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Norfolk & Western Electrics by Mason Y Cooper Hard Cover FIRST EDITION
Norfolk and Western Electrics by Mason Y Cooper
Hard Cover FIRST EDITION
Copyright 2000
128 pages Indexed
CONTENTS
1. The Challenge 1
2. Searching for a Solution 12
3. A New Way of Working 27
4. Electrification 48
5. Working on the Railroad 67
6. Indian Summer94
Epilogue 113
Electric operations are an untold part of the Norfolk & Western Railway story. Existing in the shadow of the road's legendary steam program, it is understandable that its operations were overlooked. But without the benefit of electric traction in the early 1900's, the company would have faced far more difficulties in moving coal. Initial expansion through the barrier of Flat Top Mountain was done with a temporary feeder branch, which almost by chance became a part of the railroad's main line. Connecting to this branch on the western end of this feeder line the easily graded Ohio Extension was attached. This Ohio Extension eventually reached markets via Columbus and Cincinnati. Linking lines east and west, the original steeply graded and tightly curved Elkhorn coal line became a bottleneck to train movement. With mining in a high rate of production, little land or opportunity existed for right of way improvements. Instead, N&W sought out the best available motive power to move the heavy traffic... a trademark for which the road would become well known. Compounding these transportation difficulties was the ever-expanding number of coal loading facilities. As soon as one remedy was achieved, demand for increased service would overrun the solution.
By 1910, the level of coal traffic had outstripped contemporary developments in steam motive power. Concurrently, improvements in electric traction brought this alternate form of motive power to the attention of Norfolk & Western. Although several key features of the system finally selected were at that time untested, installation proceeded. Norfolk & Western's electrification of the Elkhorn Extension was the first A.C. powered mountain railroad. The operation was widely studied and copied. This led to development of similar electric applications worldwide. Among the innovations, the system introduced the use of split-phase locomotives in the United States. These permitted higher operating speeds for trains on flatter portions of the road while reserving a lower speed-high torque setting for the Elkhorn grade. Additionally the electrification project was the first use of electric regeneration for train braking. Before this application, regeneration was largely a theory that had been attempted only once on a light European line.
Electric operations on the Norfolk & Western are an interesting tale. The system was pressed into the most difficult type of service on the railroad, overcame unforeseen teething problems, and prospered. Full planned development of the system was cut short by traffic shifts, a failed merger and finally economic downturn. The operation matured and quietly went about its duties, tucked away almost unnoticed deep in the Pocahontas coalfields. Eventually, mining activity abetted and allowed a right of way realignment which brought about an end to electric operations.
Norfolk & Western continued going about the business of moving coal while initiating an expansion of its railroad system. Events conspired to put the company back in electric traction in 1959 when it inherited a revitalized electric train operation through merger with Virginian Railway, capable of operating well into the future. The usefulness of this electric system was cut short by a change of operating scheme by the newly combined railroad.
This story is not light reading, but is intended to leave one with an understanding of the workings of N&W's particular operating system. This work was assembled using three sources of information. The Norfolk & Western Railway Collection, part of the Special Collections Section at VPI&SU, proved to be a most valuable asset. A good portion of the photographs used to illustrate this work are a part of this collection. The Interstate Commerce Commission Library provided material concerning railroad accidents. Finally, the Norfolk & Western Historical Society Archives provided material accumulated by its members as well as records recently deemed surplus by the Norfolk Southern Corporation.
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