moving circa 1920

nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Tue Aug 15 00:09:00 EDT 2006


In the early 1950's, N&W was still using boxcars to move their officials
furniture. John Tabor's father was moved from Bluefield to Portsmouth
about that time, and John said the company gave them a boxcar to pack
stuff in. Jim Nichols

nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:


>I thought that I would pass along a little story about

>how the railroad played an important role in folks lives

>in the 1920s. Also, it is something that I haven't

>heard discussed very often.

>

>My grandfather was born near Eggleston on the Virginian

>side of the New River in Giles County. Circa 1920 his family

>moved to Vinton. A few months before my grandfather passed

>away it crossed my mind that his family probably didn't move

>using a moving van. When I asked him about this he said that

>his father contacted the railroad and they set off a boxcar

>at a nearby siding for them. He could not remember where it

>was set off nor on which side of the river. My grandfather,

>his dad, and his brothers then used their horses and wagons to

>haul all their belongings to the boxcar and loaded them up

>themselves. I don't know if this was a full car load or not.

>Once packed the railroad moved the boxcar to Roanoke and on to

>Vinton. My grandfather gave all indications that it was

>set off on an N&W siding near downtown Vinton. So it

>is quite possible an interchange between the Virginian and the

>N&W was involved. The whole family rode one of the passenger

>trains to Vinton and from his recollections arrived at roughly

>the same time as the boxcar. His family then unloaded the boxcar

>and moved into their new house. Once empty they notified the

>railroad and the boxcar was sent off on its next assignment.

>

>Toney Minter

>

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