1908 - RAILROAD NOTES

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Roanoke Times - May 5, 1908

RAILROAD NOTES

   The Virginia Air Line Railway company has opened its line for traffic
from Lindsay to North Palmyra. The road for the present will be a feeder
to the C. & O.
   The road to the James River (Bremo) will be completed by the first of
July, thus connecting the James River division of the Chesapeake & Ohio
with the main line of the C. & O.

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   The stockholders of the Virginia and Southwestern Railroad, of which
Henry K. McHarg is president at a meeting in Bristol authorized the
purchase of the Holston River railroad, extending from Moccasion Gap,
Va., to Persia, Tenn., a distance of 40 miles, and the Black Mountain
railway, extending from Appalachia, Va., into the Lee county (Virginia)
coal fields, a distance of 30 miles. The stockholders also authorized a
new bond issue of $7,000,000.

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  Until recently Lunenburg county has been without a railroad, but now
that the Tidewater, or the Virginian Railway, as it is now known, has
been built through the heart of the county, there is every reason why
the development, so long delayed, should go ahead rapidly, and
especially should this be so when its natural resources are considered.
The Virginian Railway passes through Kenbridge, making that point one of
the most important in the county, and opens up opportunities for the
location of many varied industries, in addition to making it the central
shipping point for all of the surrounding agricultural territory.

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   The Virginia State Corporation commission has handed down a decision
in the case of the Virginia and Southwestern Railway Company. The
railway recently filed an application with the commission for permission
to charge a maximum passenger rate of three cents a mile on all
intrastate business, and in doing so presented certain facts to sustain
the contention that the road is being operated at a loss under the
two-cent rate promulgated by the commission. The road accepted the two
cent rate in good faith and operated under the terms of the order of the
commission, declining to join in the appeal of the other roads to the
higher courts.
   The following is a copy of the official order of the commission.
   "The commission having maturely considered the evidence and argument
of counsel, is of the opinion and doth hereby decide, that the Virginia
and Southwestern Railway Company should be allowed to increase its
passenger rates. It is, therefore, ordered that such of the orders of
the commission heretofore ordered in this case as related to the maximum
passenger rates to be observed by the Virgina and Southwestern Railway
Company be and the same are hereby revoked and annulled, and in lieu
thereof it is ordered that from and after the 15th day of May, 1908, the
petitioner, the Virginia and Southwestern Railway Company, may put into
effect and observe a maximum rate of three cents a mile in the
intra-state transportation of passengers in Virginia and after that date
it shall be unlawful for the said railway company to charge or collect a
greater sum than three cents a mile for the transportation of passengers
over its lines in this state until the further order of the state
corporation commission."

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   A few months will witness the opening of immense coal fields lying in
the eastern end of Monongalia and in Preston counties, West Virginia.
While the Pittsburg and Lake Erie and the Buckhannon and Northern
Railroads are busy opening up territory on the west side of the
Monongahela river, the Youghiogheny and Cheat River Railway will be
putting up coke ovens and starting mines in the coal fields on the other
side.
   The construction of the Youghiogheny and Cheat River Railway, the
contract for which will be awarded in a few days, will mark the opening
of one of the richest coking coal fields in the country and is
considered the largest project undertaken in the east this year. While
only 20.8 miles will be built this year, the line will be extended and
will be the opening wedge that will tap nearly fifty-five square miles
of high-grade coal lands.
   With the coal properties purchased outright and the options held, it
is estimated that in the neighborhood of 32,000 acres of coal lands are
controlled by the men interested in the new developments. The property
thus held is situated in Fayette county and Preston county, a part of
which is between the Connellsville coke region and the highly productive
properties in Sumerset county, Maryland.
   From Ohiopyle, in Fayette county, the road will be built in a
southerly direction as far as the state line of West Virginia, a
distance of 20.8 miles. The road will be of the heaviest construction,
and the estimated cost will reach $1,000,000, exclusive of any equipment.
   A charter has been granted the railroad with a nominal capitalization
of $200,000, and this will be increased as the work progresses and the
funds are needed. The president of the road is E. W. Mudge of Pittsburg,
and it is said J. V. Thompson, A. L. Kiester, A. Overholt and other
wealthy capitalists are behind the project.

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link