Where were the "other" depots along the James River?

Fri Jul 7 16:11:04 EDT 2017

John,

A search in the NWHS archives revealed the info below from the October 1942 N&W Magazine article, "The Story of Our Shops."

The Southside Railroad "...in 1853 acquired Percival's Island 'for erecting a depot and for other purposes...'" "The tracks of the Southside Railroad reached the west end of Percival's Island in 1854, and in the following year a connection was made with the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad at Lynchburg, proper, by means of a bridge which connected the island to the mainland."

These years agree with the ones from Prince's book cited by you.

I'm confident that the N&W magazine writers had access to corporate records when they wrote these historical articles.

Gordon Hamilton
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Friday, July 07, 2017 11:04 AM
  Subject: RE: Where were the "other" depots along the James River?

  I'm curious. Regarding the construction date of the connecting bridge between the South Side and V&T at the west end of Percival's Island in Lynchburg . . .

  Richard Prince states in his book Pocahontas Coal Carrier that the Southside RR reached Lynchburg in 1854 and "soon a railroad bridge was constructed over the south bank so that the tracks of the South Side RR joined those of the Virginia & Tennessee RR at the joint Lynchburg passenger station."

  He also states: "at this time [1859] connecting railroad service was available from Norfolk through Petersburg, Lynchburg, Bristol, . . . to Memphis."

  Do other sources seem to indicate that the connecting bridge wasn't completed until the three roads (N&P, SS, and V&T) were merged in 1870 to become the A.M.&O. RR.?

  John Garner  Newport VA

  From: NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org] 
  Sent: Thursday, July 6, 2017 1:16 PM
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
  Subject: Where were the "other" depots along the James River?

  In response to Bob Cohen's  message about the Orange & Alexandria Railroad reaching Lynchburg, both Christian's and Chambers' books state that the O&A reached the Amherst County side of the James River and began operations on January 14, 1860. Until a bridge was built over the James, Chambers says coaches transported passengers along Rover Road, then across the covered and wooden Ninth Street bridge to the Lynchburg side and the existing station of the V&T. Later that year an O&A bridge over the James was completed and service commenced. However, a freshet in 1871 washed away bridges of both the O&A and Southside. 

  The Orange & Alexandria established a yard on the Lynchburg side of the river. Although I can not find the source at this minute, I have read in a Civil War publication of the inconvenience and time consuming process by which the trucks of  freight cars of different gauges were traded at the O&A yard.  The O&A was 4' 8-1/2" gauge while the V&T was 5' gauge. Freight and passengers had to be hauled by wagon to the Southside depot on Percival's Island.  Remember in an earlier message I described there was not a physical connection between the V&T and Southside until 1870. 

  Aubrey Wiley
  "Our stories give our lives meaning." Rudyard Kipling, 1928

       Virus-free. www.avg.com  

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