Passenger Station Architecture

[NW Mailing List]

Bruce,

You probably recognize that the building at the center right edge of the
West End Radford Depot photo still stands today giving a little perspective
of where the station stood. The photo would have been taken from the highway
bridge over the New River built in 1891.

John Garner

Depot
http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/37.1393165588379,-80.5752716064
453/id/9605/info/details/zoom/14/

Radford Trust Building
http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/37.1343193054199,-80.5748214721
68/id/9621/info/details/zoom/18/

Highway Bridge
http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/37.1348724365234,-80.5756759643
555/id/9606/info/details/zoom/18/

Street View
https://www.google.com/maps/place/W+Main+St,+Radford,+VA+24141/@37.1342279,-
80.5749547,3a,75y,310.53h,99.94t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4iLE9cY2Uq0JrNiLq8MC6Q!
2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4iLE9cY2Uq0JrNiLq8MC6Q%26output%
3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.TACTILE.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D392%26h%3D106
%26yaw%3D312.52567%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x884dee37d815be59:0
x35e4598aeab72bc6!8m2!3d37.1064808!4d-80.5827864


Several station seem to share similar architectural features, Bluefield,
> Salem, Bedford, Buena Vista and Marion come to mind.


Add in the West End station in Radford and the adjacent Radford Inn. A quick
Google search turned up a couple of photos/images that show a similar
architecture to the others on Ken's list.

One is "What Was There" with a blurry image of the station and this
description:

"In 1890, Norfolk and Western opened a passenger station (right) in
Radford?s West End. The rail station was accessed by Randolph Street and
served the area until 1931, when it was closed, and then sat vacant until
1938 when it was demolished. It is believed that the stones from the
structure were used to construct the Masonic Lodge on Downey Street and
Nesselrod on the New, which is now a bed and breakfast."

Image featured in ?Then & Now: Radford? by Scott L. Gardner and the Radford
Public Library. More information at Arcadia Publishing

http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/37.1393165588379,-80.5752716064
453/id/9605/info/details/zoom/14/

A Google book has line drawings of the station and inn -- "Reference Book of
the Norfolk & Western Railroad Co." published when Frederick Kimball was
president of the *railroad* company.
Page 36 has the image; it is also interesting to see the grandiose proposed
Union Station for Bristol.

See
https://books.google.com/books?id=6FlKAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA36&ots=640SoX0QKn&dq=ra
dford%20passenger%20station&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q=radford%20passenger%20statio
n&f=false

Bruce in Blacksburg