Norfolk and Western Railway
The David R. and Susan S. Goode Railwalk
Today’s Norfolk Southern has a colorful predecessor in both or Roanoke’s railroads. To keep this as simple as possible, we are discussing only the N&W history to its merger with the Southern Railway in 1982. Space prevents mentioning every merger or absorbed railroad here, but, the major lines that formed the main line of the N&W are covered here.
N&W began with the 9-mile City Point Railroad built 1837-1838 from Petersburg to City Point, Virginia on the James River. IN 1854, City Point merged with South Side Railroad (1854) connecting with the Virginia and Tennessee at Lynchburg. The V&T was being built to Bristol arriving in what would become Roanoke on November 1, 1852.
After the war of 1861-1865, Confederate General William Mahone, builder of Norfolk and Petersburg (1850s), gained control of SS and V&T merging them in 1870, as the Atlantic Mississippi and Ohio, running from Norfolk to Bristol. The AM&O was sold at foreclosure in 1881 becoming the Norfolk and Western Railroad. The road expanded to the West Virginia coalfields in 1882 creating a vast flow of traffic that continues today.
The Shenandoah Valley was merged into the N&W in 1890 and the road expanded to the Ohio River a year later. IN 1892, Roanoke and Southern was added expanding the road to Winston-Salem, NC. The Lynchburg and Durham was added in 1893, Shenandoah Valley, and Cincinnati Portsmouth and Virginia in Ohio to form the basis of the road headquartered in Roanoke. IN the first modern era merger, N&W absorbed the Virginian in 1959, Nickel Plate and Wabash in 1964. The N&W itself vanished merging with Southern in 1982 forming today’s Norfolk Southern, one of America’s finest Corporations.
Marker is at the intersection of Norfolk Avenue SE and Market Street SE, on the right when traveling west on Norfolk Avenue SE.
Courtesy hmdb.org
