Farmville line again

[NW Mailing List]

When the Southside RR was being built, the original proposed route was along the later "low grade line" between Pamplin and Burkeville.  But the Farmville folks were able to convince the new RR to go through Farmville instead and the line resulted over the High Bridge.

Coal became increasingly important freight traffic and annually the tonnage increased.  What was okay for merchandise freight trains became increasingly difficult for coal trains.  These heavy coal trains required a pusher from Farmville to Crewe because the slight grade east from High Bridge could not be made without some help.  In 1914 the new High Bridge was built which was 25 feet higher to help relieve somewhat the "hole" to get out of; however, this did not alleviate the pusher grade for coal trains.

In 1916 the "Pamplin Low Grade Line" was completed providing a near level route for coal trains.  The "old main line" through Farmville remained for all passenger and some westbound freights until the early 2000s when NS decided it was not needed.  By then passenger traffic was a thing of the past and all trains could be accommodated on the low grade line.

Bud Jeffries
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 12:20 PM
  Subject: Re: Farmville line again


  I can and will put something together tonight or tomorrow.

  Bud Jeffries
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: NW Mailing List 
    To: 'NW Mailing List' 
    Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:22 AM
    Subject: Farmville line again


    Can someone explain the original reason for having 2 routes between Pamplin and Burkeville?

     

    Carl Woods

    Richmond, VA

     



----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    ________________________________________
    NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
    To change your subscription go to
    http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
    Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
    http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  ________________________________________
  NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
  To change your subscription go to
  http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
  Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
  http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20141001/8d5be095/attachment.html>