The Virginian

I know it was electrified, and I know some of its locomotives went to Penn Central. I do not know anything else about this road. Can someone please provide me with information about this mystery railroad?

"M&Eman"
I know it was electrified, and I know some of its locomotives went to Penn Central. I do not know anything else about this road. Can someone please provide me with information about this mystery railroad?

Go to your public library and or local book store and get a copy of When The Steam Railroads Electrified by William D Middleton. In that book there is a chapter on both the Norfork and Western and The Virginian and there relationship during their electric operations and why the electrification were shut down after the two roads merged.

It was partly electrified, but steam/diesel east of Roanoke and west of (I think) Princeton, WV. The definitive book, such as it is, was written by H. Reid and published by Kalmbach in the 1960s, as I recall. Long out of print, but still floating around in the used book market. After the N&W absorbed it, N&W essentially converted the VGN mainline to one-way operation, rendering the electrification useless. Most VGN electrics were then scrapped, but the GE rectifier units, which were the line's newest, went to the NewHaven, then to PC, then to Conrail.

I have a hardcover copy of "The Virginian Railway" by H. Reid, a Christmas gift from my maternal grandparents in 1970. The book was originally printed in 1961 and reprinted in 1970, costing the (then) princely sum of $ 12.00.

A foldout map in the back of the book shows that the line terminated at Sewall's Point, VA at Hampton Roads. It ran southward through Tidewater and South Norfolk and then headed west across the southern portion of Virginia, through the New River Gorge and then went northwest into West Virginia.

The line then branched off at Elmore (Gulf Junction) with one portion heading west to Gilbert, WV and the other portion heading northwest, terminating at West Deepwater, WV with connections to the C&O and NYC. The electrified portion of the line ran between Roanoke, VA and Mullens, WV.

For more on the Virginian Railway, try the Norfolk & Western Historical Society which also covers the Virginian.

http://www.nwhs.org/about_vgn.html