Info on Clifton Forge VA

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I appreciate this forum and have learned much from reading the numerous posts. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the railroad history of Clifton Forge, VA. My mother was born there and my great-grandfather worked for 54 years for the C&O, first as train repairman and later as a conductor. My grandfather was a boilermaker and worked for many years on steam locomotives in Clifton Forge, but also in many other states as he was somewhat of an itinerant. Not to disparage my grandfather, but he had a bit of a drinking problem and worked for many different employers. His habit was to work a while then quit and then live off his savings. Apparently, when he was sober, his talents were in demand because my mother tells me he was hired and fired by the same employers many times over because he was such an expert welder. Unfortunately the train yards in Clifton Forge were shut down in the mid-50s when the C&O switched to diesel, and my grandfather moved his family to Newport News, VA and had to finish his career working menial jobs on the coal piers.

Believe it or not, Clifton Forge still exists, a tiny village carved out of side of the Allegany mountains. My great grandfather, aside from his duties with the C&O, was a bee keeper who canned honey and had his own grape vineyard, from which he fermented and bottled wine. I remember him only as a small child, but he always told me to avoid honey from stores because it was "chemical honey."

If anyone has anecdotes or photos of the operations at Clifton Forge, please reply or email me at [e-mail].

I am aware of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society and have already mined their archives.

Thanks,

J. F. Roberts

BTW, my father is also a train enthusiast and has a collection of hundreds of pieces of Lionel O gage trains from the 1930s thru the 1950s. Many on these pieces are in their original boxes carefully stored away. My dad is a lot like I am, we are more like hoarders than true collectors. Honestly, I think it's been 35 years since my dad had a working layout of his trains. He displays a few of his better pieces in a glass case in the living room, but he has locomotives, cattle cars, milk cars, coal cars, cranes, transformers, switches, lots of track, and God knows what else carefully packed away in his attic. I suppose one day I'll inherit these, but can't imagine selling them.