| The Publisher's Desk... - Kevin EuDaly |
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An eastbound coal train with
Distributed Power Units (DPUs) on the
rear rolls through the 17-degree reverse
curve through Natural Tunnel, Virginia, at
15 miles per hour on December 28, 2008.
Natural Tunnel is the subject of an article
by Gordon Hamilton on detouring N&W
trains in 1903; it begins on page 16. For
the record, the lead unit is a 4,000-horsepower
ES40DC built by General Electric,
an unimaginable brute from the perspective
of those visiting Natural Tunnel in
1903. (Ron Flanary photo) |
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The dramatic south
portal of Natural Tunnel
opens into a vertical amphitheater
of solid Virginia
rock. Beneath the photographer
is Little Tunnel,
which is punched through
the ridge the photographer
is standing on. This portal
is accessible via a State
Park. (Stewart Scales photo) |
| August A. Thieme, Jr. - Bill McClure |
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It is very appropriate that the last photo of Thieme would be
of him standing beside Strasburg Railroad 475, formerly N&W
475, a locomotive Thieme photographed a number of times when
it was in N&W service. It was taken at Strasburg, Pennsylvania, in
March 2010. (Claude Abernathy photo) |
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Nearly 50 years earlier, in September 1960, Thieme photographed
the 475 in Bristol in the backdated dress intended to
celebrate the centennial of N&W predecessor Virginia & Tennessee. (August Thieme Photo) |
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Crewe, Virginia, was the home of Thieme’s wife’s family.
He visited many times and spoke fondly of lying in the guest
bedroom at night listening to the chuffs and hoots from the nearby
yard. On February 19, 1956, he photographed Extra 1234 East
leaving Crewe with a tide coal train while an M2 switched nearby. (August Thieme Photo) |
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Thieme caught Y6 2124
resting between runs in beautiful light at
Shenandoah, Virginia, on October 14,
1956, late in the steam era on the Shenandoah
Division. (August Thieme Photo) |
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In a rare and interesting
scene, Eastern Gas & Fuel locomotive
1 is seen switching the EG&F ground
storage facility at Sewells Point, Virginia,
on July 20, 1959. EG&F was the majority
owner of the Virginian Railway at the time
and was the largest ocean shipper of coal
up the East Coast to New England. It was
a subsidiary of the Koppers Company,
which was owned by the Mellon family of
Pittsburgh. (August Thieme Photo) |
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In one of his more interesting
images, Thieme captured a pile driver at
work at Poe, Virginia, the east end of the
Petersburg Belt Line, on March 9, 1959.
In his early days of photography Thieme
tended to capture action in three-quarter
views, a style of the day. Later, his approach
began to evolve into a more “creative”
style and he began to record more of
the railroad scene, such as this example.
Even with that evolution, he often lamented
that he did not record more of the overall
scene, as his friend Wally Johnson did. (August Thieme Photo) |
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Thieme’s HO scale layout is goodsized,
but it was designed to showcase big
steam and to feature scenes that had special
meaning to him. Thus the curves are
broad and the track plan relatively simple.
The opening view as one enters the room
is of a large roundhouse scene designed to
remind one of Crewe, perhaps his favorite
N&W locale. (Bill McClure photo) |
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Nearby is a scene N&W fans will
instantly recognize as patterned after Bluefield. (Bill McClure photo) |
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No N&W layout can be
considered complete without a coal mine.
Thieme scratchbuilt this fine example,
which sits in the interior of the layout at the
end of branch, and includes a small coking
operation to the left. (Bill McClure photo) |
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The masterpiece
of Thieme’s
craftsmanship is this
complete lumber
mill complex, patterned
after the many
West Virginia lumber
facilities he saw and
photographed in the
1950s. A single view
cannot adequately
convey the detail and
quality of construction
of both exterior and
interior of this scene.
Typical lumber company
steam power, in
the form of Shays and
Heislers, brings log
cars from a scratchbuilt
skidder operation
at the end of a short
branch. (Bill McClure photo) |
| The N&W/VGN Modeler - James F. Brewer |
| The McDowell County: Modeling an S-2 Sleeper in HO Scale - Rick Stone |
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This undated photo shows the
appearance of the Pullman McDowell
County late in its career on the N&W. This
is the paint scheme modeled in this article. (Harry Stegmaier photo, Jim Brewer collection) |
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The Walthers undecorated Pullman
car unpacked from the box. (Rick Stone photo) |
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A sister car to the McDowell
County is the Buchanan County, shown
in this undated photograph. (Jim Brewer collection) |
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This view shows the Walthers car
with the side roof, sides and ends detached
from the endoskeleton. (Rick Stone photo) |
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Drawing |
This is a diagram of the S-2
sleeper. (N&WHS Archives collection) |
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The sides have been painted, decaled,
and gloss coated. (Rick Stone photo) |
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Major car pieces as they appear just
before final assembly showing the interior
paint treatment and window shades and
other details. (Rick Stone photo) |
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This detail shot of an S-2 truck shows
the different spring arrangement without a
shock absorber. (Jim Brewer photo) |
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This is the completed S-2 Pullman
sleeper model, McDowell County, which
was entered in the 2010 N&WHS convention
model contest (Roger Link / Tim Link photo) |
| N&W HO Scale Passenger Car Models - James Nichols |
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Table |
Table of HO scale passenger car models (Jim Nichols) |
| Fire in the Hole - Gordon Hamilton |
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These pages: Ninety-four years after the N&W detoured
through Natural Tunnel as a result of a tunnel
fire on its own line, a westbound CSX empty coal train
heads geographic north into the mouth of the tunnel
on March 25, 2007. Natural Tunnel is located about 13
miles north of Gate City, Virginia, and the ex-Southern
Railway line is currently operated by NS — CSX has
trackage rights. (Ron Flanary photo) |
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Map |
This map of the Clinch Valley Line
from a 1953 booklet titled N&W Coal and
Coke Operations includes the Clinchfield
Railway and several N&W coalfield lines
that were constructed after this article’s
time frame. (N&WHS Archives collection) |
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Drawing |
This was drawn from a July 1910
Clinch Valley line condensed profile (courtesy
of the N&WHS Archives collection).
Mile posts represent miles from Norfolk. (Gordon Hamilton drawing) |
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The west end of Craigen Tunnel
appeared on a picture postal card
postmarked September 1, 1909. Note the
“tourist” on top of the portal. (N&WHS Archives collection) |
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The N&W line left the
Clinch River at St. Paul to go westward
overland toward Norton, so Craigen Tunnel
and numerous curves were required to
keep the westbound grade in this area to
a manageable limit. (U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, St. Paul Quadrangle, 7.5 Minute Series, 1958, Gordon Hamilton collection) |
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Timetable |
There were
four daily passenger
trains on
the Clinch Valley
Division in 1903.
This timetable
from the November
1902 Official
Guide shows
Trains 15 and 13
westbound and
Trains 16 and
14 eastbound.
Trains 13 and
14 only ran as
far as Richlands,
so they wouldn’t
have been
involved in the
detour. Trains
15 and 16 also
ran on the Tom’s
Creek Branch. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Map |
The detour route for traffic originating
west of the disabled Craigen Tunnel was
N&W to Norton, L&N to Big Stone Gap,
V&SW to Bristol, and N&W east out of
Bristol, as drawn on this 1903 map from an
N&W annual report. (N&WHS Archives collection) |
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Class W2 888 built by Richmond
Locomotive Works with a tractive effort of
40,163 pounds represented N&W’s finest
freight locomotive in 1903. (N&WHS Archives collection) |
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Map |
This map of Natural Tunnel shows
the tunnel (light tan), the creek (blue), and
the railroad. It is based on a Virginia Speleological
Survey map appearing in Natural
Tunnel — Nature’s Marvel in Stone. (Gordon Hamilton drawing) |
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Map |
This map from the November 1902
Official Guide shows the connections in the
Big Stone Gap in a little more detail. The
N&W connected with the L&N at Norton
and the Interstate Railroad diverged to the
north at Appalachia (not named on this
map). The L&N connected with the V&SW
at Bristol Junction between Big Stone Gap
and Inman. The VS&W then carried the
detouring N&W trains to Bristol, where they
returned to N&W rails. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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The Southern Railway took over
the V&SW in 1906, but the V&SW retained
its name until 1916, after which it became
the Appalachia Division of the Southern.
New F3 4172, also known as “Big Sid,”
was part of a special ballasted A-B-B-A
set that spelled the end for Southern’s Ls
and Ls-1 2-8-8-2s on the Appalachia Division.
By 1952 the line was fully dieselized.
During the mergers of the latter half of the
Twentieth Century the Southern and N&W
merged in 1982 to form Norfolk Southern.
This view is looking north from inside
Little Tunnel across the Amphitheater to
the South Portal of Natural Tunnel. (Ron Flanary collection) |
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The impressively large North Portal
of Natural Tunnel as would be seen from
an approaching locomotive. N&W crews
must have been impressed by the size
of the portal compared with the unusually
tight tunnels on N&W’s Clinch Valley
line — but they hadn’t seen anything yet!
Stock Creek is in the channel on the right. (Natural Tunnel — Nature’s Marvel in Stone) |
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Two-thirds of the way through Natural
Tunnel this immense passageway with
its 70- to 80-foot-high ceiling and 200-foot
width would likely have swallowed up the
dim light from the oil headlights of N&W
engines, creating a spooky uncertainty
on any engine crew’s first trip through this
alien environment. This view is looking to
the north. (Tony Scales photo) |
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The grand finale to a trip through
Natural Tunnel on a locomotive is this
view! The gigantic south portal opens
out into a magnificent amphitheater with
sheer walls that rise 400 feet and measure
almost one-quarter mile around the
periphery at the top. This could not fail to
inspire awe in a locomotive crew upon first
sighting. The railroad right-of-way is on the
embankment to the left. (Natural Tunnel — Nature’s Marvel in Stone) |
| The 611 and 1218 Come Back to Life - Jeff Hawkins |
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Front end shot of 1218 with 611 in background in staged shot at VMT (Jeff Hawkins photo) |
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Workman cleaning dual beamed headlight on 611 in staged shot at VMT (Jeff Hawkins photo) |
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Staged shot of 1218 with fireman and engineer at VMT (Jeff Hawkins photo) |
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Staged shot of 1218 with man lighting cigar at VMT (Jeff Hawkins photo) |
