The Christmas Caboose by G. Richardson Nuckolls © 2014 (Second Installment) Bluefield Yard When I first came to work for the Norfolk and Western Railway Company, known to most simply as the N&W, I was told that the Bluefield Yard was the largest natural gravity yard in the world. Whether or not that was true, I still dont know, but I can say that it was an extremely large and busy place. The yard was separated into the East Yard and the West Yard. At the apex of the grade was the Mercer Street bridge. Any free-rolling railcar would travel for at least 10 miles in either direction due to the grade, or slope, of the track. This allowed switching operations to be made using gravity as the primary energy source. It also made for dangerous situations if any railcars were left standing without sufficient brakes in place. The Bluefield Yard was the Eastern terminus of the famed Pocahontas Division of the N&W. It was from here that millions upon millions of tons of coal would begin the mostly downhill journey to Norfolk, VA to be loaded on ships for export, mostly, at that time, to Japan. The bituminous coal that was mined in West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky held some of the highest BTUs of any coal grade in the world and was prized for steel making. Of course, there was a large market for coal for domestic steam power generation as well, and most of it came through Bluefield. The East Yard office, a long, low brick structure, was situated in the middle of a dozen or so railroad tracks. Access to the building from the South side was over a wooden swinging bridge that spanned several of these tracks. From the North side, the yard office could be reached only by walking across several tracks. On the Northwest end of the yard office, the yard conductor had a small office where the yard brakemen gathered to receive their assignments. The South side of the building housed showers and a locker room for the crews. The multiple yard tracks in the Upper East Yard were about a mile and a half long and most of the trains that pulled into them were built to fill them entirely. There was also a huge pot-bellied, coal-fired stove at the West end of the building that, to my knowledge, was never allowed to go cold, even on hot summer days. This was where hot coffee was always available; made in a large, steaming splatter-wear enameled pot. Coffee grounds and water were constantly being added to the brew, so I cant say that the coffee was especially good, but it was hot. It was from this point, with my belly full of hot brew, that I began the first of my treks up and down the Upper East yard that night. I knew that I had a long night filled with a lot of walking ahead of me.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 19:08:12 +0000
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