Virginian Motor Car Restoration

In July 2011 the restoration of my ninety year old Virginian Sheffield motor car 109 was completed. The car was carefully cleaned by hand sanding, electric sanding, chemical paint remover and sand blasting using tiny iron ore particles and coal dust. And every hour of it was pure pleasure. As I went through layers of paint I learned much of the car's history, eventually realizing that the car was originally orange. It was verified by former Virginian employees. In researching Virginian's motor cars I found that my car was built in 1921 and assigned to Victoria, Virginia, a major yard and division headquarters. Its original number was 905. I have made another blog about the restoration work itself with far more detailed information.
http://vgn109.blogspot.com/

The 109 is shown fully equipped and ready for a day's work. In the front, from left; the red tube contains flares and flags for safety needs, an iron milk crate which was used by many maintainers to transport their tools in the car, a bag containing a portable field telephone, an aluminum lunch bucket and a canvas pouch that held paper documents required by the railroad (current rule book, current employee timetable, various safety papers and a lineup of the day's train activities obtained at the start of the day from the dispatcher and updated during the day).

The Motor Car Shed (Tool House)  is a 2/3 scale replica of the company's one car shed.  In addition to providing a secure home for the motor car 109, it also displays tools and equipment used by Virginian Signal Maintainers. Tools are arranged on shelves and hung on side walls as they were in actual motor car sheds. On the rear wall, there are two water tanks, as described by George Lewis, a Virginian Signal Maintainer. The round tank was insulated and held cool, iced drinking water. The rectangular tank held water for washing while below was a bucket to catch wash water.

Circle Garden Entrance of Railroad Posts

Behind the whistle posts of Virginian Railway, left, and Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, right, is the walkway made of old paving bricks leading into our small boxwood garden, the Circle Garden. Flanking the walkway are a Virginian Clearance Post, left, and a C&O Right of Way marker on the right. March 2011

VIRGINIAN Ry Clearance Post - "100 - Car Post"

Virginian had "Clearance Posts" also known as "100 - Car Posts" located 4580 feet beyond the ends of passing sidings. The purpose was to inform an engineer of when a 100 car length train was clear the switch of a passing track so the train could be operated at mainline speed according to rules. They were located between nine to twelve feet from the center of the track on the right side, the engineer's side, for right hand running. Generally, passing sidings were on the north side of the east - west railroad and eastbound trains had priority. In early years the posts were made of Chestnut but as that wood became scarce in the 1930's, concrete became the material of choice. They were 6 inches square with the corners having a 1" by 1" chamfer. The top featured a point made by 30 degree angles. The posts were six and a half feet long with four feet being out of the ground. Although company drawings called for the lower two feet above ground to be painted black and the remaining top to be painted white, the paint soon wore off and the posts were left looking a natural concrete color. - Information Source: Virginian Company drawing D-18, 10/10/27, revised 7/20/45

Railroad Line Pole

We needed a better outdoor clothes line so I put my mind to the task. I remembered how good Ben Blevins' line pole looked so the idea was born and the solution became clear. After looking for a used pole w/o success and learning how expensive a new one was, my son Jim told me about a place where I could get a locust pole. I decided to just walk back into our woods and see what I could find. The result is this nice pole that is actually a limb broken off a very large oak in June 2010 in a severe windstorm.

The cross arms are from "field trips" over the decades as are the insulators. Ben Blevins (N&W), Landon Gregory (VGN) and Bud Huff (C&O) gave me suggestions for the placement of the different colors of insulators. On the lower arm, left end, there are the metal letters "440 olts." The v was missed when I got the letters from a discarded C&O pole. The insulators above the letters are brown and indicate the placement for 440 volts the railroads carried to power remote stations and shanties not served by public electricity. The center green ones are for the railroad's message line and the clear ones on the right are for the dispatcher's line. On the top arm, the two white ones on the right are for railroad telegraph and Western Union. Telegraph operation used the earth as the ground. The two green insulators on the left are "not in use" and the one with copper wire still around it was found that way by a C&O signalman many yeras ago and given to me.

Only three lines will be attached with the other ends going to the Texaco Gas Station/Country Store replica nearby. The lines can be lowered for loading and then raised up out of the way. February/March 2011

N&W High Voltage & Close Clearance Signs

Running beside N&W's right of way were poles carrying wires for communication and signal control. This thin, tin sign was about milepost 197.5 on the abandoned, old mainline west of Concord, Va. and warned of high voltage wires above. January 2011

At a freight house in Appomattox County on the abandoned old N&W mainline around Lynchburg, this sign was once used. It is baked enamel and warned railroad workers that the clearance between the structure and a freight car was not sufficient for a man to pass. March 2012