ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997              TAG: 9704160066
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES

NS TOWER TURNED DOWN BOTETOURT SAYS RAILROAD CAN'T USE PURGATORY MOUNTAIN

The supervisors didn't buy the NS argument that any aesthetic objections to the microwave tower would be outweighed by removal of the 1,100 poles and wires the railroad now uses.

Proclaiming Purgatory Mountain "God's gift of natural beauty to the world," the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday denied a request from Norfolk Southern Corp. to locate a third communications tower near Buchanan.

The denial leaves NS with a 51-mile gap in a communications system already under construction for a rail line running from Hagerstown, Md., to Bristol.

All the alternatives to the tower were either impractical or too costly, and NS was unable to lease space on existing towers in the area, said NS Director of Engineering Henry Wyche.

The rail line is served now by a pole-and-wire system dating from the 1930s, railroad officials told the board. The requested 100-foot tower would have been one of 16 in a microwave system designed to enhance communications with train crews as well as to allow the railroad to move data through the lines.

The tower was needed as a link between a tower under construction in Glasgow and one on Poor Mountain in Roanoke County.

The railroad had argued that better communications for the railroad meant it could better serve its customers in Botetourt County, including Global Stone Co. and Roanoke Cement Co. It also would be in the interest of employee and public safety by allowing more reliable communication with train crews and emergency services.

Most opponents of the tower objected to it for aesthetic reasons, but Wyche argued that with two towers already on the mountain, one more wouldn't make a difference. And even if it did, that argument was outweighed by safety factors and the aesthetic gain from removing the more than 1,100 poles and wires that the railroad now uses.

Wyche said the railroad looked into other sites, but none provided the clear line of sight their communications system demands. Other alternatives examined were satellites, which were deemed incompatible, and fiber-optic cable. Wyche said putting in the necessary cable would cost from $4.5 million to $6.9 million - too much from the railroad's perspective.

Wyche said he didn't know what NS would do next, but the company must find some way to get its signal across Botetourt County. He said he wasn't ruling anything out, including legal action.

LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines
ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC:  Map by RT. color.