At Volume 46, Number 1 Jan.-Feb.-March 2014
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Our board usually meets at the VMT The Official Newsletter of PCOMING EETINGS VENTS Conference Room on the first Tuesday of U M /E the Roanoke Chapter, National every month at 7 PM (see schedule right). Regular Meeting Locations are at Railway Historical Society, Inc. Visitors are welcome. the O. Winston Link Museum. President – Jeff Sanders Vice-President – Gary Gray March 20 - General Meeting Volume 46, Number 1 Treasurer - Jim Cosby April 1 - Board Meeting Jan.-Feb.-March 2014 Secretary - Lewis Foster April 17 - General Meeting National Representative – Carl Jensen Director at Large - Landon Gregory May 6 - Board Meeting Director at Large - Ken Miller May 15 - General Meeting Director at Large - Eddie Mooneyham Director at Large - Skip Salmon June 3 - Board Meeting Programs June 19 - General Meeting Roanoke Chapter is always interested in pro- July 1 - Board Meeting grams for our monthly meetings. If you have July 17 - General Meeting a program in mind, please contact Program August 5 - Board Meeting Chairman Dorr Tucker. August 21 - General Meeting Visit us on the web: www.RoanokeNRHS.org Turntable Times is published quarterlymonthly asas thethe newsletternewsletter ofof the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Opinions and points of view expressed herein are those of the staff membersmembers ofand the non-staff Turntable contributors Times and ofnot the necessarily Turntable reflect Times thoseand do of not the necessarilymembers, officersreflect thoseor directors of the ofmembers, the Chapter. officers Items or directorsof interest of shouldthe Chapter. be sent Items to Editor of interest Kenny should Kirkman, be sent590 Murphyto Editors, Road, P.O. Collinsville, Box 13222, Roanoke,VA 24078-2128. VA 24032 Editor, Turntable Times Roanoke Chapter NRHS Return Service Requested P.O. Box 13222 Roanoke, VA 24032-3222 Dated Material Please do not delay od Serling its brethren rolled out of Princeton over the Rstarted out years? How many hours of work did it take many famous to build such a car? How many people did it The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society Twilight Zone provide employment for? How many miles will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, April An occasional fea- 17. The meeting will be held in the auditorium at the O. Winston episodes with did she roll up in her life, and how many Link Museum at 7:30 pm. Please be sure to enter at the west end ture offering a small "Consider this, trips between West Virginia and Tidewater of the building on the track level. window into the past if you will..." did she make? All questions that are for the The May meeting will be held Thursday, May 15th. from an archive file or so we ask you ages. Throughout the year, please note our inclement weather policy image. to consider Today, 5675 is gone, the Princeton Shops below,Meeting and always Notice check the website for the most up to date infor- this 70 ton are virtually gone as are the employees who Volume 46, Number 1 mation. HISTORIAN Virginian hop- worked there. Alas, even part of the coal Jan.-Feb.-Mar. 2014 Kenneth L. Miller per, posed market she was built to serve is gone with outside the home heating virtually all done with oil, Cards and Flowers car shop natural gas or electricity. EDITOR: If you know of a Chapter Member who is sick, lost a loved one at Princeton on completion on Monday, However on this fine December day, she Jim Overholser or has a new birth in the family, please contact Bonnie Molinary. December 17, 1956. The 5675 has a beauty was new with shiny paint and had not seen and form all its own. Notice the nicely the first spec of coal dust. Interestingly [email protected] Bonnie is responsible for Chapter cards and flowers and can be reached at 362-0273. spaced lettering across the top, the nice enough, this Virginian paint would last until CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: From The Head End paint, only marred by a chalked notation May 18, 1982, when she was finally renum- Dorr Tucker Deadline for Turntable Times above the tack board. How many of this and bered to N&W 105675 at Lambert's Point. [email protected] The deadline for the next issue of Turntable Times is Friday, June 6, 2014. Please send articles, information and exchange newsletters MIXED FREIGHT to: Editor Turntable Times, P.O. Box 13222, Roanoke, VA, 24032. Robin R. Shavers All parties sending newsletters to the Roanoke Chapter via email [email protected] should send them to Jim Overholser: [email protected], Dorr Tucker at [email protected] and Ken Miller at klmiller@rev. PUBLISHER/HISTORIAN net Kenneth L. Miller [email protected] Meeting Cancellation Policy Any Chapter meeting will be considered cancelled if any of the following conditions are due to weather: Roanoke City Schools are All materials should be closed on the day of or for the day after the meeting, or Virginia sent directly to the Editors Western night classes are cancelled for the night of a meeting. at their email address list- ed with their names. Cover Photo Turntable Times is published Southern 630 is backing out of the passenger station to run east quarterly as the newsletter of to Lynchburg and return at 9:58 AM on Sunday, March 17, 2013. the Roanoke Chapter, National The weather is cold and made for beautiful steam, but the clouds Railway Historical Society, Inc. Opinions and points of view did take away some opportunities. The 630 ran nicely at track expressed herein are those of the speed virtually eliminating most of the chasers that morning. staff members or contributors of Even though this was just barely a year ago, this scene is already the Turntable Times and do not changing, track work is proceeding rapidly and a new signal is in necessarily reflect those of the members, officers or directors of place about where the diesel unit is. Kenneth L. Miller photo. the Chapter. Virginian Railway Photo/K. L. Miller Collection For current information on the FIRE UP 611! campaign, see www.FireUp611.org 1 22 ed. Once again, we celebrated the year with formed in 2012 to raise the funds to move Wanted: RailCampers The railroad museum will also teach camp- our Christmas Dinner, as we do tonight. We the station off of Norfolk Southern prop- ers about the unique history and culture Final Schedule Announced for NRHS end the year with 198 members, the high- erty and to restore it to its former glory in of Pennsylvania railroads. Lodging and “RailCamp” Program in Summer 2014 est number in quite a few years. I hope that a new location. Norfolk Southern has been meals will be provided at the University of National Railway Historical Society teams means we are doing something right! kind enough to delay plans to tear down the Delaware in Newark, DE. with rail industry partners to give high I thank you all for coming tonight to share depot so the Committee could raise the nec- RailCamp Northwest will include a day school students hands-on railroading and this meal and fellowship together! I wish essary funds. with Amtrak at the newly renovated King preservation experience. Scholarships are you all a very Merry Christmas and look for- The Committee’s ultimate goal is to Street Station in Seattle and nearby main- available. ward to having another good year together restore the Boones Mill Depot so that the tenance facility. Students will visit the January 15, 2014 – Where else but at in 2014! Boones Mill community can use it as a operations center of Tacoma Municipal RailCamp can high school students learn public place. “This Station is where we wel- Belt Line (Tacoma Rail) and participate in how to inspect a working steam locomotive Boones Mill Depot comed our loved ones home,” Smith said. a working intermodal operation. They will in a real roundhouse, visit Amtrak’s national he Boones Mill Depot Restoration “We’d like the Station to once again be a also visit the Northwest Railway Museum operations center and take a course in rail- Committee has until May 1, 2014 to raise welcoming place for our community.” at Snoqualmie, WA, and the Mount Rainier T road operations and dispatching? $100,000 to move the historic building off Future plans for the Boones Mill Depot Scenic Railroad at Mineral, WA, helping Limited space remains for this year’s railroad property. include a town museum, a place to high- with preservation activities, plant mainte- RailCamp programs (www.nrhs.com/pro- An anonymous $50,000 matching grant light the area’s music, and a visitors’ center. nance and train operations. New to the pro- gram/railcamp), which give hands-on rail- will match donations dollar-for-dollar so the “While the town will own the Depot, local gram is a day at Seattle’s roading and preservation experience to high Town of Boones Mill can reach its goal. tax dollars will not be used to help move Sound Transit facility to explore the school kids on the east and west coasts. The The Committee hopes to restore the and restore the historic building,” Smith operations of commuter trains and light National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is Boones Mill Depot and use it to highlight said. “The Committee is applying for grants rail transit. Students will be housed at the teaming with rail industry partners to offer the town’s history, music and arts. and asking rail fans and citizens of Virginia’s University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. students an exciting week of train opera- “We announce today (March 11, 2014) an Blue Ridge Mountains to help us.” Registration forms and news can be found tions, facility tours, workshops, rides and anonymous $50,000 matching grant to move Smith said that all donations are tax at www.nrhs.com/program/railcamp and the more.