Virginian and N&W in 1911--Piers

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
May 16, 1911

SEWALL'S POINT PIERS TO COST OVER $3,000,000
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Norfolk and Western, Chesapeake and Ohio and Virginian Said to Have Reached Agreement
    The Norfolk Landmark of Sunday printed the following special dispatch from Cincinnati:
    "What is planned to be the largest coaling station in the world is the one now under consideration by the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Norfolk and western and Virginian railroads at Hampton Roads, Va.
    "Formal arrangements have been completed which will mean the building of the piers at a cost which is said to be between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000.
    "The new piers will be built at Sewall's Point a short distance from Norfolk, Va., where the Virginian railroad now has its piers.
    "This is now said to be the best constructed and quickest method of loading coal plant on the Atlantic seaboard.  The new plant will be built within the next few years, work to start on it as soon as possible.
    "This announcement was made today by a prominent railroad official of Cincinnati.  In discussing the project, he said that the three roads have reached a final agreement on the proposition and that as soon as this set of docks and yards is completed, Hampton Roads will have by far the best facilities for handling coal in the world.
    "The joint agreement, he said, was reached after a year's discussion of the project, in which all the operating officials of those three roads have taken part.
    "He says that there has been for several years an evident necessity of getting a better means of outlet at which all these coal carrying roads could join their cars and ship from one point.  The Norfolk and Western now has its docks at Lambert's Point and the Chesapeake and Ohio at Newport News.
    "The plans which were unfolded here today are comprehensive in detail and provided for the taking of cars of coal to go to European and Panama canal cities.
    "Agencies will be established in the principal cities of Europe, on the western coast of the United States and on the eastern and western coasts of South America.  It is pointed out that no more ideal point for cheap transportation of the great coal deposits of West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky could be found than at Hampton Roads.
    "It affords ample harbor facilities and besides this, it will also be the nearest hauling point from the coal fields.
    "These will give the roads concerned an enormous advantage over competitors in reaching the world's big cities.
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[I wish the prominent railroad man of Cincinnati would explain why the Virginian was not satisfied with its almost new coal pier and how the C&O would get its coal cars across the water to Sewall's Point.]
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