Pillars of Smoke in the Sky

[Music] [Music] so [Music] in the spring of 1957 mrs eddy and i found it necessary to make a trip to virginia since we were driving a car on the return trip the situation presented an opportunity to travel by train we decided to go by way of cincinnati and ride one of the crack trains of the norfolk and western possibly behind steam because we would return to flint we left our car there and used the bus to get to detroit there we took the afternoon baltimore and ohio flyer to cincinnati where we made very convenient connections for boarding our sleeper on the overnight pocahontas to norfolk the next morning we were pleased to find it only at the rear of the train but also a new york central car with half doors so as you see we spent a good share of the time on the rare vestibule although the day was somewhat misty and not very good for pictures we thoroughly enjoyed the passing scenery earlier we had intimate views of the towns in the pocahontas coal region as sharp curves and narrow valleys brought the track right up to the front door of homes in some places later there was more elbow room and the spring blossoms were much more in evidence easier curves gave us frequent and better opportunities to watch our j-class steam engine at work the rear-end brake one was very tolerant of our desire to occupy the vestibule he seemed to share our interest in the passing scenery and kept us informed on landmarks along the right-of-way he also seemed very much aware of the rail fans viewpoint as we left roanoke about noon the breakman suggested that we keep on the lookout because on some trips our train would be routed over on the left-hand track to pass an eastbound cold drag on the blue ridge grade by this time the sun had put in an appearance and we were elated over the prospect for pictures a few miles out of roanoke we were delighted to find that we were traveling on the westbound track so helen and i saw to it that our cameras were in order and ready for action our brakeman was keeping watch and finally warned us to be ready and soon we could hear the roar of exhaust as we overtook a struggling y6 pusher although the blue ridge grade is not steep by western standards the norfolk and western gives its locomotives plenty to do and the results are spectacular as is apparent although we were too busy to count the seemingly endless string of loaded coal hoppers we learned later that this was a set off train of 100 cars destined for the sighting at montvale just over the hill as we passed ahead in we found another big y6 obviously carrying its share of the load and we became so absorbed in the beautiful scene that i almost forgot to shut off the movie camera thus we experienced one of the really thrilling episodes of our many years of interest in railroads and railroading the sight and sound of those giant steam engines bending every effort to get that six thousand tons of coal over the mountain had a lasting effect on us add to that the site of other trains on the sidings along the way the friendly salute of members of each train crew as we passed the picturesque setting in the blue ridge mountains where and why we conceived the idea for making this film [Music] so [Music] me [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] so um [Music] time so so [Applause] so norfolk and western y6 pusher completes another job of boosting coal tunnels through beaufort gap in the blue ridge mountains of virginia the rear end brakeman had pulled a pin as we came through the gap so the engine could uncouple at speed and we lose momentum as the caboose disappears around the bend later we move over to the passing siding and the engineer drops off to check by phone with roanoke on clearance for return to the pusher siding at the base of the mountains [Applause] mmm [Music] [Applause] um [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] so [Applause] the daily routine of a pusher engine generally consists of short periods of intense activity and long intervals of idleness in fair weather the engine crew whiles away the hours in a sort of outdoor lounge they have concocted however when it is wet or cold they have to make the best of the engine cab or the cramped telephone channel the latter has a stove and seating capacity for two quite unsuited for visitors we made our first appearance at the boaz pusher sighting at eight one morning and it was two in the afternoon before the first work showed up of course it often happens that a returning pusher will find another job sitting there when he backs down to the siding although it is old stuff to the crew the rail fan can ease the idle time watching the downbound freights or the occasional passenger train [Music] do [Applause] although the boaz pusher siding is some distance from the highway and not too easy to locate the yard and rail fans seem to have no difficulty in finding the place a cultivated field south of the tracks gave the photographer plenty of working space and the engine crews were always very kind about obtaining information regarding train movements while our pusher dozes peacefully on the siding and since our story revolves around both the blue ridge pusher and the double-headed coal trains eastbound out of roanoke we will return to town and see how the train we are interested in is organized incoming coal trains from the west are sorted into new consists for distribution from roanoke hoppers of 50 and 70 ton capacity are usually mixed so the tonnage is figured from about average of the two the general practice and handing loaded hoppers eastward was about as follows a train of approximately 100 cars is made up and sent over the blue ridge to mont vale with either a y6 or an a as road engine of course pusher assistance is used up the hill at mont vale the hoppers are set off on the siding for future use and the road engine returns light to roanoke this is a set off train we overtook and passed when traveling on the pocahontas back at the yards two more coal trains have been made up to dispatch the norfolk each of these trains has approximately 140 cars and is double headed usually by a y6 lead engine and an a-class road engine after an assist over the mountain by our y6 pusher these trains stop at the mont vale siding and switch half of the set off string into their load thus they leave mountvale with about 190 cars which involves around 11 000 tons of payload eastward at lynchburg i believe the y6 lead engine would drop off and the a would take the load the remaining 200 miles into norfolk alone of course the procedure outlined above would then be repeated and it was a fortunate train watcher on the blue ridge grade who was able to view the complete show in the daylight hours the crews of the double header we will follow across the blue ridge were called for 6 a.m to play safe we arrived at the roundhouse at 5 30. as is usual with freight movements unfortunately for the photographer there was considerable delay in the various preparations and are trained to not depart until after eight thus we were able to obtain these early morning scenes in the yards at shaffer's crossing as our engines are backed off the ready track and down through the yards to pick up our string of 140 hopper cars perhaps we should present some data on the locomotives of our double header our lead engine is a y6 number 2176 and the road engine is an a number 1230. both class a and y6 were articulated in common with most other four-cylinder steam engines that is the front set of cylinders and drivers is pivoted so as to swing on curves this effect may be seen at several points in the film at crossovers and switches the class a engines had larger drivers a 2664 wheel setup and were largely used on fast freight servers at a distance the y6 had a profile very similar to that of the a in fact i believe the boiler was essentially the same however the y6 had a 288 two-wheel arrangement and was one of the few true melee compounds in successful use on u.s railroads it was a comparatively slow speed giant with tremendous pulling ability under all operating conditions the versatility of the y6 was due mainly to the fact that it could be operated in simple as well as in compound in addition when working in compound which was generally used at road speed a booster effect was obtained by admitting high pressure steam directly into the low pressure cylinders of the front engine this gave added power at the lower speeds and had a startling effect on the exhaust as the individual beats were lost in an almost continuous roar generally speaking the y6 tackled the load and simple using high pressure steam in all four cylinders as the load was brought up to about 10 miles an hour the engineer would shift to compound wherein the rear high pressure cylinder exhaust was directed to the front cylinders to be reused however in case the load forced a drop in speed back to 10 miles an hour or so the booster would be cut in we might safely say that the y6 was actually a three speed steam engine from [Music] [Applause] um let's go [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so right [Applause] so [Applause] the boaz pusher siding is at the foot of the blue ridge grade so the trains picking up a pusher cut off their power and use the lower end of the grade to ease to a stop i gather that in this manner they use little or no air and thus cut the time for pumping up the train line to a minimum the caboose of our double header slides by slowly and seems never to stop reference points are used by the head-end engineer to spot the caboose above the siding but once in a while a stop is made to the rear or follow the siding switch then there is a prolonged exchange of phone calls and whistle signals on the subject one day when we were on hand the engineer of a time freight left his caboose right on the boaz siding sweat he had just enough load that his a-class engine with its larger drivers had a tough time pulling into the clear [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] um [Music] [Applause] your honor [Applause] so the pusher engineer has signaled that he is coupled up and ready to go and the lead engine has answered but it sometimes takes quite a while to get the train line pumped up and everything synchronized to go when the pusher is coupled the engineer opens the throttle and applies full force to the rear of the train if the brakes are set nothing happens but otherwise the pusher takes up all the slack it can and then sits to await action from up ahead oh there is telephone communication between the front and rear end it often happens that a stop is made with a phone inconveniently located for one end or the other and whistle signals are necessary however regardless of the telephone the use of the whistle seems to be a standard part of this operation and several exchanges of the whistle signal are often in order to the outsider all of this delay seems highly unnecessary but it doesn't seem to bother the train crews and it's probably part of the tradition of railroading thank you oh [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so so so [Music] so [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] uh so hmm [Applause] so so so so [Applause] so so [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign uh [Applause] ah foreign [Applause] ah [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so so you

Channel: Edwin Carrington Eddy 16mm Films

Views: 50,997

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Id: bYhDUSd4DY4

Length: 39min 5sec (2345 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 06 2020