How Much Traffic on the VGN Narrows-Roanoke ?

[NW Mailing List]

On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 8:51 AM Ray wrote:

> The Commonwealth of Virginia now owns this track between Salem and
> Merrimac. NS dispatches and maintains the track ( which to my non-expert
> eye appears to be well maintained). NS pays the state to use the track.
> When passenger service is started again( the last regularly scheduled
> passenger service ended about 1954) two passenger trains daily in each
> direction will be added. Engineering work is in progress by the state to
> determine track work needed near Merrimac to connect with the remnant of
> the NS Huckleberry Branch for a station to be build near the Mall in
> Christiansburg and to determine what, if any, work is needed on the mile
> long tunnel just east of Merrimac. It is anticipated that a wye will not be
> needed at Merrimac/Christiansburg as the equipment to be used in passenger
> service is anticipated to be bi-directional.


One would hope that a little due diligence happens before any surveyors hit
the ground in Merrimac. In the station feasibility studies put forth last
year, one suggestion shows a new line coming off the VGN EAST of the
Huckleberry crossing and wrapping around/through that hillside to connect
with the existing Blacksburg Branch north of the Corning siding.

There is still a perfectly good connection from the VGN to the Blacksburg
Branch, the original right of way of the Virginia Anthracite Coal & Railway
Co. When the line was built to the mine (and eventually to Blacksburg), it
dropped down to the creek that runs next to the VGN, then climbed back the
drainage on the other side to reach the Merrimac Mine. This part of the
line was abandoned when the Virginian came through -- the current line and
bridge were the result of negotiation and a protracted legal battle over
the relocation to accommodate the VGN without a grade crossing of the
VAC&Ry line. The northern part of the original line was later rebuilt to
provide a connection between the Blacksburg Branch (after the N&W purchased
the VAC&Ry at auction following a bankruptcy) and the VGN. The southern
part of the grade still exists and can be put back in service with a little
grading, two bridges, and a switch in the VGN track. Look for all these
details and more in an upcoming article in *The Arrow*. Ken has my
extensive article in hand and it is somewhere on the docket for publication.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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