Gate City, VA: Lost/Southern Depot

(Satellite, the house track that went behind the depot still exists.)

Ron Flanary posted

Stopped for a 31...

This is not one of my shots, but it’s a “good un,” and it deserves to be shared. The photographer was my friend Steve Patterson. This was Gate City, Va. on July 16, 1966. Old head railroaders might figure out what’s happening here. The train (No. 82 from Andover to Bulls Gap, Tenn.) had stopped because of the “stop” indication on the eastbound train order semaphore. The engineer had just climbed back on after signing a Form 31 train order. A likely scenario was the Knoxville east end dispatcher had decided to advance a westbound train against No. 82’s schedule. Eastbound trains are superior to westbounds of the same class, but he might have chosen to have 82 wait at Yuma or Surgoinsville for a particular westbound, particularly if 82 was a non-clearing train (too long for the siding). A Form 31, which required engineer and conductor signatures, just made absolutely sure a crew understood its operating authority in the timetable had been modified.

Steve noted No. 82 had 11,249 tons of coal and steel this day. The white number boards on SD35 3009 indicated a Locotrol lead unit, so a “cracker box” receiver car and three more SDs were mid train. The B-unit was just along for the ride. It was probably DIT (dead in tow) for Knoxville or Chattanooga for mechanical attention.

The Gate City depot also held the office for the track supervisor. My friend Steve Warner was one of several who held down this job over the years.

Thanks, Steve P, for taking some time from your vacation visit back to your hometown of Kingsport to get this shot. At the time, Steve was a year into an eventual 42 year career with the Santa Fe and BNSF.

Jerry Sullivan: That picture is from about when we started R&R tests on the unit coal trains using the Test Department caboose, X-2913. 18 months or so later, we had the R-1 and used it to measure the track geometry as well. Glad to see the explanation of "31 orders". They were rare comparted to "19 orders" but I have one in my personal collection that covers track work between Smiths Grove and Cave City on the L&N Main line from back in the 1950s and I have almost finished an explanation of this and what a telegrapher did, for my help with education projects on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR.

1935/35 Gate City Quad @ 24,000

Apr 25, 1969 @ 24,000; AR1VCCL00040094