Gladstone, Virginia was an important crew change point on the C&O's James River subdivision until about 1985. In its hey-day, Gladstone had a yard, roundhouse with a turntable, steam engine service facilities, car repair area, coal and water facilities for steam locomotives and a large wood, two story station. A YMCA was there for the train crews to have their rest. In the 21st century, all that remains are the two story station and part of the yard. All through the railroad yard there were railroad installed and maintained fire hydrants. In the spring of 2010, I was given the fire plug that was behind the roundhouse.
This fire hydrant was manufactured by Eddy Valve Company in the early 20th century and is a short barrel, dry barrel type. It has two 2-1/2" outlets which would serve 250 gallons of water a minute, each. The color of the bonnet tells that it sat on a 12" main water line which could furnish 1,000 gallons per minute. The railroads huge water tank was close, only about 50 yards away, so that explains the ample water flow available. This information was provided by Capt. John Spinner of the Lynchburg Fire department.
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