It was early evening in Gladstone, VA and things were quiet for awhile. Westbound manifest No. 91 had yet to arrive from Richmond and the conductor for the yard job was walking over to the yard office to converse with the yardmaster. He probably stopped to pat the resident "yard dog" on the head and and give him a treat of some kind. In many instances, railroad yards had a dog and they usually survived on hand outs from train crew's lunch pails. Gladstone was the crew change point between the Rivanna and James River Subdivisions and there was a large modern YMCA located behind the photographer. To say there wasn't much at Gladstone would be an understatement. Several houses, a church, and a country store was about it. Today, it is even less. The yard and all related facilities are gone or abandoned. All trains, except the two daily manifests, run between Richmond and Clifton Forge without changing crews at Gladstone.
i was born in virginia in 1972. when i think of railroads that shaped the commonwealth. i think of railroads like, SCL, N&W and southern. this is a tribute to those wonderful days gone by and for those who remember it well.
