Steam & Excursion > The Crooked & Weedy

John Vachon framed an ex-N&W 4-8-0 at Elkton, West Virginia on the Chesapeake Western, May 1941. Absorbed into the N&W in 1954, part of this line survives under NS.
Photo credit the Library of Congress.
Be of good cheer,
—Mac
www.lowellamrine.com

---

Thanks for sharing this!  The CW was a fascinating operation, much of it still going today as part of NS.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/25 09:41 by SR_Piedmont_Division.

There was still power lettered for Chesapeake Western in 1973:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5756460

mike woodruff
north platte ne

1. T-6s out on the line, unknown photographer, year, and location
2. Baldwin on display at Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke, VA., 5/2016

---

---

I am amazed how well this black and white photo catches the heart and beauty of shortline railroading. Thanks for posting this.
Bob

Thank you very much for this photo.

The father of my late friend, N&W Road Foreman of Engines S R Winegard, was an engineer on the CW in the 1940s.  SR told me of the time around 1941 or a little later when the CW bought the isolated B&O line from Harrisonburg to Lexington, Virginia, and began scrapping the portion from Staunton to Lexington (you can still see some of this right of way including a stone bridge from I-81 between Staunton and Lexington).  SR, who was born in 1935, often rode with his father (including the work trains while doing the scrapping).  This was part of the former Valley Railroad, a failed effort by the B&O to reach the south.  Robert E. Lee was President of the Valley Railroad for a time, after the Civil War when he was President of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, in Lexington.

Jim

This is straying off-topic a bit, but I grew up northeast of Muncie on Norfolk & Western's Frankfort District, ex-Lake Erie & Western.  It was still a decent secondary main line in the summer of 1978 when the clerks struck the N&W.  For 82 days, N&W supervisors ran a fraction of the railroad's trains until the walkout spread to other lines, and the government stepped in.  By 1978, my family had owned a radio scanner for several years and had also acquired crystals for Penn Central and the N&W.  I remember hearing a conversation between the N&W dispatcher (perhaps a chief) and S.R. Winegard, who was part of the supervisor crew on one of the first trains that passed through my town after the strike began.  I don't know whether that was the only Frankfort District train that S.R. ever ran or not, but at least I never heard him mentioned by name on the radio after that.

Several years later, I do remember reading a letter to the editor that S.R. had penned to one of the national railfan magazines.

Jeff Gast
Greenwood, Indiana         

> ... I remember hearing a
> conversation between the N&W dispatcher (perhaps a
> chief) and S.R. Winegard, who was part of the
> supervisor crew on one of the first trains that
> passed through my town after the strike began.  I
> don't know whether that was the only Frankfort
> District train that S.R. ever ran or not, but at
> least I never heard him mentioned by name on the
> radio after that.

Since he was at that time, Road Foreman of Engines, Muncie Division, and was based, I believe, at Frankfort, he probably was running quite a few trains through there. 
 

Jeff,

Thank you very much for your post.  I was a pretty new Assistant Trainmaster at Lima, Ohio, the eastern end of the Frankfort District, in 1978 during the BRAC strike.  Very early in the strike SR was engineer on a train from Frankfort to Bellevue, but for most of the rest of the strike he mainly ran west of Frankfort on the Peoria and Charleston Districts.  I mostly worked locals east and west from Lima, but took a few trains to Muncie, Frankfort, and Bluffton, Indiana, and Bellevue, Ohio.

SR was a really knowledgeable railroader and real gentleman in the best sense.  For several years he was the air brake car instructor and later worked at Norfolk Southern's training center in McDonough, Georgia.  His knowledge of air brakes and train handling was the best.  He died earlier this year on May 27.

Jim

My sincerest thanks to all who contributed so much wonderful information and images about this operation.
—Mac

Jimbo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you very much for this photo.
>
> The father of my late friend, N&W Road Foreman
> of Engines S R Winegard, was an engineer on the
> CW in the 1940s.  SR told me of the time around
> 1941 or a little later when the CW bought the
> isolated B&O line from Harrisonburg to Lexington,
> Virginia, and began scrapping the portion from
> Staunton to Lexington (you can still see some of
> this right of way including a stone bridge from
> I-81 between Staunton and Lexington).  SR, who
> was born in 1935, often rode with his father
> (including the work trains while doing the
> scrapping).  This was part of the former Valley
> Railroad, a failed effort by the B&O to reach the
> south.  Robert E. Lee was President of the Valley
> Railroad for a time, after the Civil War when he
> was President of Washington College, now
> Washington and Lee University, in Lexington.
>
> Jim

Every time I have passed by that bridge driving on I81 I have wondered about it.  Now I know - thanks!

Cole42 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jimbo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thank you very much for this photo.
> >
> > The father of my late friend, N&W Road Foreman
> > of Engines S R Winegard, was an engineer on
> the
> > CW in the 1940s.  SR told me of the time
> around
> > 1941 or a little later when the CW bought the
> > isolated B&O line from Harrisonburg to
> Lexington,
> > Virginia, and began scrapping the portion from
> > Staunton to Lexington (you can still see some
> of
> > this right of way including a stone bridge from
> > I-81 between Staunton and Lexington).  SR, who
> > was born in 1935, often rode with his father
> > (including the work trains while doing the
> > scrapping).  This was part of the former
> Valley
> > Railroad, a failed effort by the B&O to reach
> the
> > south.  Robert E. Lee was President of the
> Valley
> > Railroad for a time, after the Civil War when
> he
> > was President of Washington College, now
> > Washington and Lee University, in Lexington.
> >
> > Jim
>
> Every time I have passed by that bridge driving on
> I81 I have wondered about it.  Now I know -
> thanks!
Both of these are helpful to understand the various remnants of the Valley RR, and its successors...
The Folly Mills Creek viaduct is at MM219 on I-81 SB.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/25 13:40 by bigsavage.

---

---

Both books are great.  Mr. Hildebrand died recently.  He was a World War II veteran.

His obituary:  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/roanoke/name/john-hildebrand-obituary?id=59219793

Jim