Zero Milepost in Norfolk

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

First out, I'll tell you I can't tell you exactly where Mile Post 0 was  
located.
A bit of "dead reckoning" indicates it was approximately 0.7 miles  beyond
Terminal Station or somewhere on the Water Street Branch.  Where  was
N&W's pre-1912 depot ?
 
Not only was Norfolk's Terminal Building the station for N&W, VGN, and  N&S
passenger trains, it was also headquarters (at one time) for Virginian,  
Norfolk &
Southern, the N&PBL, and the Norfolk Terminal Company.
 
By the 40's, that part of Main Street in Norfolk had turned into  tattoo 
parlors,
burlesque theaters and flop houses.  One block over, N&W ran down  the
middle of Water Street.  Class W's set up produce warehouses with  refers
on 3rd trick. Water Street was appropriately named -- after a  nor'easter, 
crews
would kick cars into the mdse. yard causing a wake to ripple across the  
streets
below the Berkley bridge.
 
In attempt to clean up its act, Norfolk's city fathers approached an  N&W 
official
and requested that the Water Street Branch be removed since there was no  
longer
any traffic.  He complied --- without ever filing for abandonment with  the 
ICC.
                                                                              
  Harry Bundy
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