Category: Bill Thomas

There are a few (train) places I often think about as spring approaches each year as I’ve seen pictures in magazines and websites. First is the southeaster part of Kentucky and western Virginia, on L&N’s Cumberland Valley Sub. There’s a spot between Big Stone Gap and Appalachia, VA, where the former Southern crossed over the L&N. Before this small portion of the L&N was relocated to share rails with the Southern, it dashed into a tunnel known as Callahan’s Nose Tunnel (pictured at left) and continued a parallel route to the SR into Appalachia. The roadbed, tunnel and bridge across Hwy 23 and the Powell River are now an active Rails to Trails path.

Hagen’s Switchback is another location on my bucket list for a visit some spring. What a marvel, the only operating Class 1 mainline switchback in use and it was never meant to be a permanent solution. Relatively new, the long tunnel from the Kentucky side following the Martins’s Fork of the Cumberland River, pierces through over a mile before exiting on the south side of the mountain where the trains reverse westward up the wye to the old CV line (now gone), then pulls ahead eastward. South tail tracks are too short to hold a regular train so they have 3 holding tracks if needed.

My hope is to visit these locations when the redbuds are in bloom. I hear they cover the sides of the hills. I hope you can get out and visit either your favorite rail fanning spots or find a couple of new ones. Either way, be safe, stay off the tracks, and enjoy the re-awakening of nature as we move into a new spring season!

Enjoy! – Bill Thomas, Editor

Today we all begin “Standard Time.”   Actually, it started early this morning at 2AM when we were all supposed get up and move the clock back one-hour, gaining an extra hour of sleep.  To my knowledge, no one got up at 2AM.

Railroads have always functioned by the clock.  All operating personnel, enginemen, conductors, brakemen, dispatchers, maintenance of way folks, and others all need to function precisely, on the same time.  Over the years railroads spent a fortune assuring every pocket watch worn by a railroader was accurate, to the second.   Watch repairmen were under contract to provide this service.  Rail management despised Daylight Savings Time as it meant changing their passenger schedules, among other things.  (Only farmers were less happy with DST) 

Railroaders timepieces, timetable, and special instructions kept trains from running into each other.   This was in the days prior to the computer screen now in view of the engineer and conductor as they glide along their way.  They can now communicate in real time with the dispatcher, coordinating meets, and change strategies in order to expedite their cargo.        

1. S. Railroads did the country a great service in 1883 when, on their own, no governmental involvement, established our four time-zones.   Fifty-Six standards of time were folded into the four zones we set time by today.  Only minor tweaking has altered the original map, mostly to enhance economic zones. Photo by the late Richard Steinheimer.

Gary O. Ostlund

Although it’s not a railroad-related photograph, I thought it interesting. On an unusually foggy morning I arrived at the “bull pen” where several Hopkins County buses await their “engineers” to pull them out of their stalls for the morning run.  I’m fortunate to be one of those engineers (my avocation) and function as a substitute almost every morning and one or two afternoons a week.  If you know of anyone who might fit this part-time vocation well, please let me know.  Bill Thomas, editor.

Take a close look at Gary Ostland’s photo of the San Francisco Ferry Terminal.  When I saw it, I thought, “I’ve seen that in a movie!”  Then it came to me, “It Came From Beneath the Sea”, a 1955 horror flick about a radio active octopus terrorizing the North American west coast. 

“The Official Guide was the primary reference used by ticket agents for all railroads in the U.S. and Canada, and for international rail travel to Mexico. The Guide was especially useful for constructing connections among the many railroads of the time.  The Official Guide, published monthly, also included some high priority freight schedules, system maps, listing of company officers, an index of all railroad stations, industry news briefs and personnel changes, rosters of key railroad officials, and new passenger train announcements, along with steamship schedules. Ticket-sellers like the one in the story below relied on the Guide, a large book a couple inches thick.  You’ll soon see why.”

“I’d like a one-way ticket to Davis, please.” The prospective passenger at the Chicago Union Station thought that his request was reasonable enough and quite clear, so he wasn’t prepared for the somewhat agonized look on the ticket-sellers face.  “Davis?  I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to be more specific.  There are 18 railway stations names Davis in the United States.”  “Really?  Well, I want to go to Davis, Illinois.”    The ticket clerk sighed deeply.  “I’m sorry to trouble you again, sir, but there are four railway stations names Davis in Illinois.”

It was the passenger’s turn to look puzzled, but he came through bravely.  “I want the Davis, Illinois, on the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio.  Is that sufficiently clear?”

“In a way, sir, it is,” the ticket clerk answered wearily.  “You see, there are two Davises in Illinois on the GM&O.  One of them is in Alexander County and the other is in Morgan County.”

This is of course, a somewhat exaggerated situation, but what if the passenger had wanted to go to Summit!  Wherever there was a grade of any magnitude, the officers of the railroad called the station at the top: Summit.  There were 71 different railway stations names Summit in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Canal Zone. The photo is the complete story by Charles Layng as published in TRAINS Magazine of May 1952, nearing the end of the heyday of rail travel.  A good read.   (You may need to creatively enlarge the attachment)