Crewe, Va - It's Origin as a Terminal ?

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Abe:

From N&W Magazine, July 1944:

Crewe Shop 
Prior to 1888 there was no shop at Crewe, but in that year the engine terminal was changed from Petersburg to Crewe and a shop was constructed. The original shop consisted of: A 21-stall Roundhouse, a Machine Shop (40 feet by 105 feet), a Storehouse (40 feet by 60 feet), and a Coal Wharf of the trestle type which was moved from Wilson and enlarged. The turntable then serving the Roundhouse was 60 feet long and was built in what is known as the Greenleaf pattern. 

From N&P timetable dated April 27, 1863

Petersburg to Lynchburg, Crewe or Blacks and Whites at the time, is only 37 miles from Petersburg, Lynchburg was 124 miles from Petersburg.

Best
Ken Miller

> On Jun 3, 2025, at 11:03 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Tiptoeing this morning through the 1881 Time Table, I noticed that Crewe, Virginia, is not shown.
> 
> My long-standing assumption had been that Crewe, as a terminal for engines and crews, resulted from the inclusion of the South Side RR, the Norfolk & Petersburg RR, and the Virginia & Tennessee RR, into the Atlantic Mississippi & Ohio RR in 1870.
> 
> But this 1881 T.T. shows that there was still no "Crewe" by 1881, eleven years after the formation of the AM&O.  And apparently the engine and crew districts of 1881 were (1) Norfolk to Lynchburg, (2) Lynchburg to Central Depot (Radford,) and (3) Central Depot to Bristol.
> 
> So now the question becomes:  What could have been the catalyst for re-jiggering the engine and crew districts by establishing a terminal at Crewe, Va ?  And, WHEN was this done ?
> 
> One good index to this process would be dates for the acquisition of real estate parcels incident to the construction of Crewe Yard, as indicated in the Real Estate Index on the Valuation Maps sheets.  But before I go through that menagerie-of-a-search, perhaps one of the Old Wise Men can throw this Young WhipperSnapper a bone, and just tell him why and when Crewe was established as a terminal for engines and crews.  For which I would be plentifully grateful.  :-)
> 
> -- abram burnett
> Ever Eat a Turnip Tacco ?
> .
>  
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