Photo Record
| Title | Boaz Siding, the Honey Hole. |
| Description |
Boaz Siding, the Honey Hole, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Grade. The Blue Ridge Grade, a few miles east of downtown Roanoke, Virginia, is a 1.2% grade stretching for eight and a half miles. Until the N&W's merger with the Virginian Railway in 1959 offered easier access to Norfolk, Virginia, Blue Ridge was the last big climb before the long descent to Tidewater. The N&W kept Class Y6 pusher locomotives stationed at Boaz Siding to help heavy coal and merchandise freights over the grade. The spot was quite pretty, with a little table under a willow tree by a little stream. The engine crews kept it tidy, but there were no sanitary facilities there, so the place earned the ironic nickname "The Honey Hole." In one of his most theatrical images, Winston Link has carefully set the scene. To the left, the engineeer and fireman finish their coffee as their locomotive steams quietly behind them, while the caboose of the next train to be pushed over the grade rolls slowly to a stop. Link even provided a special lantern for the people on the caboose. It was wired with a flashbulb and handed up to them as the caboose was passing the pusher locomotive's tender. This was a photograph the photographer enjoyed because of the way in which the willow tree draped over the scene of the locomotive and men. |
| Photographer |
Link, O. Winston |
| Place | Bonsack, VA |
| Date | 1958 |
| Copyright | Copyright owned by Conway Link. |
| Subjects |
Locomotives, Steam Cabooses Railroad employees Lantern, railroad Thermos Cups Willows |
| Search Terms |
Boaz Siding "Honey Hole at Boaz Siding" Blue Ridge grade Bonsack, Virginia Roanoke, Virginia Virginian Railway Class Y6 Tidewater, Virginia |
| Collection | O. Winston Link Print Collection |
| Imagefile | 032\20030921.BMP |
| Neg # | NW1977 |
| Object Name | Print, Photographic |
| Object ID | OWL2003.09.21 |