Volume 33, Number 8 August 2001

The Official Newsletter of the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc.

Turntable Times

In the May issue of Turntable Times,Kenney Kirkman had an article regarding

the future direction and format of thisnewsletter.

He asked for input from the readers, todate we have only had two or three respons-es from this article, we know there must bemore interest in this subject than has beenshown, we urge you to submit your opinion,either in writing or via email:

Please forward your comments to eitherKenney Kirkman at his Collinsville, Virginiaaddress listed within Turntable Times or toKenney at kkirkman50@hotmail.com Oryou may contact Ken Miller at:KMiller611@aol.com Or you may contactKenney Kirkman or Ken Miller in care of theChapter P.O. Box if you wish.

Turntable Times is published monthly as the newsletter of the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Opinions and points ofview expressed herein are those of the staff members of the Turntable Times and not necessarily reflect those of the members, officers or directorsof the Chapter. Items of interest should be sent to Editor Kenny Kirkman, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, VA 24078-2128.

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDRoanoke, VA

Permit No. 89

Editor, Turntable TimesRoanoke Chapter NRHSP.O. Box 13222Roanoke, VA 24032-1322

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS

August 16, 2001General Meeting

September 4, 2001Board Meeting, 7:30 pm

September 20, 2001General Meeting

September 24, 2001Cass Outing

October 2, 2001Board Meeting

October 18, 2001General Meeting

EDITORKenney Kirkman

MIXED FREIGHTRobin R. Shavers

SMALL RAILSDave Meashey

SPLINTERSBill Arnold

HISTORIANKenneth L. Miller

All materials should besent directly to the Editor:Kenney Kirkman590 Murphy RoadCollinsville, VA 24078-2128

Volume 33, Number 8August 2001

Turntable Times is publishedmonthly as the newsletter ofthe Roanoke Chapter, NationalRailway Historical Society, Inc.Opinions and points of viewexpressed herein are those ofthe staff members of theTurntable Times and not nec-essarily reflect those of themembers, officers or directorsof the Chapter.

RS-11 No. 342 leads EMD units on an eastbound time freightpassing under the Virginian’s massive bridge at Glyn Lyn, Virginiaduring a hot July day in 1959. In only a few months the N&Wdiesels will soon be running on that bridge as well. Norfolk andWestern Photo/K.L. Miller Collection

Cover Photo

Cards and FlowersIf you know of a Chapter Member who is sick, lost a loved one

or has a new birth in the family, please contact Bonnie Molinary.Bonnie is responsible for Chapter cards and flowers and can bereached at 362-0273.

Deadline for Turntable TimesThe deadline for the next issue of Turntable Times is Saturday,

August 18, 2001. Please send articles, information and allexchange newsletters to: Kenney Kirkman, Editor, TurntableTimes, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, Va. 24078-2128.

Material For Turntable TimesWe are always in need of articles, photos or news items for the

Turntable Times. Due to copyright restrictions, we cannot reprintarticles from many newspapers; a condensed or rewritten articlecrediting the source is acceptable.

From The Head End

The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Societywill hold its next general meeting on Thursday, August 16, 2001at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held at the First PresbyterianChurch on the corner of McClanahan and Crystal Spring Avenuein Roanoke.

Our August program will be “Independence LimitedInternational” by Carl Jensen. This program was postponed fromearly in the year, but is now back on the schedule and will beexcellent!

Meeting Notice

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tracks under the U.S. Capitol, and onwardto points in Virginia, The attendants fromeach car step out onto the platform andwait for the moment our guests will comedown the escalator, and to their respectivecars. The chef opens his door to the Lower-level of the dining-car. He smiles, hiskitchen is ready. His steam bins are readyto place corn, carrots and mashed potatoesin. His two assistants are preparing freshgarden salads; a touch of red grapes isadded to each salad. The lounge-car LSA isalmost ready, she has all her “sodas” ready,the ice is ready and all of her snacks areout and ready for purchase. And I’m ready,too! All we need now is for this silver dou-ble decker train to be on time!

It’s 3:42 pm, we leave at 4:05pm. Chicagotomorrow morning!

Coming Soon!The Boomer

CSX will operate an office car special thatis due to pass Eagle Rock at 10:42 AM

on the 16th of this month. Upon arrival atWhite Sulphur Springs around one o'clockthe passenger extra will split into two sec-tions with one heading to Huntington at 2that afternoon followed by the other head-ing to Ashland KY at 3. The two consistswill be consolidated at Russell Yard thatPM before returning to Jacksonville overthe Clinchfield.

Apparently the Ashland section is for theladies who will transfer to Motor Coach atthe Ashland Amtrak Station for a shoppingtour????

Chapter Outing, Part 2by Jim Overholser

On Monday, September 24, 2001, theMountain State Railroad and Logging

Historical Association and the Cass ScenicRailroad State Park will operate an excur-sion from Cass, WV, to the old ghost townof Spruce, and then on the former WesternMaryland track now operated by the WestVirginia Central.

Leaving at 10 AM, the special gearedsteam train will operate to the "Big Cut" atover 4000 feet elevation and down Shaver'sFork of the Cheat River to Twin Bridges andis scheduled to return to Cass at about 5PM.

Jim Overholser has agreed to coordinate aspecial chapter outing for this trip. Byordering our tickets as a group we will save$5 per person.

Tickets include a box lunch with a hotentree and are $40 per person. We will carpool to Cass early on the morning ofSeptember 24 and return that night or,alternatively, you can make your ownarrangements for lodging and driving ifyou want to go up the day before.

Sign up at the August Chapter meeting orcontact Jim Overholser (343-1928). Weneed at least ten people for the group rate.Make your checks (for $40 per person)payable to the Roanoke Chapter NRHS.

CondolencesOur thoughts and prayers go out to

Membership Chairperson Lawanda Ely onthe loss of her mother on August 4th.

Right at press time we received word thatDorothy Kelch had passed away on August9th. We will have more next month.

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Mixed Freight - Augustby Mr. Robin R. Shavers

Afew months ago, I reported that NorfolkSouthern had plans to trim 12,000

freight cars from its fleet in an effort to cutcost and to bring the company more in linewith current rail freight transportationneeds. Just as members of the steel wheelfleet are being subtracted from NorfolkSouthern ownership, 1,000 rubber tiredvehicles are also on a like agenda. NS 21 is astudy within the company to improve cus-tomer service and reduce cost and thus pin-pointed the 12,000 cars and 1,000 vehiclessuch as sedans, large trucks and even someschool buses. NS estimates it will save up to$10 million annually because of the vehiclereduction and more efficient policies gov-erning the use of the remaining fleet.

During the latter part of the year 2000,the Blue Ridge Live Steamers decided not tohave run weekends in conjunction with hol-iday weekends. Most members have fami-lies that would much rather spend holidayweekends participating in more traditionalAmerican activities such as family gettogethers, hitting the beach, mountains ortheme parks. This new policy has reallyworked in our behalf. We recently had a runweekend during July 13th, 14th. July 15thwas mainly used as a pack it up and hit theroad day. Our next weekend run will beAugust 24th thru 26th.

I recently reported that OperationLifesaver had placed a billboard ad alongInterstate 95 a few months back. The infor-mation issued by the billboard focused onthe legalities of trespassing on railroadproperty within the state of Virginia. I men-tioned that I had no idea how many regular

people are aware of Virginia’s statue againsttrespassing on railroad property but mostout of state railfans are very much aware ofthe relatively new law. During personal vis-its to Ashland and Doswell on differentdates I’ve observed the following: Families,typical suburban types with their SUV orminivan will park nearby to observe thetrains. Before a train arrives, the entire fam-ily, usually 3 to 5 members, will place coinson the railhead. A train arrives, flattens thecoins, the family alights to the tracks toretrieve their coins. Usually, their search isunsuccessful and they will try again.Municipal cops may pass by and doabsolutely nothing. A few weeks ago whilein Doswell, a family was so busy trying tofind their flattened coins; they were totallyunaware of the oncoming danger until Iwarned them. Even then, they departed thedanger area reluctantly. What really bothersme with these situations is the fact that theareas are ideal locations for responsible rail-fans to enjoy their hobby without hassle. Adeath, serious injury or close call couldquickly change that. For those that MUSTknow, the train getting dangerously close tothe unsuspecting coin searchers wasAmtrak train # 89, the southboundPalmetto.

The annual Great American Train Showwill be pulling into Richmond the weekendof August 18th and 19th. The location willbe The Richmond Raceway Complex for-merly the Virginia State Fairgrounds at 600East Laburnum Avenue. Hours of the eventare from 11:00 am. til 5:00 pm. both days.Admission for attendees 12 and up is $6.00.For further information phone 630-834-0652.

the entire car. The attendant also preparesa wicker basket of mints and chocolatecookies, to be left out next to the coffeemaker.

The much talked about dining-car staffgoes to their location of duty…a cold car.The dining-car is a cold car when it isempty of the things it needs to be opera-tional. The crew will now make it opera-tional. Downstairs, the chef and his twoassistants will handle the food as it’s beingunloaded from the commissary truck. Thechef must do this quickly so the cool tem-perature of the food doesn’t change to adangerously warm level. The FDA says 40degrees and up to 140 degrees is the dan-ger zone (bacteria grows best in this range)the food is loaded fast without missing abeat, as usual. One floor above this busypace, the waiters are bringing up on thefood elevators or dumb-waiters, the sup-plies they’ll need for the trip, salad dress-ing, butter, jelly, napkins and glassware.The tables are dressed with real table-cloths, not the brown paper that was usedback in the 80’s. Place mats and silver wareare laid out. Today’s first meal will be theevening diners As for me, the lovely din-ing-car LSA, I assist the two waiters in whatthey’re doing. I also have to prepare mywork station, which will include an elec-tronic calculator with a paper roll-out tick-et. This ticket will be my proof in court, ifmy end of trip figures mismatch those ofAmtrak’s remit office. This is the decidingfactor on whether you’re given a debit,

The LSA makes test announcements overthe P.A. system at this time. Respective carattendants will answer back if the system

is working in their car. Now is the time tofind out if there is a car with no workingP.A.! All is well today everybody answering.

Coach attendants are busy setting head-rest covers on the backs of seats. Theycheck the restrooms and trash bins, All isokay, Our train really is ready, as made thatway by our right and ready crew in the IvyCity yard. We have no big hangups to hin-der this train today.

Back in the dining-car, I go over the pas-senger manifest with my crew, this briefingusually includes the entire crew. We have65 people in sleeper accommodations.That’s about one and half cars The twowaiters plan accordingly. The remainder ofthe passenger list is in coach. The dinning-car will be divided off into two sections,one for each accommodation we have. Mybuddy Fletcher is taking the coach side onthis trip. That’s okay, he prefers it to bethat way. He does not know nor do we thatin Indiana at 8am, we’ll get 20 Amish folkboarding in the morning. They are quietpeople by nature, but as I have found out,are very nice to deal with. Some actuallytip! They’re going to Chicago to shop!

It is 2:30pm. A big jerk is given to thetrain. We are backing down to the station.Our train has two GE Genesis locomotiveson the head end. A local yard crew and itslittle switch engine is performing the choreof backing the Capitol Limited down to themany tracks of Union Station. Our usualplace to board passengers, is the lowerlevel of tracks. We come to stop on track23, the mail cars are added to our lastcoach. After this is done, our train’s rearportion is in the tunnel that takes the

3 8

worker; it’s out to clerk’s office to sign overthe paper work. Any bad counting of fooditems on my part, and if I give back thepaper work reflecting a bad or wrongcount, could result in me paying back thedifference to Amtrak. The form that has allthe food printed on it, is called the “896Form.” And the 896 is at least eight pageslong. The Chef is with me, he was goingover the food as well, making sure he wasgiven all the spices and other supportitems he’ll need. Some chefs cook theinstant way; others make meals fromscratch. We are carrying some extra spicestoday because our chef cooks from scratch,the evening meal tastes good already!Everything looks okay on paper, so I signover the 896. It’s a few minutes to 12noon.

The Amtrak van is about to show up andtake us to the train at 12:30pm. Our train isparked in the Ivy City yard not an impossi-ble walk by any means, but since I willwalk plenty on my big Superliner homeaway from home, I opt for the van to takeme to the train. Other crew members gath-er for the van as well. One of waitersassigned to the dinning-car is a dear friendof mine that I made while we were class-mates in our initial hiring class. He’s a railfan, his name is Fletcher, and I told him Iworked on the Norfolk Southern steam pro-gram. His face lit up! He said he recalls see-ing my picture in a magazine concerningone of those trips. We become instant bud-dies, talking about trains whenever wewere assigned the same train. Both of usnever bothered by any racial background, Ibecame Fletcher’s little Caucasian rail fan

friend. As he first notices that I’m the din-ing-car LSA, he says “Oh boy! We’re gonnahave a fun trip today!”

Minutes later, we pile ourselves and ourluggage into the van, and sometimes whatis piled in, is not actually small. down theside of the yard we go. We pass the pockettrack that has three AEM-7 electric locomo-tives waiting to be serviced. The littleengines get their windshields washed, andsand tanks refilled here; Our train sits on atrack that is near the Acela service building.Our train is nine cars long. The van stopsalong side the crew-dorm, “transition-sleep-er” car. This is where the crew sleeps dur-ing those few hours we’ll get to do so. Wehaul ourselves and luggage up to the topfloor of the car, and make our way to ourrooms. On some trips and with crews, thesame person picks the same room. On thelower level, is an area with tables to beused by the Conductor and his assistantconductor. Bathrooms and shower stalls arealso downstairs. Sometimes the crew isnice enough to not take the bigger handi-capped accessible room downstairs. Todaythe crew’s generosity is extended. I amgiven the first choice for the bigger room. Itake it! It’s almost 1pm.

The real work begins in getting this trainready for 250 guests. Sleeping car atten-dants go to their respective cars and startthe job of operating a hotel on wheels.They have to wait for the linen truck toshow up and deliver the sheets and blan-kets that will make 44 beds for travelers.Coffee makers must be cleaned and firedup to make the brew that gives off a warmaroma that will make its way through out

Small Railsby Dave Meashey

The Roanoke Valley Model Engineershave completed the framework for a

new portable layout. It will allow the clubto participate in train shows. Presently theclub is holding a track plan contest todetermine how track for the new layoutwill be structured.

The Big Lick Big Train Operators heldtheir July meeting at my home, onSaturday, July 14th. Everyone had a goodtime, and homemade ice cream was servedas part of the refreshments. The gangmust have enjoyed the gathering, as it didnot break up until about 5:30 p.m.

No one brought anything to run, so myMOW train had the layout to itself.Despite some track settling, the heavyDunkirk logging locomotive could handlethe grades at a brisk pace. My wife and Ihope to build a new garden railway closerto our house in a few years, so I havedecided to invest minimal effort into gradeeasements on the present layout.

A new grade crossing shanty and gateswere on display at this meeting, as well asa new mine. The crossing shanty was a kit.The mine was a scratchbuilt and kitbashedstructure. The mine shaft entrance wasscratchbuilt from wood. Mine buggy trackwas kitbashed from HO gauge code 100 flextrack by removing about every other tiefrom the track. The ore bin was kitbashedfrom my old Bachmann O&S scalePlasticville locomotive coaling tower. Thisstructure is 40+ years old. Now it has anew life on the garden railroad.

Book Reviewby John Austen

Short Lines: A Collection of ClassicAmerican Railroad Stories edited by RobJohnson; 1996; St. Martin’s Press, 175 FifthAvenue, New York NY, 10010; 9-1/2” x 6-1/4”, 244pp. + xi; $23.95

This is a delightful sampling of the bestrailroad fiction ever written. It would

be the perfect text for a survey course inthe genre. Fiction allows the reader tosavor the flavor of the times, in this casethe golden age of railroading in America;these fourteen stories were originally pub-lished between 1897 and 1941. The bookconcludes with a few pages of Notes onthe Authors.

Those already familiar with railroad fic-tion will meet some old friends here suchas Eddie Sand in Harry Bedwell’s SmartBoomer (after many appearances inRailroad magazine) and Epic Peters, thesouth’s most famous Pullman porter, atleast to readers of the Saturday EveningPost in the 1920’s. You will also encountersome surprising echoes of other art forms,such as Rudyard Kipling’s .007 published in1898 (no, it’s not about James Bond), inwhich the characters are personified loco-motives: sort of an adult version ofThomas The Tank Engine and friends. Andyou may be surprised to learn, in Mrs.Union Station, published in 1901, thatmodel railways were already a well estab-lished obsession. There are frustratingtales of disillusionment (The Octopus andThe Far And The Near), as well as inspiring

7 4

tales of courage such as Frank Packard’sThe Night Operator. Jack London, CyWarman, Frank Spearman and O. Henry arealso represented here, among others.

Many of us enjoy fiction for it’s ownsake. But it can also serve to flesh out thesometimes dry bones of historical narrativeand statistics, placing things in context. Itcan also remind us of the primacy of rail-roads in people’s lives a century ago, whenthe railroads were many things to manypeople: almost the only means of trans-portation; a major employer; really BigBusiness; the most modern High Techglamour industry; etc.

Take a step back in time with this classiccollection of railroad fiction. Short Lines isanother fine offering from St. Martin’sPress, whose authors have visited NRHSchapters before: Joseph Vranich(Supertrains) and James Porterfield (DiningBy Rail) were featured speakers atWashington Chapter annual banquets, forexample.

John AustenArlington VA

Just What is an L.S.A.?by Gary Ballard

The three letters LSA, stand for LeadService Attendant, Being an LSA means

you are at the top when it comes to onboard personnel. at Amtrak. All the eyesnow come to you. Only one person gets tokeep and record money coming in fromsales on the train (outside the ticket faresthe Conductor collects)… that’s the LSA.

When a special train is operated, only LSA’sare selected to crew it. On the Acela highspeed train, only LSA qualified people canbe part of the crew. In order to meet andgreet the stars of Hollywood, and theimportant world figures that governnations, who all, ride the Metrolinersbetween Washington and New York City,you have to be promoted from coach atten-dant to LSA. On the long haul trains thatAmtrak operates, the LSA becomes moreimportant to the over all operation of thetrain and crew. This LSA either operates thedining-car or the lounge-car.

By the way, for those who do not know…the Amtrak’ dining-car LSA now looks overmuch of the train, like the on-board Chiefonce did. The Chief position is beingphased out this year. So the dinning-carLSA pretty much takes care of minor prob-lems that are encountered along the trip,with the passengers and crew!

On long haul trips, the LSA makes theopening P.A. announcements to the passen-gers, as the train pulls out from the stationHe or she makes dinner calls. This LSAtakes charge of the meal tickets and is sole-ly responsible for the revenue brought induring meal. periods. The dining-car carriesa tremendous amount of stock, all of thesilverware, table linens and the food,which includes support items to preparemeals with... a job that the dining car LSAis responsible for. A job that offers higherpay as well!

My first days at Amtrak had my goingfrom coach attendant, working my way upto the higher paying job of LSA in the din-ing-car. With this company for which I

work, the proving ground for one to getthrough, is the position of dining-car LSA.To get to the fast trains of the NortheastCorridor, you have to become dining-carLSA first! Being LSA on the long haul trainsis somewhere like being in charge of a finecruise-ship and noisy kindergarten roomThere is never a dull or quiet moment.After six months of being dinning-car LSA(you could also be lounge-car LSA) and dis-playing the obvious fact that you’re stillalive and that you have pulled all your hairout.. .you are given the chance to bid ontrains of the “corridor” as we simply call it.Now, I reminded myself of those NorfolkSouthern “Independence Limited” we allused to do. . with 24 cars, 900 passengersand changing over the passenger load everytwo stops!!! I then realized that a nine cartrain and 300 people could be doable.

The dinning-car is the Mecca for excite-ment on a long distance train, to say theleast. The LSA must report many hours,before the train departs the station. And heor she must count many items before thechef lights up the stove.

The Capitol Limited, train no.29 west-bound (it’s #30, going east) departsWashington D.C every day at 4:05pm. Thedinning-car LSA reports for work at10:30am! My trip in from my Cedar homein Crownsville, MD begins at 9:00am, giv-ing myself plenty of time for the 25 milejourney. (don’t laugh unless you’ve drivenin traffic in our lovely nation’s capitol ).

I report to the Ivy City engine facility. Myarrival is 9:35 am, no problems on the road,although my car radio never left the 15-AMspot on the dial for WTOP news radio. The

station gives traffic reports on the “eights”of every hour. Today’s journey to work wasspotless. I drag along with me; my suitcaseon wheels which is loaded with clothesand job related tools for three days. In thewintertime, I carry along my Amtrak dark-blue parka coat in case Murphy’s Lawthinks it’s okay for me to stand along thetracks in the middle of the night in Toledo.

Upstairs I go in the personnel buildingwhich are also the busy confines of ourcommissary people. It’s in this building Iget all the information regarding today’strip. I am briefed on sleeper car loadingsand any special handling needs of any ofour guests. I then load a large plastic bag ofsigns that say “no smoking” or “restroomout of order.” I also put in the bag, somecoloring books that may be an eye openingtreat for a small child that comes my wayin the dinning-car. (sometimes a coloringbook hushes up a loud child in heartbeat).With all my belongings in order, my othercrew members stroll in. It’s 10:50am, all iswell.

My next job ‘of preparing for today’s triptakes me downstairs to very cold climate. Ihave to go into the giant food locker andcount the food items that are used on thetrain. The food locker is kept close to 34degrees, this keeps the milk, beef, pork,eggs, noodles and beer within FDA regulat-ed temperatures. This also is what turnsmy lips bluer and freezes up my ball pointpen. The LSA suit that I wear is going tohave to keep me warm, it’s May, and mywarm parka is at home.

Once the food is counted and any miss-ing items are given-tome by a commissary

An occasion columnappearing in theTurntable Times.

HistorianKenneth L. Miller

Any material of interestcomments or correctionsmay be submitted toRoanoke Chapter NRHSArchives, attn Ken Miller, P.O. Box 13222, Roanoke, VA24032.

All material appearing in this sec-tion is copyrighted ©2000 byKenneth L. Miller and may not bereproduced without express writ-ten permission from the author.

5

The N&W’sAdvertisingDepartment pro-duced advertise-ments for a widevariety of subjectsover the years, itwas not all justpassenger trainsand freight. Justtwo of the manysamples aredepicted here.From RobinShavers collectioncomes a 1956advertisement aspart of a campaignon the history ofN&W, this one fea-turing HighBridge. At theright from KenMiller is one ofthe public serviceads, not evenmentioning therailroad! This onewas produced inSeptember, 1954just in time forschool. Unliketoday when astock photo wouldhave been used,N&W photogra-phers actuallywent out and setup the photo ofthe little girl andher mother.

An occasion columnappearing in theTurntable Times.

HistorianKenneth L. Miller

Any material of interestcomments or correctionsmay be submitted toRoanoke Chapter NRHSArchives, attn Ken Miller, P.O. Box 13222, Roanoke, VA24032.

All material appearing in this sec-tion is copyrighted ©2000 byKenneth L. Miller and may not bereproduced without express writ-ten permission from the author.

5

The N&W’sAdvertisingDepartment pro-duced advertise-ments for a widevariety of subjectsover the years, itwas not all justpassenger trainsand freight. Justtwo of the manysamples aredepicted here.From RobinShavers collectioncomes a 1956advertisement aspart of a campaignon the history ofN&W, this one fea-turing HighBridge. At theright from KenMiller is one ofthe public serviceads, not evenmentioning therailroad! This onewas produced inSeptember, 1954just in time forschool. Unliketoday when astock photo wouldhave been used,N&W photogra-phers actuallywent out and setup the photo ofthe little girl andher mother.

7 4

tales of courage such as Frank Packard’sThe Night Operator. Jack London, CyWarman, Frank Spearman and O. Henry arealso represented here, among others.

Many of us enjoy fiction for it’s ownsake. But it can also serve to flesh out thesometimes dry bones of historical narrativeand statistics, placing things in context. Itcan also remind us of the primacy of rail-roads in people’s lives a century ago, whenthe railroads were many things to manypeople: almost the only means of trans-portation; a major employer; really BigBusiness; the most modern High Techglamour industry; etc.

Take a step back in time with this classiccollection of railroad fiction. Short Lines isanother fine offering from St. Martin’sPress, whose authors have visited NRHSchapters before: Joseph Vranich(Supertrains) and James Porterfield (DiningBy Rail) were featured speakers atWashington Chapter annual banquets, forexample.

John AustenArlington VA

Just What is an L.S.A.?by Gary Ballard

The three letters LSA, stand for LeadService Attendant, Being an LSA means

you are at the top when it comes to onboard personnel. at Amtrak. All the eyesnow come to you. Only one person gets tokeep and record money coming in fromsales on the train (outside the ticket faresthe Conductor collects)… that’s the LSA.

When a special train is operated, only LSA’sare selected to crew it. On the Acela highspeed train, only LSA qualified people canbe part of the crew. In order to meet andgreet the stars of Hollywood, and theimportant world figures that governnations, who all, ride the Metrolinersbetween Washington and New York City,you have to be promoted from coach atten-dant to LSA. On the long haul trains thatAmtrak operates, the LSA becomes moreimportant to the over all operation of thetrain and crew. This LSA either operates thedining-car or the lounge-car.

By the way, for those who do not know…the Amtrak’ dining-car LSA now looks overmuch of the train, like the on-board Chiefonce did. The Chief position is beingphased out this year. So the dinning-carLSA pretty much takes care of minor prob-lems that are encountered along the trip,with the passengers and crew!

On long haul trips, the LSA makes theopening P.A. announcements to the passen-gers, as the train pulls out from the stationHe or she makes dinner calls. This LSAtakes charge of the meal tickets and is sole-ly responsible for the revenue brought induring meal. periods. The dining-car carriesa tremendous amount of stock, all of thesilverware, table linens and the food,which includes support items to preparemeals with... a job that the dining car LSAis responsible for. A job that offers higherpay as well!

My first days at Amtrak had my goingfrom coach attendant, working my way upto the higher paying job of LSA in the din-ing-car. With this company for which I

work, the proving ground for one to getthrough, is the position of dining-car LSA.To get to the fast trains of the NortheastCorridor, you have to become dining-carLSA first! Being LSA on the long haul trainsis somewhere like being in charge of a finecruise-ship and noisy kindergarten roomThere is never a dull or quiet moment.After six months of being dinning-car LSA(you could also be lounge-car LSA) and dis-playing the obvious fact that you’re stillalive and that you have pulled all your hairout.. .you are given the chance to bid ontrains of the “corridor” as we simply call it.Now, I reminded myself of those NorfolkSouthern “Independence Limited” we allused to do. . with 24 cars, 900 passengersand changing over the passenger load everytwo stops!!! I then realized that a nine cartrain and 300 people could be doable.

The dinning-car is the Mecca for excite-ment on a long distance train, to say theleast. The LSA must report many hours,before the train departs the station. And heor she must count many items before thechef lights up the stove.

The Capitol Limited, train no.29 west-bound (it’s #30, going east) departsWashington D.C every day at 4:05pm. Thedinning-car LSA reports for work at10:30am! My trip in from my Cedar homein Crownsville, MD begins at 9:00am, giv-ing myself plenty of time for the 25 milejourney. (don’t laugh unless you’ve drivenin traffic in our lovely nation’s capitol ).

I report to the Ivy City engine facility. Myarrival is 9:35 am, no problems on the road,although my car radio never left the 15-AMspot on the dial for WTOP news radio. The

station gives traffic reports on the “eights”of every hour. Today’s journey to work wasspotless. I drag along with me; my suitcaseon wheels which is loaded with clothesand job related tools for three days. In thewintertime, I carry along my Amtrak dark-blue parka coat in case Murphy’s Lawthinks it’s okay for me to stand along thetracks in the middle of the night in Toledo.

Upstairs I go in the personnel buildingwhich are also the busy confines of ourcommissary people. It’s in this building Iget all the information regarding today’strip. I am briefed on sleeper car loadingsand any special handling needs of any ofour guests. I then load a large plastic bag ofsigns that say “no smoking” or “restroomout of order.” I also put in the bag, somecoloring books that may be an eye openingtreat for a small child that comes my wayin the dinning-car. (sometimes a coloringbook hushes up a loud child in heartbeat).With all my belongings in order, my othercrew members stroll in. It’s 10:50am, all iswell.

My next job ‘of preparing for today’s triptakes me downstairs to very cold climate. Ihave to go into the giant food locker andcount the food items that are used on thetrain. The food locker is kept close to 34degrees, this keeps the milk, beef, pork,eggs, noodles and beer within FDA regulat-ed temperatures. This also is what turnsmy lips bluer and freezes up my ball pointpen. The LSA suit that I wear is going tohave to keep me warm, it’s May, and mywarm parka is at home.

Once the food is counted and any miss-ing items are given-tome by a commissary

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worker; it’s out to clerk’s office to sign overthe paper work. Any bad counting of fooditems on my part, and if I give back thepaper work reflecting a bad or wrongcount, could result in me paying back thedifference to Amtrak. The form that has allthe food printed on it, is called the “896Form.” And the 896 is at least eight pageslong. The Chef is with me, he was goingover the food as well, making sure he wasgiven all the spices and other supportitems he’ll need. Some chefs cook theinstant way; others make meals fromscratch. We are carrying some extra spicestoday because our chef cooks from scratch,the evening meal tastes good already!Everything looks okay on paper, so I signover the 896. It’s a few minutes to 12noon.

The Amtrak van is about to show up andtake us to the train at 12:30pm. Our train isparked in the Ivy City yard not an impossi-ble walk by any means, but since I willwalk plenty on my big Superliner homeaway from home, I opt for the van to takeme to the train. Other crew members gath-er for the van as well. One of waitersassigned to the dinning-car is a dear friendof mine that I made while we were class-mates in our initial hiring class. He’s a railfan, his name is Fletcher, and I told him Iworked on the Norfolk Southern steam pro-gram. His face lit up! He said he recalls see-ing my picture in a magazine concerningone of those trips. We become instant bud-dies, talking about trains whenever wewere assigned the same train. Both of usnever bothered by any racial background, Ibecame Fletcher’s little Caucasian rail fan

friend. As he first notices that I’m the din-ing-car LSA, he says “Oh boy! We’re gonnahave a fun trip today!”

Minutes later, we pile ourselves and ourluggage into the van, and sometimes whatis piled in, is not actually small. down theside of the yard we go. We pass the pockettrack that has three AEM-7 electric locomo-tives waiting to be serviced. The littleengines get their windshields washed, andsand tanks refilled here; Our train sits on atrack that is near the Acela service building.Our train is nine cars long. The van stopsalong side the crew-dorm, “transition-sleep-er” car. This is where the crew sleeps dur-ing those few hours we’ll get to do so. Wehaul ourselves and luggage up to the topfloor of the car, and make our way to ourrooms. On some trips and with crews, thesame person picks the same room. On thelower level, is an area with tables to beused by the Conductor and his assistantconductor. Bathrooms and shower stalls arealso downstairs. Sometimes the crew isnice enough to not take the bigger handi-capped accessible room downstairs. Todaythe crew’s generosity is extended. I amgiven the first choice for the bigger room. Itake it! It’s almost 1pm.

The real work begins in getting this trainready for 250 guests. Sleeping car atten-dants go to their respective cars and startthe job of operating a hotel on wheels.They have to wait for the linen truck toshow up and deliver the sheets and blan-kets that will make 44 beds for travelers.Coffee makers must be cleaned and firedup to make the brew that gives off a warmaroma that will make its way through out

Small Railsby Dave Meashey

The Roanoke Valley Model Engineershave completed the framework for a

new portable layout. It will allow the clubto participate in train shows. Presently theclub is holding a track plan contest todetermine how track for the new layoutwill be structured.

The Big Lick Big Train Operators heldtheir July meeting at my home, onSaturday, July 14th. Everyone had a goodtime, and homemade ice cream was servedas part of the refreshments. The gangmust have enjoyed the gathering, as it didnot break up until about 5:30 p.m.

No one brought anything to run, so myMOW train had the layout to itself.Despite some track settling, the heavyDunkirk logging locomotive could handlethe grades at a brisk pace. My wife and Ihope to build a new garden railway closerto our house in a few years, so I havedecided to invest minimal effort into gradeeasements on the present layout.

A new grade crossing shanty and gateswere on display at this meeting, as well asa new mine. The crossing shanty was a kit.The mine was a scratchbuilt and kitbashedstructure. The mine shaft entrance wasscratchbuilt from wood. Mine buggy trackwas kitbashed from HO gauge code 100 flextrack by removing about every other tiefrom the track. The ore bin was kitbashedfrom my old Bachmann O&S scalePlasticville locomotive coaling tower. Thisstructure is 40+ years old. Now it has anew life on the garden railroad.

Book Reviewby John Austen

Short Lines: A Collection of ClassicAmerican Railroad Stories edited by RobJohnson; 1996; St. Martin’s Press, 175 FifthAvenue, New York NY, 10010; 9-1/2” x 6-1/4”, 244pp. + xi; $23.95

This is a delightful sampling of the bestrailroad fiction ever written. It would

be the perfect text for a survey course inthe genre. Fiction allows the reader tosavor the flavor of the times, in this casethe golden age of railroading in America;these fourteen stories were originally pub-lished between 1897 and 1941. The bookconcludes with a few pages of Notes onthe Authors.

Those already familiar with railroad fic-tion will meet some old friends here suchas Eddie Sand in Harry Bedwell’s SmartBoomer (after many appearances inRailroad magazine) and Epic Peters, thesouth’s most famous Pullman porter, atleast to readers of the Saturday EveningPost in the 1920’s. You will also encountersome surprising echoes of other art forms,such as Rudyard Kipling’s .007 published in1898 (no, it’s not about James Bond), inwhich the characters are personified loco-motives: sort of an adult version ofThomas The Tank Engine and friends. Andyou may be surprised to learn, in Mrs.Union Station, published in 1901, thatmodel railways were already a well estab-lished obsession. There are frustratingtales of disillusionment (The Octopus andThe Far And The Near), as well as inspiring

9 2

Mixed Freight - Augustby Mr. Robin R. Shavers

Afew months ago, I reported that NorfolkSouthern had plans to trim 12,000

freight cars from its fleet in an effort to cutcost and to bring the company more in linewith current rail freight transportationneeds. Just as members of the steel wheelfleet are being subtracted from NorfolkSouthern ownership, 1,000 rubber tiredvehicles are also on a like agenda. NS 21 is astudy within the company to improve cus-tomer service and reduce cost and thus pin-pointed the 12,000 cars and 1,000 vehiclessuch as sedans, large trucks and even someschool buses. NS estimates it will save up to$10 million annually because of the vehiclereduction and more efficient policies gov-erning the use of the remaining fleet.

During the latter part of the year 2000,the Blue Ridge Live Steamers decided not tohave run weekends in conjunction with hol-iday weekends. Most members have fami-lies that would much rather spend holidayweekends participating in more traditionalAmerican activities such as family gettogethers, hitting the beach, mountains ortheme parks. This new policy has reallyworked in our behalf. We recently had a runweekend during July 13th, 14th. July 15thwas mainly used as a pack it up and hit theroad day. Our next weekend run will beAugust 24th thru 26th.

I recently reported that OperationLifesaver had placed a billboard ad alongInterstate 95 a few months back. The infor-mation issued by the billboard focused onthe legalities of trespassing on railroadproperty within the state of Virginia. I men-tioned that I had no idea how many regular

people are aware of Virginia’s statue againsttrespassing on railroad property but mostout of state railfans are very much aware ofthe relatively new law. During personal vis-its to Ashland and Doswell on differentdates I’ve observed the following: Families,typical suburban types with their SUV orminivan will park nearby to observe thetrains. Before a train arrives, the entire fam-ily, usually 3 to 5 members, will place coinson the railhead. A train arrives, flattens thecoins, the family alights to the tracks toretrieve their coins. Usually, their search isunsuccessful and they will try again.Municipal cops may pass by and doabsolutely nothing. A few weeks ago whilein Doswell, a family was so busy trying tofind their flattened coins; they were totallyunaware of the oncoming danger until Iwarned them. Even then, they departed thedanger area reluctantly. What really bothersme with these situations is the fact that theareas are ideal locations for responsible rail-fans to enjoy their hobby without hassle. Adeath, serious injury or close call couldquickly change that. For those that MUSTknow, the train getting dangerously close tothe unsuspecting coin searchers wasAmtrak train # 89, the southboundPalmetto.

The annual Great American Train Showwill be pulling into Richmond the weekendof August 18th and 19th. The location willbe The Richmond Raceway Complex for-merly the Virginia State Fairgrounds at 600East Laburnum Avenue. Hours of the eventare from 11:00 am. til 5:00 pm. both days.Admission for attendees 12 and up is $6.00.For further information phone 630-834-0652.

the entire car. The attendant also preparesa wicker basket of mints and chocolatecookies, to be left out next to the coffeemaker.

The much talked about dining-car staffgoes to their location of duty…a cold car.The dining-car is a cold car when it isempty of the things it needs to be opera-tional. The crew will now make it opera-tional. Downstairs, the chef and his twoassistants will handle the food as it’s beingunloaded from the commissary truck. Thechef must do this quickly so the cool tem-perature of the food doesn’t change to adangerously warm level. The FDA says 40degrees and up to 140 degrees is the dan-ger zone (bacteria grows best in this range)the food is loaded fast without missing abeat, as usual. One floor above this busypace, the waiters are bringing up on thefood elevators or dumb-waiters, the sup-plies they’ll need for the trip, salad dress-ing, butter, jelly, napkins and glassware.The tables are dressed with real table-cloths, not the brown paper that was usedback in the 80’s. Place mats and silver wareare laid out. Today’s first meal will be theevening diners As for me, the lovely din-ing-car LSA, I assist the two waiters in whatthey’re doing. I also have to prepare mywork station, which will include an elec-tronic calculator with a paper roll-out tick-et. This ticket will be my proof in court, ifmy end of trip figures mismatch those ofAmtrak’s remit office. This is the decidingfactor on whether you’re given a debit,

The LSA makes test announcements overthe P.A. system at this time. Respective carattendants will answer back if the system

is working in their car. Now is the time tofind out if there is a car with no workingP.A.! All is well today everybody answering.

Coach attendants are busy setting head-rest covers on the backs of seats. Theycheck the restrooms and trash bins, All isokay, Our train really is ready, as made thatway by our right and ready crew in the IvyCity yard. We have no big hangups to hin-der this train today.

Back in the dining-car, I go over the pas-senger manifest with my crew, this briefingusually includes the entire crew. We have65 people in sleeper accommodations.That’s about one and half cars The twowaiters plan accordingly. The remainder ofthe passenger list is in coach. The dinning-car will be divided off into two sections,one for each accommodation we have. Mybuddy Fletcher is taking the coach side onthis trip. That’s okay, he prefers it to bethat way. He does not know nor do we thatin Indiana at 8am, we’ll get 20 Amish folkboarding in the morning. They are quietpeople by nature, but as I have found out,are very nice to deal with. Some actuallytip! They’re going to Chicago to shop!

It is 2:30pm. A big jerk is given to thetrain. We are backing down to the station.Our train has two GE Genesis locomotiveson the head end. A local yard crew and itslittle switch engine is performing the choreof backing the Capitol Limited down to themany tracks of Union Station. Our usualplace to board passengers, is the lowerlevel of tracks. We come to stop on track23, the mail cars are added to our lastcoach. After this is done, our train’s rearportion is in the tunnel that takes the

EDITORKenney Kirkman

MIXED FREIGHTRobin R. Shavers

SMALL RAILSDave Meashey

SPLINTERSBill Arnold

HISTORIANKenneth L. Miller

All materials should besent directly to the Editor:Kenney Kirkman590 Murphy RoadCollinsville, VA 24078-2128

Volume 33, Number 8August 2001

Turntable Times is publishedmonthly as the newsletter ofthe Roanoke Chapter, NationalRailway Historical Society, Inc.Opinions and points of viewexpressed herein are those ofthe staff members of theTurntable Times and not nec-essarily reflect those of themembers, officers or directorsof the Chapter.

RS-11 No. 342 leads EMD units on an eastbound time freightpassing under the Virginian’s massive bridge at Glyn Lyn, Virginiaduring a hot July day in 1959. In only a few months the N&Wdiesels will soon be running on that bridge as well. Norfolk andWestern Photo/K.L. Miller Collection

Cover Photo

Cards and FlowersIf you know of a Chapter Member who is sick, lost a loved one

or has a new birth in the family, please contact Bonnie Molinary.Bonnie is responsible for Chapter cards and flowers and can bereached at 362-0273.

Deadline for Turntable TimesThe deadline for the next issue of Turntable Times is Saturday,

August 18, 2001. Please send articles, information and allexchange newsletters to: Kenney Kirkman, Editor, TurntableTimes, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, Va. 24078-2128.

Material For Turntable TimesWe are always in need of articles, photos or news items for the

Turntable Times. Due to copyright restrictions, we cannot reprintarticles from many newspapers; a condensed or rewritten articlecrediting the source is acceptable.

From The Head End

The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Societywill hold its next general meeting on Thursday, August 16, 2001at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held at the First PresbyterianChurch on the corner of McClanahan and Crystal Spring Avenuein Roanoke.

Our August program will be “Independence LimitedInternational” by Carl Jensen. This program was postponed fromearly in the year, but is now back on the schedule and will beexcellent!

Meeting Notice

1 10

tracks under the U.S. Capitol, and onwardto points in Virginia, The attendants fromeach car step out onto the platform andwait for the moment our guests will comedown the escalator, and to their respectivecars. The chef opens his door to the Lower-level of the dining-car. He smiles, hiskitchen is ready. His steam bins are readyto place corn, carrots and mashed potatoesin. His two assistants are preparing freshgarden salads; a touch of red grapes isadded to each salad. The lounge-car LSA isalmost ready, she has all her “sodas” ready,the ice is ready and all of her snacks areout and ready for purchase. And I’m ready,too! All we need now is for this silver dou-ble decker train to be on time!

It’s 3:42 pm, we leave at 4:05pm. Chicagotomorrow morning!

Coming Soon!The Boomer

CSX will operate an office car special thatis due to pass Eagle Rock at 10:42 AM

on the 16th of this month. Upon arrival atWhite Sulphur Springs around one o'clockthe passenger extra will split into two sec-tions with one heading to Huntington at 2that afternoon followed by the other head-ing to Ashland KY at 3. The two consistswill be consolidated at Russell Yard thatPM before returning to Jacksonville overthe Clinchfield.

Apparently the Ashland section is for theladies who will transfer to Motor Coach atthe Ashland Amtrak Station for a shoppingtour????

Chapter Outing, Part 2by Jim Overholser

On Monday, September 24, 2001, theMountain State Railroad and Logging

Historical Association and the Cass ScenicRailroad State Park will operate an excur-sion from Cass, WV, to the old ghost townof Spruce, and then on the former WesternMaryland track now operated by the WestVirginia Central.

Leaving at 10 AM, the special gearedsteam train will operate to the "Big Cut" atover 4000 feet elevation and down Shaver'sFork of the Cheat River to Twin Bridges andis scheduled to return to Cass at about 5PM.

Jim Overholser has agreed to coordinate aspecial chapter outing for this trip. Byordering our tickets as a group we will save$5 per person.

Tickets include a box lunch with a hotentree and are $40 per person. We will carpool to Cass early on the morning ofSeptember 24 and return that night or,alternatively, you can make your ownarrangements for lodging and driving ifyou want to go up the day before.

Sign up at the August Chapter meeting orcontact Jim Overholser (343-1928). Weneed at least ten people for the group rate.Make your checks (for $40 per person)payable to the Roanoke Chapter NRHS.

CondolencesOur thoughts and prayers go out to

Membership Chairperson Lawanda Ely onthe loss of her mother on August 4th.

Right at press time we received word thatDorothy Kelch had passed away on August9th. We will have more next month.

Volume 33, Number 8 August 2001

The Official Newsletter of the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc.

Turntable Times

In the May issue of Turntable Times,Kenney Kirkman had an article regarding

the future direction and format of thisnewsletter.

He asked for input from the readers, todate we have only had two or three respons-es from this article, we know there must bemore interest in this subject than has beenshown, we urge you to submit your opinion,either in writing or via email:

Please forward your comments to eitherKenney Kirkman at his Collinsville, Virginiaaddress listed within Turntable Times or toKenney at kkirkman50@hotmail.com Oryou may contact Ken Miller at:KMiller611@aol.com Or you may contactKenney Kirkman or Ken Miller in care of theChapter P.O. Box if you wish.

Turntable Times is published monthly as the newsletter of the Roanoke Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc. Opinions and points ofview expressed herein are those of the staff members of the Turntable Times and not necessarily reflect those of the members, officers or directorsof the Chapter. Items of interest should be sent to Editor Kenny Kirkman, 590 Murphy Road, Collinsville, VA 24078-2128.

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDRoanoke, VA

Permit No. 89

Editor, Turntable TimesRoanoke Chapter NRHSP.O. Box 13222Roanoke, VA 24032-1322

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS

August 16, 2001General Meeting

September 4, 2001Board Meeting, 7:30 pm

September 20, 2001General Meeting

September 24, 2001Cass Outing

October 2, 2001Board Meeting

October 18, 2001General Meeting