Healthy Discussion

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I have never treferred to the N&W as  being anything other than what 
it is, the N&W.
I have endured cheap shots on this site such as "Auntie's Clothsline"  and
ACL passenger diesels called "purple peopleaters".  I just considered the
source and didn't get bent out of shape about it.   Now you tell me.
Who is denigrating what ?

I am sorry I  showed my ignorance by mis-spelling the word "Powhatan."
Shame on me for not being perfect.  Please forgive an 83 year old who was
firing locomotives when you were but a gleam in your father's eye.

I  Did Not  refer to Cincinnati as a deadend point.  I was speaking
about Norfolk being a deadend point, which I  STILL  maintain was the case
for passengers traveling to  Norfolk  There were six steam railroads operating
passenger service into and out of Norfolk, but guess what.   Five of them, the
N&W, the VGN,  The ACL, the  Seaboard, and the Atlantic   Danville operated
only to the west back to Suffolk, Va.   The only exception being the Norfolk
Southern which had one daily departure at 7:00 AM for it's all-day trek to
Raleigh, N.C.   Anyone destined for eastern  North Carolina points would
detrain on the N&W at Petersburg and change to either the ACL or  Seaboard.

In South Rocky Mount, N.C. at one time we had 42 south end engine 
crews marked up  in the freight pool.
All doubleheading of passenger trains and  extra sections of passenger trains
were engine crews out of the freight pool.  Indeed, some of the crews were
making nearly all of their monthly mileage working passenger trains instead
of freight trains.   With the addition of  two  or three  name trains that
operated only during the winter season  from November until  April, we had
around a dozen regular  southbound name trains and their extra sections along
with their northbound counterparts  daily.   How can anyone seriously mention
the N&W and ACL in the same breath when it came to passenger volumn.
And one again, those name trains  DID NOT   carry mail or express to make
money.  The two exceptions that I remember were the Havana Special, Nos.
75 and 76, and the Palmetto  Nos. 77 and 78.   Most of those Florida trains
had only one car not carrying passengers, and that was the baggage car right
behind the engines.  Having worked  on these trains I couldn't help but notice
the train consist.   You describe the Arrow as a "through" train and then
list a total of  ten stops between Norfolk and Cincinnati.

When I worked some of those Florida trains we never stopped turning a wheel for
the entire 172 miles between Rocky Mount and Florence, unless we had a
steam locomotive which meant stopping at the coaling tower at Milan yard to
service the locomotive.   Again mind you,  I am not bragging, but 
merely pointing out
the importance of passenger service on the ACL.   I am sure the 
service provided
by the N&W was sufficient to meet the needs of the people who needed that
east-west service.  I am also aware of the problems faced by the N&W in
having to operate through the mountains.  Bill Sellers