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by Matt Schaefer
Passenger Trains Line Up at Ronceverte for the Veteran's Picnic. Note the doddlebug and coaling tower in the background. (M. Schaefer photo)
Did you know the station with the largest passenger train traffic on the C&O System may have been on the Alleghany Subdivision - at least in the 50's? Yes the C&O had some trains to the Kentucky Derby on the L&N and troop train specials but how many trains just in one day? Ronceverte had the likes of 6 specials in and 6 out for the C&O Veterans Association picnic! How would you like to model such operations mixed in with scheduled passenger trains and the manifests going both ways and even the Durbin doodlebug?
My dad was secretary of the C&O Vets Association and later Superintendent of Safety and Fire Prevention. He organised these picnics held at Lewisburg for years. Typically, in September passenger business would drop off and extra equipment would be available to service the event. I attended the picnic on Sept. 15, 1956 and witnessed long trains backed up in all directions in and out of Ronceverte. Air conditioned Greyhound type buses shuttled everybody from the station to the Fairlea, WV State fairgrounds 4 miles away at a comfortable altitude of 1800 feet.
The president of the C&O attended along with all the VP's and general officers. There were all kinds of activities. Local bands played and sometimes entertainment from New York was brought in. Sixteen local churches provided wonderful box lunches and the C&0 covered all expenses at a cost upwards of $35,000/yr. Vets were even brought in from off road locations using foreign roads. There were lots of speeches from a platform in front of the bandstand and talks about how great it was to be alive and be there and everything was so wonderful. On the other hand my mother was saying they just white washed the pig pens and the manure from the last show and the flies were the same ones still there. But hay, that's part of any good picnic.
Matt Schaefer poses in front of a C&O E-8 at Ronceverte Station in 1956. (M. Schaefer photo)
The C&O sponsored the Vets Assoc. for any employee with over 24 years of service. This was started by L. G. Bentley, the first general safety officer and the first meeting was in 1919. The assoc. had a president and a dedicated secretary and 17 VP's, one from each division of the C&O and the general offices at Cleveland, Huntington, Richmond and Detroit. The membership was $1/yr. paid by a painless payroll deduction plan. At its peak, the membership was about 11,000 members according to my moldy old notes. With the C&O's Greenbrier only 14 miles away some brass might have been tempted to retire to The Old White Club after that box lunch.
The big attraction for me was the train operations and we were at the station early to see that everything departed smoothly. Number 47 was scheduled out ahead of the specials at 4:22 PM carrying an extra sleeper for the Cleveland vets and officers. By 5:20, 2 more west bounds were fully boarded and departed. Then every 15 or 20 minutes another train was fully loaded and pulled out, for a total of 6 trains fully loaded and out some with 15 to 20 cars each, not really a small town operation.
The 6 PM train had 8 sleepers to Ashland and 10 to Russell and a sleeper for Lexington and it was probably picked up by #21 at Ashland 4:30 AM arriving Lexington about 8:30 AM. The last special was the 6:35 PM to Richmond with 17 sleepers. Most of the equipment was heavyweight stuff with sections which were ideal for large groups, cigar smoke and story telling.
Ronceverte station and the town was loaded with the activity of the busses and 6 train loads of vets, some hobbling along, busses hobbling too. One bus even got stuck in the station parking lot because it sunk through the blacktop. But it was great for the older folks and everything was talked up for weeks before and after. Today the airlines have their picnics and volley ball games all around the country but they do not have the fun of getting there on long trains with fellow railroaders. Since many trainmen signed on when 18 and worked into their 70's the veterans could be in their early 40's most of the vets were still in C&O service. With some vets entering service at the turn of the century can't you just imagine all the tall tales they were telling?
Where were did the trains turn, refuel and water? Clifton Forge and Hinton were both 50 miles over and 50 miles back. Turning these trains was a good days operation in itself. If you like a modeling challenge try operating the Allegheny SD with the picnic specials with a fast clock. Run both the FFV and the Sportsman in the morning, then 6 long specials unloading turning and reloading and then the Sportsman and FFV again in the evening. Run your new Pere Marquette E-7's as they needed power to bring the special from Detroit and don't forget to run some scheduled merchandise trains and the doodlebug!
Anybody having more information on this or similar train movements we would like to hear about them. I'm sure it didn't all go without some unscheduled excitement.