N&W Exposition Special, 1907

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Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 17:36:54

New Fast Train on Norfolk and Western
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    The passenger department of the Norfolk and Western announced that commencing July 14th two additional fast trains will be operated between Norfolk and Columbus.
    The Exposition Special will leave Columbus at 7:30 p. m. passing Bluefield about 8:30 a. m. and arriving Norfolk about 7:30 p. m.  This will save three hours and fifteen minutes over the present schedule.  Returning, the Toledo and Chicago specials will leave at 9:10 p. m., passing here about 9 a. m., and arriving in Columbus at 6:30 p. m.  These two trains will be equipped with every modern convenience known to railroad travel, including a splendid dining car service.  They will be solid vestibule and Pullman cars.  The Norfolk and Western is the only all rail route to the exposition from the west, and it is expected that from this time on the travel will be heavy [the 1907 Jamestown tercentennial exposition ran from April 26 thru December 1.]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
June 30, 1907

Dining Cars for N. & W. Exposition Train
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    The Norfolk and Western has faith in the expected travel to the Jamestown Exposition.  The dining car service is preparing to put three dining cars on the fast train that will be on July 11.  The trains will be solid Pullmans, and will stop only at the principal cities on the line--Bluefield, Radford, Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Petersburg.  [It's interesting that Radford was a station stop.  The old high-grade line over Schooler Hill had been abandoned in 1901, so that would have required the special to back up between Walton and Radford on both eastbound and westbound trips.]


In and About the Town
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    The Norfolk and Western Exposition Special is about the prettiest train that has ever passed through this city.  It is a solid vestibule, being made up usually of eight cars--seven Pullmans and a mail and baggage car.  Since it was put on, Nos. 4 and 15 have stopped carrying mail.  As the new train leaves ahead of them and makes much faster time, the mail job has been given to it.  It is understood that a tourist sleeper will soon be added to the Exposition Special.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
July 17, 1907


In and About the Town
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    The new exposition trains, No. 37 and 38, carry four Pullman cars, one each from St. Louis, Chicago, Toledo and Columbus.  Passengers for Norfolk boarding the train at any of these points go through to Norfolk without change.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
July 18, 1907

Gordon Hamilton



June 1, 2008

Thanks for transcribing the three articles, Gordon.  I would think that the C&O was also an "all-rail route to the exposition from the west" and had the advantage of being on the same side of the James River as Jamestown.

The notation that mail was repositioned from trains 4 and 15 and put onto 37 and 38 one is interesting.  While the Post Office Department always sought to "advance the mail," loading and unloading mail increased station dwell time.  That was sometimes mitigated by trains working mostly through mail and the RPO being limited to what dispatches it made and received at stops.  If that was the case, there were additional less-visible changes to put the local mail formerly on 4 and 15 to other scheduled RPO runs.

Good morning,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com