Looks like a tool box on the walkway. Seems as though an odd place for it. No obvious maintenance work it the picture, so could it have fallen off an m-o-w car?
Looks to me with it being chained to the railing and on a type of bridge with a building that appears to be a railroad structure in the background that it houses some type of tools or equipment that is needed occasionally for operations or repair.
I'm not sure what it was there for. I was standing on what was a portion of the passenger platform, so maybe they kept rock salt in it? Back in August of 1983 when I took this photo, historic Harpers Ferry was a quiet little place. Even found a nice little hobby shop in town where I bought a book on the B&O. Thirty years later when I again visited, the place was packed with tourists, there was no place to park and the hobby shop was long gone.
Came across these random slides, all shot in April 1988. B&O piggyback trailer in maintenance service in Quinnimont, WV: MD Cabin at Meadow Creek, WV, controlling the junction where the branch to Rainelle, WV meets the mainline. I'm thinking those fine looking semaphore signals were for train orders? CR GE B23-7 at Dickinson, WV. An extremity of the mighty NYC probed deep into the coalfields, gathering tonnage and interchanging with the C&O and VGN.
Three shots at Martinsburg, WV on the former B&O main. The station also served as a hotel when built sometime in the 1850s. This is how it looked in 1994. After renovation and an addition, in 2003 it looked like this: A Virginia Railway Express train is seen at the expanded station in 2008 behind ATK power.
Was there also a depot at Meadow Creek? I am thinking those are indeed train order signals. If MD was the only site in that vicinity, no depot, then yes. I have at least one C&O order copied as "Meadow Creek". Also, do you know anything about a jointly owned/leased by NYC and C&O operation in that same place, Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbrier RR?
There was no depot at Meadow Creek when I visited; MD Cabin was the only structure evident in my image below. Cool that you have a train order from MD! I've heard of the NF&G, but don't know much about it, other than I think it settled some sort of access dispute between the C&O and NYC.
Evening everyone, Last fall my wife and I and my parents took a tour in Europe of rail lines dating back to the late 1800's through about WW2. It was set up by an outfit called LGB Tours and was aimed primarily at model railroaders which we are. It included a lengthy tour of some rail yards, the Marklin factory, cog railroads and several restoration projects dealing mostly with steam power and we traveled in eastern Europe, Germany, Austria and Hungary. In addition to rail travel there were excellent if somewhat fast paced tours of a number of cities and two dinner cruises on rivers. If something like this is of interest look into it, well worth the cost. Among other things, I discovered that all the cities we visited had more than a few model train shops and the worst of the bunch was very good. I actually found a pantograph for my HO layout and I've been looking for one in the states for years. Anyway, this is not meant to be an ad for the tour company but we had such good access to everything that I got a ton of photographs including a lot of detail shots for future model projects. I'll post several here as I get them edited. Let me know what you think. Rick H.
In October 1994 my wife and I went on the hunt for B&O interlocking towers that stood at the time. We found quite a few. Here are four of them. W Tower at West Cumbo [Hedgesville], WV. Moving west from Martinsburg, this tower was at the east end of an alternate Low Grade line. Torn down in 2000. R Tower (also known as Miller Tower) was located at the west end of the Low Grade line at Cherry Run, WV. It also controlled the WM's connection nearby at Big Pool. Happily, Miller was saved and moved to the museum site at Martinsburg. HO Tower at Hancock, WV controlled the junction with the Berkeley Springs branch. It was closed in 2007 and demolished. FN Tower at Patterson Creek, WV controlled the Patterson Creek Cutoff which routed trains around busy Cumberland, MD. It was built tall to enhance visibility. Built in the late 1950s, it was closed in 1974. Not sure if it still stands.
Cool. I have orders from all but FN. Just curious here- Some years ago, a friend who is a big B&O fan was trying to help me locate these places. He told me that West Cumbo meant "West Columbia". Is this in any way different from Hedgesville? He also gave me HO as being Hobbs, WV. Are these two then just railroad names which do not attach otherwise, locally?
I'm not sure, but it sure does get confusing. The backstories you were told are likely true, but as you wrote, these are unrecognized place names. I like to use location names as commonly found on highway maps, so that locations can be more easily found. As an example, if someone looks up West Columbia, WV, they'll find that it's 300 miles from W Tower's location in Hedgesville and Hobbs, WV doesn't appear on any map.
Further west on the B&O main is Cumberland, MD, site of a large yard and of Viaduct Jct. where the mainline splits to Chicago and St. Louis. The junction was controlled by ND Tower and its armstrong plant, closed 01/22/1997 and demolished 07/24/1997 [Photo from October 1993] Friends and I first visited Viaduct Junction in November 1981 and caught some nice action under overcast skies.
That is real history for an Armstrong Tower. The Leverman was controlling NINE (9) turnouts and signals on his left hand pipe run alone. Can't see his right hand pipe run.
When it's overcast out, sometimes you can process in b/w. "Dreary Day Grainer" A westbound grain train chugs through the plant at Soo Tower interlocking enroute to the west coast.
I was happy to catch another WM SD-40 leading at Sand Patch that same weekend. You can almost hear the magnificent sound of this lashup.