N&W Amtrak service

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The first Amtrak train on N&W was known as the Mountaineer and did serve Norfolk.  It began in 1975 and terminated (rerouted and renamed Hilltopper) in 1978 following the clerks' strike in 1978.  The Mountaineer's western terminal was near Kenova (can't think of the name...rats, it's tough getting older) where it connected in the middle of the night with the Cardinal and continued on to Cincinnati and Chicago.  The Hilltopper's western terminal was Williamson and it ran to Richmond via Petersburg.  It made it's connection through Seacoast and was pulled backwards from there to Richmond.  The westbound trip was the exact reverse of that.
There were never sufficient passenger loads to justify either operation and the whole thing quit in the fall of 1979.  As taxpayers, we can be thankful for that.  The service was initiated largely through the efforts of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia as a political boondoggle.  One can't help but think the same would be true if Virginia follows through on establishing a Bristol to Richmond or Washington service.  
Don Corbin     
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: N&W Mailing List 
  Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 9:49 AM
  Subject: Re: N&W Amtrak service


  The last N&W passenger service to Norfolk ended May 1, 1971 with the formation of Amtrak.  Trains 3 & 4 were the last.  15 & 16, and 25 & 26 were gone by 1969 or 1970.  The only other service by this late date was the remnant of the joint N&W-Southern service between Lynchburg and Bristol.  Amtrak assumed no service on N&W routes.  "The Hilltopper" which appeared later, operated over part of the N&W mainline.  It did not serve Norfolk.  The only passenger service to Norfolk was, and continues to be that operated on CSX (former C&O) to Newport News.

  Rick Morrison 







  At 11:03 AM 9/22/2004 -0400, you wrote:

    Would like information as to when N&W ended passenger train service from and into Norfolk, primarily trains 3 & 4, 15 & 16, and 25 & 26? Also, did Amtrak take over operation of these trains to and from Norfolk, and if so when and for how long?
     
    Thanks, 
    Herman Wilkins
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