Norfolk & Western Norfolk Division

The Norfolk Division of the Norfolk & Western Railway covers the lines between Norfolk and Roanoke. Headquarters of the division was in Crewe. The division covers the main line of the N&W, the original Norfolk & Petersburg Railroad, and the remnants of the Virginian Railway main line.

The N&W line begins with “Norfolk Terminal,” which starts at Lamberts Point, location of the coal and merchandise piers in the Norfolk harbor. The line enters the “Norfolk District” at Gilmerton and heads southwest to Suffolk. From Suffolk, the line turns northwest and enters the Dismal Swamp and the beginning of a 52-mile-long tangent track to Petersburg. The line crosses the swamp on a roadbed constructed by William Mahone in 1858. The line was constructed on a corduroy mat, a series of logs laid together and submerged under the water of the swamp. An earthen embankment was built on top of the logs and tracks laid down. The original main line of the Norfolk & Petersburg ended in Petersburg, where it made connections with the City Point Branch, built in 1838 to connect the city with a deep-water port on the James River at Hopewell. To avoid the downtown running, a freight bypass was built between Poe and Jack, known as the Petersburg Belt Line. The line continues southwest from Petersburg, on the route of the South Side Railroad, which was built to connect Petersburg with Lynchburg and was completed in 1854. At Blackstone, the line turns northwest toward Crewe, which was the location of a yard, shops, the division headquarters, and the start of the “Blue Ridge District.” The line from Crewe continued northwest to Burkeville, Farmville, and Pamplin. The original survey had the line running southwest from Burkeville to Abilene, then turning north to Pamplin, but residents of Farmville raised funds to entice the railroad to change its route to serve the town. The N&W later resurected the original survey to build the Farmville Belt Line with its easier grades and curves. The main line was eventually abandoned and is now a rail trail.

From Pamplin, the line continues west to Lynchburg. The original South Side line went directly to Lynchburg from Phoebe, through Concord, crossed the James River to Percival’s Island, crossed the James again, and ended in Lynchburg bottoms, location of a joint station with the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. A yard and shops were built on the island, known as Island Yard. The Virginia and Tennessee line climbed out of the river bottom toward Forest, but it was a narrow and steep route. The N&W bypassed Lynchburg via the Lynchburg Belt Line, which is now the main line of the railroad. The belt line runs from Phoebe to Forest. Kinney Yard, adjacent to Montview Yard on the Southern Rwy. main line, was built to serve the area and is an important interchange point. It is also where the Durham Line into North Carolina starts. From Lynchburg the line continues west to Bedford and Irving, once a helper station for westbound trains. Between Irving and Montvale, the climb over the Blue Ridge starts. The westbound ruling grade is 1.35% and it tops out at Blue Ridge. Eastbounds leaving Roanoke encounter the grade in Vinton and pass through Boaz, a former helper station. The 1.20% ruling grade also tops out at Blue Ridge. The district and division end at MP N 255.6.

The Virginian Railway left Roanoke for the east, following a lower profile across southern Virginia to end at its coal piers at Sewells Point in Norfolk. Little remains of the VGN between Norfolk and the current start of the track at Abilene, south of Farmville. In the 1970s parts of the line were still active as shown in the N&W Timetable No. 6, effective Sunday, May 16, 1976. The Virginian portion of Norfolk Terminal started at Sewells Point, the Virginian coal piers. It arcs to the east and south in a big loop, then turns southwest at Carolina, crosses the N&W at South Norfolk and leaves the terminal at South Branch, entering the Jarratt District. The line crossed the SCL at Algren on its way to Suffolk where it turned to the northwest. It passed through Victoria, the original division point and yard for the Virginian, and the division ended at Virso (Virginian/Southern Railway crossing). There was a connection with the N&W Farmville Belt Line here, in the Altavista Division and also at Abilene, one of the original connections when the N&W and VGN merged. The line continues west, crossing the N&W Durham Line at Brookneal, where it also joins the Staunton/Roanoke River. The line roughly follows the river to Leesville, where it picks up Goose Creek to avoid the dip to the south by the Roanoke River. The line regains the river near Hardy and follows it to Roanoke, passing the Tinker Creek Connector, which was built to allow post-merger eastbound coal trains to move to the Virginian line to take advantage of the better grades to the east. The line crosses the N&W line to Winston-Salem at JK tower and enters South Yard in Roanoke.

The Durham Line into North Carolina branches from the main line in Lynchburg. It has one district, the Durham District, as it runs into Durham, North Carolina. The branch starts in Kinney Yard at the east end and winds its way through Lynchburg to head south. It passes under U.S. 460 and parallels U.S. 501. It passes through Rustburg and continues past Winfall, where a wooden station still stands. At Gladys, there are traces of a siding into the Gladys Timber Products plant. Just north of Naruna is a siding into the large Georgia Pacific stand board plant. Brookneal is the next town on the line and just south of town there is an interchange track with the former Virginian line. The line passes through Southside Virginia, reaching Halifax, then South Bosten where there was an interchange with the Southern Railway. The line continues south, crossing into North Carolina, where the Mayo Spur branches to the east and the Hyco Spur branches to the west. The 4-mile Mayo Spur serves a Louisiana Pacific plant and the Duke Energy Mayo plant. The 7.5 mile Hyco Spur branch serves a Duke Power electrical generating plant, delivering coal to burn to fuel the boilers. The line continues south to Roxboro, the current end of track. The line continued another 30 miles into downtown Durham, where it interchanged with the Southern and the Seaboard.