Rainy Day in Roanoke

After leaving Cass West Virginia, we traveled further south on 81 until we reached Roanoke Virginia.  This is a real hub for the Norfolk Southern as it receives traffic from Harrisburg, Norfolk and places west over the Poki Route.  It is still home to many coal drags heading for Norfolk Ship loading.  Our first stop is the JK Tower at the old Virginian Railroad Depot.

 

 South Yard is on the old Norfolk and Western and there is a junction at Tower JK with the old Virginian Railroad

 Here is a westbound with  DPUs going by Tower JK formerly known as Walnut Ave Tower

 A Coal drag grinds to a halt in the only track left in South Yard.

 An example of Virginian Search Light Signals located at the Norfolk Southern Shops

 Closeup of the turntable

 This photo shows the camera where big brother is eying the parking lot.

 A local approaching from the NE.  In the background you can see the large shop buildings.  It sure would be something to get a visit inside there.

 The turntable is in the middle of a Y and you can see the servicing track tower in the foreground.

 An overall view of the area

 Some vintage stuff on the shop track

 We moved NE along the side of the shops and were amazed how large this area is.  Being a holiday weekend there was not much action.  However I was very impressed with the scenery.

 A closer view of this shop unit.  It  really is starting to show its age.

 Now if only a train would come by

 No luck oh well.

 How about this old beast.

 Switchers in the north yard.  This area expands to 66 tracks wide.

 Now what happened here

 Looks like these E units have seen better days

 Ah a Baldwin and crane.

 More shop areas with turntable and transfer table.

 Here are a few attempts at catching this area but the fences and access were not great for photos.

All in all it was a great day even though the weather was the pits.  However, we did see some new rail yards and trains.