I can't say that I didn't see this coming! A sad time for Roanoke!
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Reading the press release I would think it may be even a sadder time for NS.
RJT posted:Reading the press release I would think it may be even a sadder time for NS.
NS, the corporation, doesn't give a fat rat's petoot about Roanoke...and, at the employees expense!
As my fellow workers tell me each time I see them out somewhere..."Be glad that you left when you did!" I am!!!
Big Jim posted:RJT posted:Reading the press release I would think it may be even a sadder time for NS.
NS, the corporation, doesn't give a fat rat's petoot about Roanoke...and, at the employees expense!
As my fellow workers tell me each time I see them out somewhere..."Be glad that you left when you did!" I am!!!
That became very obvious when they moved to Atlanta and it is my understanding that Roanoke is no longer on the main line.
RJT posted:and it is my understanding that Roanoke is no longer on the main line.
I can assure you that Roanoke has not changed its location and the mainline still runs through the middle of the city!
Hottest freights run right thru Roanoke .
The company is streamlining like all the class ones are .
Its unfortunate to say the least .
My late uncle was horrified when they shut the hump down in Roanoke. He was about 90 at the time having worked 40+ years on the Virginian,N&W and NS and said he never thought he would have ever seen the day they shut the hump down .
Uncle Harry has been gone four years now he would have never guessed the way Roanoke has fell now.
Wow...talk about the end of an era. 
That's where the 611 was built!
More details here, statistics on coal shipments and number of locos are a bit scary.
The August,1954 copy of TRAINS magazine had an article about what railroads were still running steam power and how many were active. The Norfolk and Western had 444 steam locomotives and was 100 % steam powered for passenger, freight, and switching operations.
While other railroads described where they were using steam power the N&W caption was "nuff said". I recall going through Roanoke at the time and seeing a J class 4-8-4 backing in to the station and later pulling a westbound passenger train to Christiansburg.
I still have that magazine.
I read about this, they were saying their coal loads are way, way down, which doesn't surprise me. Coal usage is continuing to decline rapidly, by end of this year some predictions in the industry are that only about 15% of electric power in the US is going to be generated by Coal, and they expect that it is going to go much lower (other than west virginia, where like 99% of its power is from Coal, not surprisingly). Classic example of what happens when an industry or service doesn't adjust to the times, the handwriting has been on the wall for coal for a really long time, it simply is a product that has been supplanted by newer technology/products.
Big Jim thank you for the correction. As someone who visit our daughter and the Railyard half dozen times a year I don’t stay up to speed like I should.
Rich Melvin posted:Wow...talk about the end of an era.
That's where the 611 was built!
And 1218!
Bad for Roanoke. Maybe good for Juniata.
Dominic Mazoch posted:Rich Melvin posted:Wow...talk about the end of an era.
That's where the 611 was built! (J)
And 1218! (A)
and the 2156 (Y6a). And, while none were preserved, the S1a (0-8-0).
