Back in the late 90s I remember getting caught by what had to be an almost 100plus car NS train. This doesn’t sound special except that this train had a caboose at the end. My question is, since this was a pretty clearly a local, I’m wondering, who does NS do switching for in Richmond(especially in the late 90s), and where is their yard in Richmond?
BTW here’s the crossing I was at. It’s a bit different.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=37.522206,-77.611807&spn=0.001558,0.001725&t=h&z=19
Yes, that is different; I had never seen a crossing like that one–two streets and a railroad crossing at the same place!
I know exactly where that is. The rail line is an old Southern Railway line, runs into and from the Manchester section of Richmond where there’s a small yard. Manchester’s on the south side of the James River. Norfolk-Southern steam excursions out of Richmond used to run that way, today it sees freights, not on a daily basis but several times a week.
If memory serves, the probable reason you saw a caboose on that long freight was Virginia law required one to be on freights until the law was rescinded some time in the early '90s, I don’t remember the exact date. Usually the caboose was empty, no crew, it was only there because it had to be, although there MAY have been some switching involved with that freight you saw.
The only cabooses I see around here now are on CSX local switch jobs, pick-ups and deliveries. They’re all in VERY rough shape!
One last thing, when that rail line was built Robious and Hugenot Roads were probably just dirt roads, if they were there at all. That whole area’s grown like a fungus!
Here’s another - although I’m not sure there’s as much road traffic there any more, now that the Ford plant is gone.
CSX, nee C&O, nee PM, Wixom, MI. CSX Saginaw Sub.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=37.522206,-77.611807&spn=0.001558,0.001725&t=h&z=19
Seems to me that the crossing in question is a perfect candidate for a traffic study for the local DOT.
That’s the old Southern Richmond District main line to Danville. The original Richmond and Danville (“the night they drove Dixie down”)! I worked over there form 1977 'til 1980 as a brakeman, conductor and after promotion, engineer. The yard in Richmond is called Belle Isle yard. It’s still there, under the Lee bridge, or what ever it’s called these days. When I worked there, Richmond traffic was mostly small industry in the Manchester area and customers along Stockton street, the huge Southern States feed mill down near Rocketts landing, Reynolds metals plants, both on southside and in Shockoe bottom, cigarette factories on Cary street (Lucky Strike) and on Canal street. Lots of street trackage work for the evening yard job. I don’t think any of these industries still exist. The cigarette factories are upscale apartments, Reynolds is gone, along with hundreds of good jobs, Shockoe bottom is all night clubs and restaurants, the feed mill looks like a relic from second world war Europe and I don’t think I’d want to hang around Stockton street these days! We also interchanged with the SCL in an interesting manner. Cars were received at “Rocketts” on the old Seaboard main (still an interchange with CSX) and delivered to the old ACL yard at Manchester via a steep interchange track from Belle Isle, which had a tale track extending to the bridge abutment of the original coast Line bridge into Richmond. SCL’s Manchester yard (called “Shops”) was on the east side of route 1, just after you got off Lee bridge. It’s gone too. We also interchanged with the C&O at “Park siding” near Fulton yard. The C&O reached this via another awkward arrangement, crossing a long wooden trestle from Fulton and using a few carlengths of the east end of the tunnel under Church Hill, most of which collapsed in 1925(?), entombing a work train with a 4-4-0 and several flat cars, and probably some day laborers, as well. They’re still in there! The
Thanks for tha travelogue and history lesson John!
There was some talk several years ago of trying to recover that 4-4-0 buried in the Church Hill Tunnel collapse, as it’s the only surviving locomotive of that type from the old C&O. Nothing lately about it, but after nearly 100 years underground I can imagine what kind of shape it’s in.
There’s a Richmond city park on top of the tunnel, and some of the grounds still dip and sag as the tunnel deteriorates.
I fear I got a little long winded there! I think about how much things have changed over the past, not so few years. Amazing! Anyway, you never forget your railroad roots.
I kind of wonder what’s left of that engine. Perhaps encased in clay, it hasn’t had much oxygen exposure. But, if we dig it up, do we really want to run the risk of finding zombies?
Probably not zombies, but like the Civil War relic hunters around here they just might find something they really don’t want to. Supposedly all the victims of the collapse were recovered, but no-one’s really sure.