track. Almost as a slap in theface to the natural disaster, the club sufferedanother set back in mid July, when it wasdiscovered that brand new cast aluminumswitch frogs and switch points had been stolenfrom the site. Now, it seems very unlikelythat this is simply a theft for scrap value,as it is not that much. Hopefully, the clubhas come together, and are moving forwarddespite the adversity. (Ken Miller)21st Century Steam – The Chapter participatedwith the Norfolk Southern/TennesseeValley Railroad Museum 21st Century Steamprogram trips in late June and early July.Chapter car hosts staffed the public June24 Winston-Salem to Roanoke trip with theTVRM 630 and the July 7 Roanoke to Bristoltrip with the Savannah and Atlanta NS heritagelocomotive. Members also worked theNS employee trips to Walton and return onJune 30 and July 1. The ex-Southern Railway630 suffered a hot driver bearing over thatweekend of extremely hot weather and dieselspowered the last trips. The engine wasrepaired in time to deadhead to Knoxville,TN, for the employee trips there althougha planned public trip from Knoxville toChattanooga had to be cancelled. Thanks toall the Chapter members, Norfolk Southern,and TVRM people who went above andbeyond the call of duty during the extremeheat and severe damage from the derechowind storm on June 29. Former NickelPlate Road 765, which belongs to the FortWayne Railroad Historical Society, was usedfor 21st Century Steam employee tripsout of Williamson, WV, and on the formerConrail. A deadhead move from Harrisburgto Pittsburgh up and over Horseshoe Curvenear Altoona, PA, was the railfan highlight.Norfolk Southern Heritage Units - OnJuly 3rd and 4th, the diesel railfan eventof the year occurred at the North CarolinaTransportation Museum in Spencer, NC. All20 of the new Norfolk Southern heritageunits (10 GE and 10 EMD) posed and paradedfor the faithful. While the weather wasvery hot, the fans were not disappointed.Thanks again to Norfolk Southern for paintingthe units in honor of NS’ 30th anniversaryand having the event. As NS CEO WickMoorman said (paraphrased) on July 3rd,“I’ve brought back mainline steam, and I’vecreated all these great heritage units. Nowmy mission is complete.” The 20 heritageunits are in revenue service, with manypassing through Roanoke.June 29th Wind Storm – The June 29thderecho wind storm caused massive damagein our area. The wind knocked down treesand tore off limbs, disrupting power over awide area. In many places half the peoplewere without power. The storm affectedthe railroads primarily in two ways – treesdown across the track, and the longer termproblem, power out for many days and evenover a week. The westbound Cardinal made17