December 2009 Article

This Month's Article - December 2009

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

A rabbit running through the woods on Christmas week might have a tough time getting by the N&A as the engineer frequently loved to stop and pinch off a few aiming at our poor dear animal friends. It must be quite a site this week with snow on the ground and the memory of a saddle tank engine chuffing down the track with a single boxcar, hopper, and the lonely combine trailing the rear. With smoke drifting off in the cold wind, our train inched closer and closer to Esmont where a brief stop would allow for the inclusion of a load of pulpwood before heading into Warren and meeting with the C&O. It's really fun to visualize the moments gone past and the excitement that has been the past few months of researching and writing about the Nelson & Albemarle Railway. There are many that have the answers and photographs needed to fill the blanks that are part of this story and again I give credit to those who came before me and those who will follow. So, while this is a time of reminiscence over how the N&A must have looked so many years ago, pre-1950 with steam blowing and hard work to move soapstone, it is also a time to celebrate the renewed interest and love for a small standard-gauge shortline railroad and to wish each of you a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year!

Rob Peters, Editor.