Streamliners at Spencer

There was an extraordinary gathering of 26 operable, classic diesel streamliners at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer at the end of May.  The Rivanna Chapter did not attempt to organize a group trip to this four-day event, but four members made the trek on their own.

Although the N&W J 611 is coal fired, it also made a grand appearance at Spencer on the morning of May 30.  Wick Moorman, the chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern, loosened a nut on the 611's power train as the ceremonial beginning of its two-year rebuild process.  The Chapter recently contributed 2 x $611 for that effort.

Below are a few amateur photos taken by Ross Thomas of some of the locomotives at Spencer.  The internet is loaded with thousands of better ones!  The Museum's website has a sampling of the activity at Spencer:

 http://nctrans.org/Events/Streamliners-at-Spencer-Photos.aspx

Visit to the High Bridge

On May 24, members and friends of the NRHS Rivanna Chapter visited the High Bridge Trail State Park near Farmville.  The Park encompasses the remnants of the historic High Bridge, built in 1854 to cross the Appomattox River and connect Petersburg and Lynchburg. The bridge is 2,400 feet long and ranges from 60 to 125 feet high. It was originally made of wood, standing on 21 brick piers and included a pedestrian walkway next to the tracks and a nearby wagon bridge. During the American Civil War, both Union and Confederate forces attempted to destroy the bridge to their advantage. Today a newer bridge, adjacent to the remains of the original, is a rail trail converted from a line last belonging to Norfolk Southern and having originated as a portion of the South Side Railroad.

Bob Flippen, an educational specialist with the Park, provided an excellent narrative and tour for our group.  Bob explained the construction of the bridges, the strategic role they played in the War, and the fortifications at both ends of the Bridge. 

After the walking and biking tour many of the participants enjoyed lunch together at Charley’s Water Front Café in Farmville.  The photos below capture the highlights of the day.

Denis Mason checks out the former N&W depot

in Farmville on the way to the High Bridge

Ann Harrod photo

 

Approach to the bridge with crushed

 stone on top of the old railroad bed

Doug Bush photo

 

Bob Flippen describes the construction

of the bridge at a shady overlook 

Ben Farmer photo

 

Above: the new bridge is on the right and the

 remains of the old bridge are on the left. 

Below: one of the old brick piers is shown with

 angle iron and bands, added later for stabilization.

Carl Bauske photos



 

 

The Rivanna Chapter group pauses at the

mid-point on the bridge on a glorious sunny day

Doug Bush photo

 

The Chapter and Ross Thomas thank Bob Flippen

 for an excellent tour and present a print of PRR 477768

(neither the Seaboard nor the PRR ran over the High Bridge!)

Ann Harrod photo

 

Members and friends cool off at Charley's in Farmville

Ed de Bary photo

 

 

For more information on the High Bridge and the Park, visit the sites below: 

 

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/high-bridge-trail.shtml

  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bridge_Trail_State_Park

 

 

 

A Cabin Car's Journey - Part I

Over the past six years, John Pfaltz and other members of the NRHS Rivanna Chapter lovingly restored PRR Cabin Car 477768 at a spur in Red Hill, Virginia.  In January 2014, the cabin car made a glorious return to Pennsylvania to become part of the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust in Boyertown.  The images and video links in the three-part sequence below capture some of the trip, as well as events in Virginia and Pennsylvania prior to and after the transfer.


The Farewell Ceremony at Red Hill, VA, and the departure for Lynchburg, VA

Photos from the Ceremony on Dec. 19, 2013

 A group of some of the Rivanna Chapter members who restored the Cabin Car 

Photo by Susan Thomas

 

Another group of some of the Rivanna Chapter members who restored the Cabin Car 

Photo by Dale Diacont

 

Dignitaries from Boyertown, Charlottesville, and the Rivanna Chapter exchange greetings

Photo by Ann Harrod

 

Colebrookdale RR and Rivanna Chapter personnel team together 

for a ceremonial push of the Cabin Car 

Photo by Wayland Moore

 

Charles Haddad (Boyertown Rotary) presents history books

to John Pfaltz and Roger Lehmann (Boyertown Lions) looks on 

Photo by Ann Harrod

 

 

The southbound departure for Lynchburg on Jan. 13, 2014

NS crew prepares for switching as the Cabin Car is

pulled from the spur in Red Hill onto the NS mainline

Photo by John Pfaltz

 

The Cabin Car's Journey is continued in Part II below.

 



A Cabin Car's Journey - Part II

Lynchburg, VA to Pottstown, PA

After the Cabin Car left Red Hill, VA it first went south to Lynchburg, VA.  In Lynchburg it was switched to an NS northbound train.  Pictures taken in Lynchburg, Red Hill, and PA are below, but we have none from northern VA or MD.  We believe that the Cabin Car was in both Allentown and Reading, PA, on its way to the interchange with the Colebrookdale RR in Pottstown, PA.

PRR Day in Lynchburg
 On Jan. 13, during its southbound trip to Lynchburg, the Cabin Car passed the northbound NS Heritage locomotive above (pictured here by the Lynchburg, Kemper Street station)
Photo by Garland Harper

 

 

The Cabin Car in its intended position on the consist

Photo by Garland Harper

Two links below lead to videos made by Travis Koshko on January 14.  The first shows the northbound NS train with the Cabin Car on the trestle over the James River in Lynchburg.  The second was taken in Red Hill as PRR 477768 passed by her former home for the final time.  In the silence ending the second video - share in the joy, pride, and sadness of those who restored her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVmrBd_t_A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IkeVZuSzq4

 Near Temple, PA on Jan. 15

Photo by Jason Schutter

 Near Birdsboro, PA on Jan. 16

Photo by Todd Strickler

 

A Cabin Car's Journey is continued in Part III below.

A Cabin Car's Journey - Part III

Boyertown , PA - January 17, 2014 

Triumphant arrival in Boyertown on Jan. 17

 

Boyertown and Colebrookdale RR dignitaries and families 

John Pfaltz (center) receives recognition from Charles Haddad (left, Rotary)
 and Roger Lehmann (right, Lions)

Three photos above all from Colebrookdale RR

 

Boyertown after January 17

A cold night on Jan. 23

Photo by Leonard F. Shaner, Jr.

 

Cabin car boosts spirits and fund raising on Feb. 7

Photo by Colebrookdale RR

 

Beautiful Lady - We brought you back to your prime and returned you to your homeland. Go forth and make us proud again.          

- John Pfaltz and the NRHS Rivanna Chapter

 

Thanks to Norfolk Southern (www.nscorp.com) and their many employees who were involved in safely and quickly moving PRR 477768 from Virginia to Pennsylvania.

 

For more information on the Rivanna Chapter and the National Railway Historical Society check:
http://nrhs.com/ and http://nrhs.com/chapters/Rivanna

Keep up with the progress of the Colebrookdale RR at:

https://www.facebook.com/colebrookdalerailroad and http://www.colebrookdalerailroad.org/



 

 

 



Field Trip Invitation to Chapter Members and Friends

J 611, Ralph Yoder Photo

 

UVA OLLI Outing to Roanoke: Photography and Transportation Museums

Thursday, April 3, 2014

On April 3 our OLLI Outing will take us to Roanoke, where we’ll visit two museums and have lunch in a “food court with a history.” Our bus will depart from the Fashion Square Mall Sears’ parking lot at 8:00 a.m. and return by approximately 5:15 p.m. And we’ll have some en route entertainment!  Ross Thomas, who last fall taught the OLLI course “Railroads of Charlottesville and Virginia,” has agreed to supply archival train videos, along with his own remarks.

Roanoke’s history is that of a boom town created by the coming of rail. It was a little hamlet called Big Lick until the 1850s, when it became a rail junction and the gateway to the west for the Norfolk & Western Railway. Our tour will trace this dramatic history.

Our first stop will be the O. Winston Link Museum situated in a restored Norfolk & Western passenger train station. The museum is dedicated to the photography of O. Winston Link, the twentieth-century railroad photographer widely considered the master of the juxtaposition between steam railroading and rural culture. On display are hundreds of photographic prints, along with interactive displays including audio that provides information on Link’s photographic subjects. We’ll see the documentary film What a Picture I Got and have a guided tour.

A short bus ride will take us to the historic City Market Building for lunch on our own. After lunch we’ll visit the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which has one of the finest rail collections in the United States. This museum is housed in the old Norfolk & Western freight station. Outside in the rail yard there are more than 50 pieces of rolling stock, historic steam and diesel engines, cabooses, and other rail equipment. Of special note, the rail yard features the internationally known Norfolk & Western Class J 611 and the Class A 1218, the most modern steam locomotives ever built. (Restoration of the J 611 is imminent and it may be off-site when we visit.) Inside the museum you’ll find model trains and automotive and aviation exhibits, plus a gift store with hard-to-find, transportation-related gifts. You are free to wander the museum inside and out until we depart for home at 3:15 p.m.

The cost of the Roanoke Outing is $60. OLLI members and nonmembers alike are welcome! Note, however, that if you reserve a spot and then cancel, you will not receive a refund unless we find someone to take your place. 

How to Register for this OLLI Outing:

 

• Register online https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/olliuva/ and pay with your credit card; OR
• Mail a completed registration form (available on the OLLI website and at the back of the spring 2014 catalog) with your check payable to UVA Fund/OLLI to OLLI, 1160 Pepsi Place, Suite 114, Charlottesville, VA 22901; OR
• Telephone the OLLI office (434.923.3600 or 877.861.9207) and pay with your credit card.

November Meeting Notes

Election of New Officers

President Bernard Haxel says:

“Hi Folks,

Please don't forget the regular NRHS Rivanna Chapter meeting next Tuesday at the Elks Club.  Dinner ($14.00) at 6:00 and meeting at 7:00, as usual.

We need a good turnout this time because November is when we elect our officers and this year we actually have a slate of new officers ready to elect!  Your Executive Committee has met, and we will nominate the following slate:

    President:            Ross Thomas
    Vice President:    Ed DeBary
    Secretary:            Bernard Haxel
    Treasurer:            Ann Harrod

Of course, we will also take other nominations from the floor.  There are some other important announcements to hear and a few other matters of business to discuss.  And then, a great program (more on that later).

So please plan to attend.”

Our program

“Steam Fever” is my all-time favorite railfan video, because it is the most elegantly photographed and recorded railroad video that I [Don Wells] have seen. It is just plain beautiful. It was first shown to the Rivanna Chapter by Nick Page 10-15yr ago. I was so impressed with it that I obtained a personal copy, and then I showed it again in 2009 when I was VP, and now I have chosen it to show as my final video program as VP of Rivanna Chapter.

This video was produced in South Africa 20yr ago, and shows mainline steam there in its final days, in the late 1980s, pulling both fast passenger and heavy freight trains. The railroad is 42-inch gauge (“Cape Gauge”, not the 56.5-inch “Standard Gauge” of US RRs), and the railfans drive their 1980s cars on the left half of the highway (steering wheel on the right), so it isn't our familiar USA railroading, but this is double-tracked, fully-signalled, power-turnout mainline steam still running only 25 years ago! And the locos are big stoker-fired 4-8-4s, with high horsepower and large tenders for long runs. Because these locos ran in desert country, many of them were equipped with condensers that recycled their boiler water – and these condenser locos roared and whined instead of chuffing.

Some of the South African steam engines were among the most efficient ever built, with sophisticated designs. The most famous of these advanced engine designs was called the “Red Devil” – a steam loco painted all-red!

South Africa ran coal-burning steam engines later than other countries because it has abundant coal but doesn't have oil; in fact South Africa has a long history of large-scale coal-to-liquid conversion to operate its automobiles and trucks.

The silent video to be shown during dinner has not yet been selected.

Next month's program

The officers expect that we will have a guest speaker for the Chapter's December 17^th meeting, but we do not yet have a firm confirmation of that – more later.

-- 
All Aboard!

Rivanna Chapter
National Railway Historical Society
Charlottesville, Virginia