Roanoke History

[lammius]

Nice PCC streetcar there. Did Roanoke use PCCs?

[SouthJersey7]

Nice PCC streetcar there. Did Roanoke use PCCs?

I can only find one link on the subject, and it doesn't say what kind of cars were used. http://members.aol.com/rostrwy/index.htm

It's a shame, but much of Roanoke probably is no longer suited for streetcars. It would be nice if they could run one at least in the downtown area.

[burt]

I can only find one link on the subject, and it doesn't say what kind of cars were used. http://members.aol.com/rostrwy/index.htm

It's a shame, but much of Roanoke probably is no longer suited for streetcars. It would be nice if they could run one at least in the downtown area.

Great pictures, deadmaker7. I love to look at Roanoke.

Incidentally, in the old pictures of Roanoke somewhere on this site are scenes of street cars running along the city's streets. And no. They were not like the DC Glen Echo car.

[electricmonk]

Here's that site to save some searching for it. http://members.cox.net/oldroanoke/

[rusthebuss]

I was on that 611 when it recked in the Norfolk area in the 80's! My dad works for NS.

[vdogg]

It seems that Roanoke has a lot of History so I thought this might be a good thread to start.

[electricmonk]

I have tons of Roanoke history stuff unfortunately it's all in the form of old newspapers. My scanner is too small to scan a whole page, maybe I can take regular photos of them and post them as gifs or jpgs. I also have a copy of the 1927 Roanoke City plan which I scanned a few years ago so I'll see about posting that as a pdf. Stay tuned.

[StevenRocks]

If you're pretty good with Photoshop, you can take multiple passes of the newspaper and piece them together. I do that sometimes.

[Cadeho]

I'm just glad Roanoke changed its name TO Roanoke!

That other name...

[mclawsdrive]

I resurected this thread, because I just remembered an adventure I had a few years ago that is tied to the geology and history of Roanoke's development. The area that is now downtown Roanoke was originally a marshland with numerous streams and large salt licks. Hence.. the original name of the town. When Roanoke was built, the area was paved over and some of the streams were put underground. Some of the main flow was probably already underground. There is a large concrete channel following the tracks running east between E. Campbell avenue and the east end shops. I went into this culvert and travelled upstream, where it comes out of downtown (near where 581 crosses over Campbell ave. I know I made it several blocks west before the tunnel narrowed and the water was too deep to wade in. The tunnel walls were very old brick at this point and there was a fork with the main source coming from the right (hotel roanoke direction). I know that Lick run goes underneath the hotel roanoke and that is probably what I was wading through.

Does anyone know anything about the rumored caves underneath the hotel Roanoke. I've always wondered if I would have found them if I'd somehow continued upstream. Hopefully they weren't destroyed when the conference center was built.

[StevenRocks]

I know there's a cave under Crystal Tower, but I'm not sure about Hotel roanoke.

[mclawsdrive]

I heard that the Church on the Corner of Church and 2nd street had pilings over one hundred feet deep because of caverns beneath it. I think thats on the forgotten roanoke website.

[StevenRocks]

Greene Memorial is only a block away from Crystal Tower, so it's definately possible there are some caves under the church.