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Original Norfolk Southern Railway, The 1883-1974 by Reisweber &McDonald
The Original Norfolk Southern Railway 1883-1974 by Robert C Reisweber & Dalton P Billy McDonald
Hard Cover w/ dust jacket Reflection from the lights on some photos
216 pages
Copyright 2007
CONTENTS
Introduction 10
Chapter 1: The Early Years 13
Chapter 2: The Virginia Beach Lines 25
Chapter 3: Expansion to Raleigh and New Bern 35
Chapter 4: On to Charlotte 51
Chapter 5: Boom (?) And Bust (!) 63
Chapter 6: The Later Years 77
Chapter 7: Steam Locomotives 95
Chapter 8: Diesel Locomotives 115
Chapter 9: Other Equipment 127
Chapter 10 Operations 145
Chapter 11 A Tour of the Railroad 157
DUST JACKET INTRODUCTION
What would eventually become the Norfolk Southern Railroad was chartered on January 20, 1870 in North Carolina as the Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad. It was intended to connect its namesake cities, a distance of 46 miles. The track was completed on May 12, 1881 and the first train from Norfolk to Elizabeth City ran on May 26, 1881. The line was extended 27 miles southward to Edenton, NC in December 1881.
Owners of the EC&N soon formed plans to extend the line southward. To indicate this, they changed the name of the company to Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company on February 1, 1883. The company entered receivership in 1889 and emerged as the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company in 1891. At the same time, the Albemarle and Pantego Railroad became part of the .new company. That railroad ran Mackey's Ferry, NC (later Mackeys) through Pantego to Bellhaven, NC. It also operated a ferry service across Albemarle Sound to Edenton, where it connected with the N&S.
In January 1900, the N&S expanded again by absorbing the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad. In 1904, the N&S took over the Chesapeake Transit Company, which had opened a competing line from Norfolk to Virginia Beach via Cape Henry in 1902.
In March 1904, the N&S Purchased the Washington and Plymouth Railroad. The N&S extended this line from Plymouth to Mackey's Ferry to create a man line 135 miles long, but which required a 9 miles ferry ride from Edenton to Mackeys.
The N&S expanded southward again on November 3, 1906, when it merged with four other railroads. By , In building connections between these lines a system was t, created which ran from Norfolk to Raleigh, NC, with branches to New Bern, Beaufort, Morehead City, Kinston, Goldsboro, Columbia, Oriental and Bellhaven, NC, and Virginia Beach and Suffolk, VA. The 5-mile long Albemarle trestle opened on January 1, 1910.
In 1911, the NS purchased the charter of the Raleigh, Charlotte and Southern Railroad Company, which had been formed to build a railroad from Raleigh to Charlotte, NC. Once again, the NS found it expedient to buy four existing railroads and connect them together. These railroads also possessed trackage to Fayetteville-Aberdeen, Asheboro, Ellerbe, Carthage and Jackson . Springs. In May 1920, the NS leased the Durham and South Carolina Railroad, which became its Durham branch. This represented the largest the NS would get, with 942 route miles.
Several branches were abandoned in subsequent and on January 1, 1974, the NS was merged into the Southern Railway System with just over 600 miles 4. track in service.
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