N&W in 1910--Plans

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
October 21, 1910

PLANS OF THE ROAD CALL FOR MORE MONEY
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Speculation as to What Norfolk and Western Will Do With $50,000,000 Additional Stock Issue
    There has been considerable speculation among the people along the Norfolk and Western as to what the railroad would do with the $50,000,000 additional stock or convertible bonds, the issue of which was authorized by the stockholders at their last meeting.  The president's message throws a new light on the subject but does not go farther than to state that the plans of the road call for more money.  It is learned here that the road is going to replace a good deal of its present engine equipment with Mallet engines, of a smaller size [Class Z1, blt. 1912] than those in use now.  These engines will be used all over the Pocahontas division, especially in the lower field between Williamson and Columbus.  The road will also construct or have constructed a number of the class M engines which will be put into service.  In addition to this the road plans to lengthen out the sidings along the congested districts so that longer trains may be held on them, thus facilitating the fast passenger service which the road will inaugurate in the spring.
    The lengthening of these sidetracks will necessitate the acquirement of additional right-of-way and it will be noticed as this right-of-way is acquired that plans will be continually laid and land acquired with the ultimate view of triple and quadruple tracking the busiest part of the system between Coaldale and Williamson.  A large amount of money will be spent in improving the present Goodwill, Simmons, Crane Creek and Widemouth branches, which yield a large tonnage to the road but which are operated at a slightly higher cost than other parts of the road.  The Norfolk and Western has discovered that assembling costs are too great and this cost will be reduced by the improvement of branches.
    Additional money is required by the road to finance a number of improvements which are being made, such as the extension of the Dry Fork and Tug Fork branches as well as branches which are to be built in the lower field.  Beside these improvements the Norfolk and Western will before long be in the market for a very large order of 100-pound rails which will be used on parts of the division where it is found that the traffic is too heavy to permit the present weight rails earning a profit on the investment required for their purchase [It might take an economist to understand that statement.].  Information as to where these rails will be laid is lacking but it is likely they will be used in the busy Pocahontas section where there are hundreds of trains every day moving continually over the rails.
    A half million dollars or so will be used for taking over the Big Stony branch [later, Potts Valley Branch] and improving it so that it will increase its tonnage to an even greater extent that it did last year.  The road also plans extensive improvements in and around Columbus, thus facilitating the handling of the enormous and ever increasing western business.  The Norfolk Terminal Railway will be taken over and if the business from the Panama canal proves what it is expected to be, the road will without a doubt have to increase its docking facilities at Lambert's Point.  At the present time the road has to take too long to unload a car as compared with the more modern methods in use by the Virginian Railway which can empty a train of cars while the Norfolk and Western is emptying one-third of a train.
    The work in and around Petersburg which is under way is being done at a tremendous cost and additional funds will be required for this work.*  All of these improvements, perhaps the most noticeable of which is the Indian Branch or Cedar Bluff cut-off, will save the road thousands of dollars annually.  On the Cedar Bluff cut-off alone the road will on a good part of its tonnage save many miles, as instead of hauling coal through the most congested district for sixty miles the cut-off will allow the same tonnage to be diverted over a part of the road which is less used and about forty miles will be saved [Was much tonnage ever diverted?].  In time when the United States Steel Company commences work on its eastern, or rather southern, plants, the road will also be able to save a considerable distance on freight hauled by the extension of its Tug Fork branch to the Pocahontas and Western branch [The connection was never made.].
    In this way the road will be able to cut its expenses a great deal and where it is now able to pay a five per cent dividend on freight, which it hauls at about one-third the price the Lehigh Valley does, the dividend will be increased to seven or eight per cent.
    The Norfolk and Western will have to purchase additional equipment for trains which it plans to run over the Winston-Salem Southbound Railroad while the road has already placed orders for 250 additional steel 50-ton coal cars and it is understood that others are to be purchased [The N&W owned the WSS jointly with the ACL, but did the N&W ever run trains over the WSS?].
    The years 1911 and 1912 will see a number of new mines along the road which will greatly increase the present output.  It is a noticeable fact that  along every branch line the road is building there are a number of coal mines being planned.  This is even true of the congested district in the Pocahontas field proper so it can be readily seen that the expenditure which the road is making will bring in additional revenue besides saving considerable money on hauls, but reducing long curves, straightening out the tracks and in many ways saving wear and tear on the equipment as well as enabling the road to get its freight to terminals a great deal quicker than it does even now under the present very good conditions.
[*According to N&W Annual Reports the Petersburg work would have been the Belt Line from Poe to Addison (apparently the same as the later name, Jack) put into operation June 29th, 1911, with 8.87 mi. main line, 1.69 miles of connecting tracks to ACL and SCL and 4.06 miles of sidings.]
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Gordon Hamilton
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